The leather-bound book "Under a lucky star. Notes of a Russian entrepreneur. 1875-1930." I.Kulaev

Russian entrepreneurs are reading success stories of Western business leaders, unaware of Russian heroes. Even Hollywood, tired of biographies of American billionaires, would have liked Ivan Kulaev's memoirs, which look more like an adventurous novel than the life of a simple Russian merchant. In the ongoing struggle for the success of his business, despite natural disasters, arbitrary officials, the most difficult working conditions in the impassable taiga, the Chinese uprising and the vagaries of Russian business at the end of the XIX century, the Russian entrepreneur literally made himself. The memoirs are deceptively called "Under a lucky star", because the author owes his achievements not to fleeting luck, but only to perseverance and the ability to start from scratch every time he fails. Kulaev, who was born shortly before the abolition of serfdom, at the age of seventeen already headed his father's enterprises, later founded the first copper smelter in Siberia and completely "gave himself up to gold mining activities", was a contractor for the construction of railways and established a Milling partnership. "Notes of a Russian entrepreneur" is an inspiring experience of our compatriot, who did not give up in the face of setbacks, believed in his own strength, cherished a good name and worked for the benefit of society.