Early Life
Margarita Olegovna Bogdanova was born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), Russia, on July 1, 1962. She was raised by her grandfather, an electrical engineer, after her parents died in a train accident when she was 11. She studied law and economics, preparing her for a career in business.
Rise to Success
In 1988, while on a flight from Zurich to London, she met Robert Louis-Dreyfus. They married in 1992. After her husband's death in 2009 from leukemia, Margarita inherited the Louis Dreyfus Group and became its chairwoman. At that time, she also became the majority shareholder of Olympique de Marseille, a French football club her husband had owned since 1996. She sold the football club in 2016.
Key Business Strategies
As chairwoman, Margarita Louis-Dreyfus has overseen the Louis Dreyfus Company, a global merchant and processor of agricultural goods. The company is involved in the entire value chain, from farm to fork, across various business lines including Coffee, Cotton, Food & Feed Solutions, Freight, Global Markets, Grains & Oilseeds, Juice, Rice and Sugar. In 2019, the company implemented a transformative business strategy. In 2020, she sold a 45% stake in the company to ADQ, while retaining majority ownership.
Philanthropy
Margarita Louis-Dreyfus is also a dedicated philanthropist. She founded Human Change, a global advocacy campaign focused on children's mental health and the harmful effects of social media and digital devices.