Alexandr Vakiy and Max Bulgakov came to live in Ireland in the late 1990s at the age of 24. Both from Ukraine, they quickly went into business together, and over the years that followed, they built a nationwide chain of grocery stores and a wholesale distribution business with annual revenues of €33 million.  Maxela, the main company within their group, imports food products from more than 200 manufacturers and distributors in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Greece, Austria and France.  The company also sells its products to domestic retailers, including SuperValu, Tesco, Centra, Spar,…

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