Russia · CIS · MENA

ANNA MELNOVA — Growth & P&L Executive, IT, Emerging Markets

Growth & P&L Executive | IT | Emerging Markets

Avito · VK · Yandex · AliExpress · Lesta

15+ years in growth and digital business leadership. Scaled products and teams at Avito, VK, Yandex, AliExpress and Lesta Games across Russia, CIS and MENA markets. Built P&L-embedded marketing, launched products in new geographies and led teams of 100+ people.

Mother of two daughters. In my spare time I do triathlon, and am passionate about biohacking and health technology.

Anna Melnova — CMO Lesta Games, formerly Uzum, AliExpress Russia. Growth & P&L Executive, expert in e-commerce and emerging markets.

Key Expertise

Marketing integrated into P&L and product strategy — marketing as a business growth driver, working with unit economics (LTV/CAC, retention), influencing financial metrics
Launching and scaling digital businesses — growing IT projects, marketplaces and ecosystems in emerging markets
Building high-performance teams — resource optimisation, talent acquisition, culture of accountability for results

Experience

Uzum (Uzbekistan)

Fintech and marketplace. CMO — brand and marketing from scratch, achieving market leadership in Central Asia.

Lesta Games

Mir Tankov studio and more. CMO — brand repositioning and marketing for 6.5M MAU during a major transformation.

AliExpress

JV of Alibaba and Mail.ru Group. VP Growth — retention, social commerce, adapting a global platform for the local market.

Yandex

Data, analytics and martech solutions at high-traffic scale.

VK (Youla)

Marketplace within a social network. Led Youla’s marketing, built growth strategy among ecosystem products.

Avito

Russia’s largest classifieds platform. Audience growth, performance marketing, unit economics at scale.

Areas of Expertise

Growth & P&L

Growth strategy for digital products and platforms
P&L-embedded marketing and unit economics
Scaling business in emerging markets
Launching products in new geographies

Leadership & Teams

Building and managing teams of 100+ people
Marketing function transformation
Leading through uncertainty

Market Entry Track Record

Hands-on experience scaling international platforms and building market-leading businesses from scratch in Russia, CIS and MENA.

AliExpress Russia — 0 to 35M Monthly Users

Led growth for Alibaba's JV in Russia as VP Growth, then CMO. Built a team from 1 to 50+ people. Scaled the platform to 35M monthly users through retention strategy, social commerce integration with VKontakte, and localisation of the global product for the Russian market. Won two Effie Russia awards.

Uzum — From Zero to Central Asia's First Unicorn

Joined as founding CMO. Built brand, marketing infrastructure and growth engine from scratch in Uzbekistan. Uzum became the first unicorn in Central Asia, reaching $1.5B valuation. Led market entry strategy across fintech, e-commerce and super-app verticals in a greenfield market.

Avito — Russia's Largest Classifieds Platform

Performance marketing and audience growth at scale for Russia's #1 marketplace (50M+ monthly users). Deep expertise in unit economics, LTV/CAC optimisation and data-driven growth in a mature, highly competitive market.