ANDREI VLADIMIROVICH SKOCH: HIS LIFE PATH AND CHARITABLE PROJECTS
Andrei Skoch is a former businessman, who, since 1999, has been a deputy of the State Duma. In 1996, Andrei Vladimirovich founded a humanitarian foundation, and since then, he has been its permanent head. Skoch actively participates in the political and cultural life of Russia.
EARLY LIFE
Andrei Skoch was born in 1966. His father, a native of the Zaporozhye region, shortly before his son’s birthday, had moved to Moscow and got a job at the Salyut aviation plant. Throughout his childhood, the boy had the example of a hardworking father before his eyes, who went from a simple worker to the head of the plant’s trade union. This had a considerable impact on Andrei Skoch.
Andrei Vladimirovich served in the army and then received higher pedagogical education. After that, the young man began to look for his place and business in a rapidly changing country, where business was reborn, and new opportunities appeared. A.V. Skoch, like many of his generation, became interested in entrepreneurial activity.
ANDREI SKOCH’S BUSINESS ACTIVITIES
Andrei Vladimirovich was looking for success in various fields: he sold computer components, and at one time managed his own bakery. Fortune smiled on him at the moment when Skoch and his business partner Lev Kvetnoi started trading in petroleum products.
This business brought Andrei Skoch his first fortune, which he invested in the Interfin investment company in 1995. The sphere of interest of this company was quite wide: it invested money in various industries, eventually focusing on raw materials, including the mining plants of the Belgorod region. A.V. Skoch often went to this region for work purposes. Thanks to these business visits, he learned what problems the locals face and what they need. When the businessman decided to do charity work, he established the Pokolenie (Generation) Foundation in the Belgorod region. The majority of the fund’s projects are tied to this region. Andrei Skoch’s own activity is still quite closely connected with the region: he often comes there and takes part in events organized by the Pokolenie Foundation.
Having decided to leave the business world and go into politics, Andrei Skoch ran for deputy from this region.
A.V. SKOCH IN POLITICS
The entrepreneur entered a new sphere in 1999, with 54% of voters voting for Andrei Vladimirovich Skoch. Since then, he has been repeatedly re-elected, and today Andrei Skoch is a deputy of the State Duma for five convocations.
As the deputy didn’t have the right to combine his work with entrepreneurial activity, he gave up his share in the business to his father. The decision was an easy one for Skoch: he had been less and less involved in the direct management of the company, fully trusting the managers and treating the stake in Interfin more like a dividend asset. Nevertheless, he preferred that the business remained in the family and as a source of income, including for his parents, so Andrei Skoch did not sell his share but handed it over to his father, Vladimir Nikitovich.
Skoch Sr., who has worked in industry all his life, had a lot of life experience (Vladimir Nikitovich had both work on the railway and long-term service in the army), and quickly became acquainted with the nuances.
Andrei Vladimirovich devoted himself entirely to politics and charity. Deputy Andrei Skoch worked fruitfully, participating in the work of the State Duma committees, and engaging in legislative activity. He is the author and co-author of more than 150 legislative initiatives. The State Duma has been his place of work for more than 20 years.
Given that charity is the second most important part of his life, the deputy sometimes acts as a philanthropist in politics. In 2020, A.V. Skoch transferred 2.3 billion rubles to the Belgorod Region’s budget so that 75 social facilities could be built or repaired with this money. Andrei Skoch compiled a list of these objects based on complaints from voters who reported their unsatisfactory condition not only to him personally, but also to other deputies.
ANDREI SKOCH’S CHARITY WORK
Initially, Andrei Skoch’s humanitarian foundation was called the Healthy Generation (Zdorovoye Pokolenie), and its forces were directed to help children with heart disease. However, it soon stopped limiting itself to targeted financial support: a lot of people needed help, and there were few institutions capable of providing it. A.V. Skoch renamed the organization the Pokolenie (Generation) Foundation, reflecting the fact that people could come for help not only medical issues, expanding the scope of its activities.
Today, Andrei Skoch’s Foundation provides support for:
- healthcare: although it has stopped being the group’s main activity, assistance to medical institutions and individual citizens continues to be provided;
- educational institutions;
- museums and other cultural institutions;
- sports organizations.
In addition, long-term projects are being implemented in various fields. Monuments and memorials to fallen Russian and Soviet soldiers are being found and restored, and this project concerns not only the Belgorod region of Russia: is also being implemented abroad.
From 2000 to 2016, Andrei Skoch’s Pokolenie Foundation presented the annual literary Debut award for young authors. At the same time, the Healthy Childhood Award was also awarded for achievements in the children’s treatment. From 1998 to 2016, the jury awarded the prize for achievements in the field of cardiac surgery, and from 2007 to 2011 – in the field of nanotechnology. To this day, increased scholarships are awarded to the best students, and big families are awarded annually.
In recent years, Andrei Skoch’s humanitarian organization has focused more on individual projects and targeted assistance. Andrei Vladimirovich is approached by specific institutions and individual citizens. Some people who find themselves in a difficult situation have been receiving help for many years — including for the purchase of expensive medicines or rehabilitation for children with cerebral palsy or autism. A lot of private appeals are received: they ask to purchase a hearing aid for a child or a wheelchair. The foundation tries to help everyone who applies.
2020 was marked by the coronavirus pandemic: society needed support more than ever. A.V. Skoch did not back down. Since March, more than 60 million rubles have been allocated to fight the pandemic. The money went toward the purchase of personal protective equipment for doctors. This is the most difficult item in terms of expenditure: masks, gloves, and protective suits are constantly lacking since they are not designed for long-term use. Without them, health workers themselves risk infection. This causes double harm: both to the doctors themselves and their patients. In addition, it is often those doctors who already have experience in treating this disease who are out of action – that is, those who could provide the best care to the patients.
Due to the fact that the pandemic has swept the whole world, the demand for personal protective equipment has increased dramatically. The humanitarian organization of deputy Andrei Skoch organized its work so as to purchase the necessary protective equipment as quickly as possible. The hospitals that had previously dealt with Andrei Vladimirovich Skoch’s humanitarian organization found themselves in a winning position: they were already supplied with the necessary equipment, in particular artificial lung ventilation devices, which saved the lives of the patients with severe COVID-19 in the spring.
ANDREI SKOCH TODAY
Andrei Vladimirovich Skoch is a candidate of pedagogical sciences, his dissertation topic was charity work.
Deputy A.V. Skoch has been presented with a number of government awards, mainly for his public activities, in particular for the restoration of the memorial to fallen soldiers in Harbin. He has received the Order of Honor, Alexander Nevsky’s Order, and many other awards.
Andrei Skoch has ten children. He treats his parents with great respect: he considers his father, Vladimir Nikitovich, his moral compass.
You must be logged in to post a comment.