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Arsen Tomsky

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Arsen Tomsky (Russian: Арсе́н Тóмский; born 20 November 1973) is an entrepreneur, public figure, founder and CEO of the international ride-hailing service inDrive.

Arsen Tomsky
Born
Arsen Grigorievich Tomsky

(1973-11-20) November 20, 1973 (age 51)
Yakutsk, Sakha Republic
CitizenshipKazakhstan
EducationNorth-Eastern Federal University
TitleFounder and CEO of InDrive

Early life

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Arsen Tomsky was born on November 20, 1973 in the city of Yakutsk, in the Republic of Saha.[1]

In 1994, Tomsky began his first entrepreneurial activities, developing software; specifically, a system for analyzing the financial condition of banks, and then a program for automated accounting which had been commissioned by the local Ministry of Finance.[2]

The following year he graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics at North-Eastern Federal University.[3]

In 1999, Tomsky founded the company SakhaInternet, which later became the Sinet Group, and launched the website Ykt.ru. After 20 years as CEO of the Sinet Group, Tomsky left the post, transferring the company's shares to the team at Ykt.ru.[4]

Career

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In 2013, Tomsky created the company inDriver (Independent Drivers).[4] InDriver began work as a passenger transportation service, at the time the company also included freight transportation, intercity travel, couriers and city services.[5]

Six years later, inDriver was recognized as a unicorn company in a $150 million round of investments.[6] That year Tomsky attended the Stanford Executive Program at Stanford Graduate School of Business.[7]

Due to Russia's military invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Tomsky decided to completely relocate the inDrive employees from the country.[8] The company was rebranded inDrive (Inner Drive).[9]

In 2023, InDrive was the second most downloaded ride hailing app in the world and the fourth most downloaded travel app in the world.[10] Tomsky spent about $5 million on the development of the application from his own funds which he had accumulated while developing the largest Internet company in Yakutia.[11]

At the end of the same year, Arsen Tomsky announced that, at the invitation of the government of Kazakhstan, he would receive Kazakh citizenship.[12] In May 2024, Tomsky took 10th place in Forbes magazine's ranking 'The 75 richest businessmen in Kazakhstan'.[13]

Non-profit activities

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Since 2012, the non-profit educational project Beginit has been operating under the patronage of Tomsky — first as BeginIT, which taught the basics of programming to children from remote rural schools and orphanages. As of 2022, the project covered more than 120 schools and orphanages in 13 countries. In 2023, the program evolved to become Beginit, which develops social leadership in youth from remote communities.[14]

The Sinet Spark project fund began operating in 2020. The fund's budget was supported by several sources, including Tomsky's personal contributions. In 2021, Sinet Spark provided financial assistance in extinguishing forest fires in Yakutia.[15] Subsequently, the organization created a project to study the causes of such fires and to reduce the occurrence of forest fires, not only in Yakutia, but around the world.[16]

Also in 2020, Tomsky launched the non-profit Star Team program, the goal of which is to help schoolchildren and students enter the best universities in the world.[17]

In November 2021, the entrepreneur announced the launch of the Supernovas non-profit football project. The project team finds people who want to become coaches and helps them establish football schools for children from small towns in their local area. All football lessons are free of charge, while the work of the trainer is funded by Supernovas. At present, Supernovas operates in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Colombia, Chile, and Kazakhstan.[18]

On Tomsky's initiative, the international film award Alternativa Film Awards started in 2023 — a global non-profit initiative aimed at supporting emerging filmmakers from Asia.[19] The award supports socially significant films; when evaluating works, the jury not only pays attention to the artistic aspects of the film, but also to its relevance to society.[20]

Another of Tomsky's initiatives is the creation of an innovative startup called FluentaAI to help people with a stutter. This software converts their whisper into natural speech without stuttering during online calls. FluentaAI has consequently been integrated with video conferencing apps[21]

References

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  1. ^ Mejía, Genaro (2023-02-20). "Venció la tartamudez, fundó un unicornio contra los cobros injustos y conquistó al mundo". WIRED (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  2. ^ "В изоляции: Как Арсен Томский сделал Craigslist, Yahoo и Lyft для Якутии". The Village (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  3. ^ Букеева, Ардак. "Дело Арсена: как программист из Якутии вырастил единорога и перевёз его в Казахстан".
  4. ^ a b "Building a Unicorn: My Decade-Long Career With inDrive | HackerNoon". hackernoon.com. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  5. ^ Luna, Nancy. "Get ready to make a deal for your ride. InDrive is bringing its ride-hailing-haggling business to the US again". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  6. ^ "Yakutia's taxi service born out of injustice: inDrive founder Arsen Tomsky's mission to fight back against cartel pricing". www.intellinews.com. 2023-03-14. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  7. ^ "CEO Takes Ride-Hailing Company from Siberia to Silicon Valley, Gears up to Drive Global Expansion". Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  8. ^ Ragozin, Leonid (24 May 2022). "Nothing could slow inDriver's rise from Siberian startup to global Uber competitor. Then Russia invaded Ukraine".
  9. ^ MI, Team (2022-10-11). "From inDriver to inDrive: The International service announces rebranding I". Media Infoline. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  10. ^ "inDrive remains the world's second most downloaded ride-hailing app and ranks as fourth most downloaded travel app worldwide". Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  11. ^ Seddon, Max (4 December 2017). "Russian ride hailing apps power up". Financial Times. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  12. ^ Azimzhanova, Ayturgan (4 December 2023). "Founder of inDrive obtains Kazakhstani citizenship".
  13. ^ Zhazetova, Zhanel (2024-05-06). "Forbes reveals its fresh list of the richest people in Kazakhstan". Kursiv Media Kazakhstan. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  14. ^ "Indrive's BeginIT Project Trains Underserved Children on IT Skills – THISDAYLIVE". www.thisdaylive.com. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  15. ^ "In Siberia, volunteers wage war on wildfires with shovels and saws". euronews. 2021-07-27. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  16. ^ "Команда Sinet Spark". Лидеры креативных индустрий (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  17. ^ Жаркова, Дарья (2023-05-11). "Калифорния, Лос-Анджелес и Нью-Йорк: как казахстанские школьники поступают в лучшие вузы мира благодаря программе Star Team". The Steppe (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  18. ^ herraizsoto&co; Summit, World Football (2024-05-24). "Transforming lives through football". World Football Summit. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  19. ^ "Alternativa Film Project. Press release-Kyrgyz Cinema". www.kyrgyzcinema.com. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  20. ^ Vourlias, Christopher (2023-12-11). "Alternativa Film Project Looks to Bolster Impactful Cinema in Central Asia and Beyond, Supporting 'Fresh Voices' From Underserved Regions". Variety. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  21. ^ Aquino, Steven. "Entrepreneur Arsen Tomsky Talks Being A Stutterer, InDrive, FluentaAI In Interview". Forbes.
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