The Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of St. Petersburg was founded on April 13, 1990.  On that day, Vladimir Yakovlevich Khodyrev, Chairman of the Leningrad City Executive Committee, signed a certificate of incorporation of the Leningrad Association of Industrial, Construction, Science, Transport and Communication Enterprises.

At that time the perestroika project rendered considerable damage to the state economy.  Industrial management schemes were cut, state orders decreased by several times, fundamental and applied science were not financed, Leningrad enterprises sold less products due to decreased demand, the market of the Union of Mutual Economic Assistance stood idle, unemployment rose sharply, and salary payments were delayed.

These problems were especially pronounced in St. Petersburg.  Leningrad R&D sector, one of the largest in the USSR, not only contributed considerable amounts of industrial products, but designed new equipment, produced working models of unique equipment and transferred them for further large-scale production to other regions.

As any union or association within a certain sector, the goal of this Union was to help businesses and enterprises survive, contribute to the city's industrial potential and effectiveness of employee teams, and to facilitate interaction with state bodies of authority in the sphere of supporting stable economic and social development.

In May 1994, the Leningrad Association of Industrial, Construction, Science, Transport and Communication Enterprises was renamed the St. Petersburg Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and then in May 1999 reorganized as Public Organization, St. Petersburg Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (Employers).

Federal law "On Employer Unions", No. 156 ФЗ dd. 27/11/2002, as amended (No. T 152 ФЗ dd. 05/12/2005)  determined the status of employer organizations as non-profit employer unions.  According to Section 18 thereof, "Transitional Issues", as of 01/11/2007 St. Petersburg Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (Employers) could not represent the interests and protect the rights of employers.  Therefore, in April 2007 the general meeting of St. Petersburg Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (Employers) founded the Regional Union of Employers, St. Petersburg Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, which was registered in August 2007.

The general meeting of the members of the public organization on April 17, 2008, approved the new edition of the Statutes with the new title of the organization, Public Organization - St. Petersburg Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

Both establishments, the public organization and the regional employer association with the same name, "St. Petersburg Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs", act concurrently and work on the goals as stated in 1990, when the Leningrad Association of Industrial, Construction, Science, Transport and Communication Enterprises was founded, but with due consideration of current economic principles and Russian legislation.