KYIV. Sept 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF) created using funds of the U.S. government since March 2015 has invested around $10 million to Ukraine under some 20 technical assistance programs and projects.
“We plan to work with the Economic Development and Trade Ministry to develop an export promotion policy for Ukraine. We are also going to provide support to at least 200 exporters and at least 100 social enterprises as well as strongly influence the development of startup-ecosystems in Ukraine and Moldova. We hope to create over 30,000 new working places in Ukraine,” WNISEF CEO Jaroslawa Z. Johnson said at a meeting with journalists in Kyiv on Wednesday.
She recalled that the WNISEF has been implementing the $35 million legacy program focused on assisting Ukraine and Moldova, since 2015. The three-year program could be extended.
Johnson said that this covers the following areas: export promotion, local economic development, impact investing and economic leadership.
Local Economic Development Program Manager Iryna Ozymok said that WNISEF provided an initial funding of $50,000 to develop ProZorro public e-procurement system and then the funding reached $300,000. This has already saved some UAH 3 billion in state money.
The fund has promoted access to international markets for about 70 Ukrainian manufacturers, founded five Ukrainian Leadership Academies (Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Myrhorod and Mykolaiv) that enrolled over 200 secondary school graduates in 2016, restored four schools in Donbas for 320 children and supported 24 hub schools – one in each region.
CANactions school for urban studies was financed by WNISEF. Grants to implement seven projects of graduates in seven Ukrainian cities were provided. A first project incubator 1991 was created in Ukraine. School of Mayors and operation of Agency of Mykolaiv Development were supported. The fund also cooperates with banks to launch a low-interest loan mechanism for social enterprises.
WNISEF seeks to increase the number of Leadership Academies in various regions of Ukraine to 15 by 2018. It is planned to launch two 1991 incubators on the basis of universities and one urban incubator. The program then will be expanded to Moldova and their number will be brought to six.
Export Promotion Program Manager Vitaliy Bihdai said that at present WNISEF is participating in designing the National export strategy, supports operations of the Export Promotion Office and creation of the Investment Promotion Office at the government.
Economic Leadership Program Manager Roman Tychkivsky added that WNISEF also finances Seed Grant program that helps Ukrainians to get business education abroad. In 2015-2016, over $1 million for 19 grant holders was provided to allow them to study at top universities of the United States and Britain. The fund plans to increase expenses on business education of Ukrainians to $5 million by 2018. Tychkivsky said that recipients of this assistance agree to work in Ukraine for at least three years after graduating.
Western NIS Enterprise Fund is a $150 million regional private equity fund, a pioneer in Ukraine and Moldova with more than two decades of successful experience in investing in small and medium-sized companies. Since its inception, WNISEF’s cumulative investments total over $168 million to 118 companies in Ukraine and Moldova.
