Rakuten Viber has appointed Ilya Boshnyakov as Country Director in Ukraine

Kyiv, April 10, 2024 — Rakuten Viber appointed Ilya Boshnyakov as the Country Director in Ukraine. He will lead the local team, oversee the adaptation of the new features for the Ukrainian market and diaspora worldwide, and manage partnerships, marketing, and communications in the country. Previously, VP of Global Marketing & Growth Atanas Raykov was responsible for these activities from the office in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Atanas Raykov, Rakuten Viber's VP of Global Marketing and Growth, comments on the new appointment: “Ukraine is one of the key countries for Rakuten Viber, and we were looking for a highly reputable leader who understands Ukrainian needs and how our product can best match them. At Rakuten Viber, we are building an extensive ecosystem of seamlessly integrated features and services that allow our users to save time, money, and effort in their key daily tasks. According to this strategy, Ilya will be responsible for local launches of all new products and solutions to ensure that Ukraine sees as many of the latest innovations from Rakuten Viber as possible. We have been meticulously looking for the right person. Now that he is finally on board, we are focused on greatly scaling up our activities."

Ilya Boshnyakov shares his impressions of the first weeks in the team: "I have long admired the concept behind Rakuten Viber, which first set the app as the standard for many aspects of daily life and has now built an entire ecosystem of products, content, and services on that foundation. I am excited to join the team and collaborate on solutions that have a tangible positive impact on users, businesses, and the economy as a whole."

Previously, Ilya led the technology media outlet AIN.UA for 8 years. In the last 3 years, he launched AIN.Capital, AIN.Business, and Recruitika. Before his media career, Ilya managed recruiting and HR for a group of British technology companies covering FinTech, GameDev, MarTech, and other industries.