Mikhail Ovchinnikov was born in 1946 in Trekhrechye, in China near the Argun River, to the family of Transbaikal Cossacks Moisei and Ekaterina Ovchinnikov. His father's family moved from Russia to China in 1919. "They had plots in Trekhrechye, they mowed there, and that's why they stayed," Mikhail recounts. His mother's family fled to China, escaping exile in 1929. In the 1950s, many Cossacks from Trekhrechye returned to Russia, but his father, being a deeply religious man, refused to do so. In 1962, they moved to Australia. On the third day after arriving in Sydney, Mikhail got a job at a laundry, then three months later at a factory, and then at another factory. Two years later, he started his first business. His life has seen significant losses, but now things are going well: he owns a large hardware store and has opened a Russian museum. Mikhail Ovchinnikov is also the owner of the company 'KELSO', which produces doors, known both in Australia and beyond.

He is a patron and entrepreneur, actively participating in the life of the Russian community, a member of the Assembly of the Combined Cossack Stanitsa of NYU, and the organizer of many events supporting Russian traditions and culture. In 2015, he funded the first Russian museum in Australia, and at his initiative, an annual Russian ball is held in Sydney.

When asked what he considers important in life, Mikhail Ovchinnikov replied: "For me, the most important thing is to be useful to my Russian compatriots. I want to leave my Russian mark on the fifth continent. I would not want Russians to become an unknown emigration in a hundred years, as has happened with some ethnic groups."