 pend
a few days in meetings with business organizations,
major companies, banks and government institutions
in Kyiv and you will soon realize that more
often than not the person across the table
from you is a young, go-getting Ukrainian.
The international headlines over stories on
Ukraine might feature venerable figures from
the leadership of this ex-Soviet state, slugging
it out on the political stage as democracy
puts down roots in Kyiv, but in many respects
the transition problems, and delays in reform,
are the fault of a generation that was raised
in a Communist state and is slow to adjust
to
the world of free markets and transparent
government.
Many have spent time in Western educational
institutions, and all of them seem to understand
that the world they were born into is now
fully in the past, and that their future and
the future of their country lies firmly in
the dominant, Western system of our age. Many
put in very long hours, working late into
the evening or on the weekend, as they hustle
to build successful careers.
Yuriy Sivitsky, 42, is one of the founding
partners of Softline, the leading e-government
development company in Ukraine and a major
IT outsourcing company, which works with global
players such as Orascom and Microsoft. Founded
by four
Ukrainians in 1995, Softline now boasts some
600 employees in Ukraine, and a growing network
of international offices, five in CIS countries,
one in Germany and one in the United States.
“We try to deliver results rapidly to
our clients,” Sivitsky said, “not
just reports about what we plan to do.”
He said Softline has managed to keep its clients
satisfied and has a very high level of client
retention.
In addition to serving as VP for marketing
and sales for Softline, Sivitsky is an adventurer
who enjoys traveling to remote corners of
the earth, and a filmmaker who has produced
several documentaries.
Many women are among the ranks of successful
young leaders in Ukraine. One of them is Anna
Derevyanko. At the age of 26 in 2003, she
became the executive director of the European
Business Association. She manages 25 employees,
and works to make the EBA an effective body
to represent member companies - some 700 foreign
investors in Ukraine.
Clear-thinking and articulate, Derevyanko
in 1998 earned an MBA from the International
Economics & Law Faculty of the National
Economic University in Kyiv. She deals daily
with the problems foreign
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
| Yuriy
Sivitsky |
|
Anna Derevyanko |
|
Sergiy Kruglyk |
|
Vladimir Ignatov |
|
|
investors face in Ukraine, and recognizes
the need for her country to strengthen
the rule of law and improve governance.
She is definitely the sort of person
you would want on your side in any
dealings with Ukrainian authorities.
Major companies such as Norway's Telenor,
which has invested $3 billion into
the mobile and IT markets in Ukraine
over a decade, seek the support of
the EBA in securing their interests
in Ukraine.
Family is still a strong institution
in Ukraine, and Derevyanko is married
and raising a child, despite long
hours of work.
With a career that already includes
stints at the Ukrainian embassy in
Washington and Paris, as well as the
Foreign Ministry in Kyiv, 43-year-old
Sergiy Kruglyk is director of the
International Relations Department
of the National Bank of
Ukraine, the country's central bank.
In that position, he is responsible
for relations with foreign banks,
and was recently in Washington for
annual meetings with the World Bank
and IMF.
Holding an MBA from the International
Management Institute in Kyiv, he is
working on a PhD in economics and
management from the Institute of Economics,
and Management of Nau (also in Kyiv).
In addition to his day job, Kruglyk
has set up a magazine targeted at
Ukraine's business executives. The
title translates as "Idea",
and includes in-depth articles on
business and management, including
many drawn from the Harvard Business
Review and similar English-language
publications in this field. Although
the readership is just 3,000, this
is an elite audience of up and coming
business leaders in Ukraine.
International pharmaceutical companies
have not yet begun production (except
for a small project by Eli Lilly)
due to concerns over protecting their
Intellectual Property, and the size
of a market in which healthcare is
a government service, and average
expenditures on medicine is just $32
a year, compared to $300-400 a year
in neighboring countries like Poland
and Hungary.
"We are selling technology and
results, and not pills," said
Vladimir Ignatov about the efforts
of AstraZeneca in Ukraine, which invests
a lot in training doctors as it works
to establish its name and products
in Ukraine. Ignatov holds MD, PhD
and MBA degrees, and is the man chosen
by AstraZeneca to manage the 72 people
in its Ukraine operation - all Ukrainians.
|
|
