10. Maelle Gavet
For French-born Maelle Gavet, adapting to life as CEO of Russian e-commerce site Ozon–which is vying to be the nation’s Amazon–involved some serious culture shock. She’s recovered nicely:
1% E-commerce’s share of the Russian retail market
“When online business first appeared, a lot of operations would take your order and then disappear,” says Gavet. Every single buyer gets a call from Ozon after placing an order, to build trust.
80% Ozon customers who pay in cash
Rather than fight the trend, Gavet facilitated it by building a nationwide pickup system. At 2,000 facilities, customers can inspect their deliveries before paying.
$100 million Ozon’s latest round of funding
Investors respect Gavet’s strategy to ease people into e-commerce: Revenue jumped 84% to $303 million in 2011. Once a client makes multiple orders, an Ozon rep makes sure that everything’s gone well and asks if they’d like to continue the calls, or if they’re comfortable forgoing them.
Timeline
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1999
Enrolls at École Normale Supérieure after being accepted on the second try and preparing for the selective exam for three years
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2001
Drops out of Normal Supérieure’s prestigious program after realizing it wasn’t right for her
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2001
Starts an event-catering company; cleaning crew goes on strike, citing negligence
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2003
Joins Boston Consulting Group
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2009
Visits a small Russian online retailer called Ozon on a 4-week BCG project; Ozon offers her a job the next January