Born and educated in the UK, Kim Waddoup has been an itinerant traveller most of his life and saw the business opportunities that were emerging in the opening of Eastern Europe at the end of the 80’s. He first arrived in Russia in 1992 to find a country in total disarray but offering many potential opportunities for the pioneers. Opening offices in Moscow in 1994 he headed one of the leading travel companies specialising in luxury travel for Russia’s growing nouveau riche. This also included organising medical treatments for leading politicians and personalities way back in the mid 90s.
Seeing a niche market developing he saw the opportunities in offering highly specialised consumer exhibitions and created the aiGroup in 2011. The aiGroup is the market leader in highly targeted B2C exhibitions for Overseas Property, Meetings & Incentive(MICE) and Medical Tourism with a current portfolio of 13 annual exhibitions in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
As a long-term expat Kim noticed the lack of a professional expat magazine in Moscow and rectified this gap by creating Moscow expat Life in 2012. Moscow expat Life is now the leading English language magazine in Moscow representing the many and diverse expat communities in Moscow. Printed quarterly each issue of Moscow expat Life has 96 pages, a readership in excess 70,000+ and covers a diverse range of topics for expats living and working in Moscow. He is also the founder of the successful Moscow Good Food Club, which visits and rates many of Moscow’s leading restaurants.
Kim divides his time between Moscow and Thailand giving him the distinction of being a double expat!