On the basis of Small and Medium Entrepreneurship School (SME School, the project of Vasyl Khmelnytsky’s K.Fund), UFuture opens UNIT School of Business in UNIT.City. The first open day at the new educational institution will take place on October 10 in UNIT Factory, Kyiv.
UNIT School of Business works in a new format for Ukraine: the program includes 119 hours of practical work on each participant’s real business instead of theoretical lectures. Entrepreneurs bring their daily tasks and look for profitable ways to solve them together with teachers. For this, the school’s experts have developed short practical programs for business modeling, marketing, sales, brand building, effective innovative tools that are easy to apply in the work of a small and medium Ukrainian business.
“We’ve created UNIT School of Business because in Ukraine, we haven’t found any entrepreneurship school organized at a really great level. We understand how difficult it is for an entrepreneur to take a break even for two months, not to mention two years. Therefore, our programs are short and effective,” Artem Makeev, CEO of the project, said.
Creators of UNIT School of Business have taken into account the experience of the educational business project “Superludi” (“Superpeople”) and SME School (1.5 thousand graduates in the past three years). The mentors of the institution are market experts and business practitioners of UFuture, UNIT.City innovation park, UDP development company, Biopharma innovative pharmaceutical company, ITernal group of IT companies and an ecosystem of tech solutions, Lean Institute Ukraine, and “Superludi”.
“Nine out of ten businesses in Ukraine are closed during the first year of existence. Not because of external reasons, but because of the lack of knowledge. We’ve collected the necessary knowledge and will help to apply it in business,” Vlad Nozdrachev, partner of UNIT School of Business, Founder and Project Manager of “Superludi”, said.
UNIT School of Business is a part of UNIT ecosystem which includes, in particular, Ugrow (a closed community of entrepreneurs with regular events, group coaching and mentoring support, access to which is available to students of UNIT School of Business), INDAX accelerator (helps to build production, including investments), Sector X accelerator (finds clients and partners in IT field and helps businesses enter the western market).
The open day at UNIT School of Business will start on October 10 at 16:00. The program of the event includes speeches by representatives of the business school and Ugrow, informal communication with graduates of SME School. The first 100 people who register at https://forms.gle/nGUDtomazJ3B7KXL7 will be able to take part in the open day.
The launch of the new curriculum of UNIT School of Business will take place on October 21.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
UFuture is a holding company of Ukrainian entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytsky that integrates his business and impact-investment projects. The company has a diversified portfolio of assets in the fields of real estate, infrastructure, industry, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, and IT. Currently, UFuture’s assets are estimated at $550 million, and the total capitalization of the businesses it invested in is more than $1 billion. UFuture is a majority shareholder in UDP development company (specializing in large infrastructure projects), Kyiv Sikorsky International Airport (the second international airport in Ukraine by passenger traffic), national operator of outdoor advertising RTM-Ukraine, and a group of IT companies and an ecosystem of tech solutions ITernal. UFuture is a strategic investor in the pharmaceutical company Biopharma and UDP Renewables, renewable energy investment and development company. UFuture is also developing new business projects including UNIT.City innovation parks in Kyiv and Kharkiv, LvivTech.City in Lviv; Bila Tserkva industrial park and a manufacturer of modern electrotechnical systems, Plank Electrotechnic. UFuture supports social projects in the fields of education and economics, including the Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF), Lean Institute Ukraine, UNIT School of Business, UNIT Factory innovative IT-schools in Kyiv and Kharkiv, Secondary education institution Novopecherska School, the all-Ukrainian online platform iLearn, and others.
The decision of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) to cancel mandatory sale of currency by business could result into active use of derivatives, such as forwards, futures, options, and swaps, Senior Associate Lawyer of Evris Law Firm Kateryna Breduliak has said. She recalled that the regulation on mandatory sale of 30% of currency on the interbank currency market was canceled on June 20, 2019. Mandatory sale of currency from clearing accounts was canceled on June 19, 2019.
Breduliak said that the NBU’s decision to cancel mandatory sale of currency was “rather predictable” taking into account the law on currency and currency transactions, which took effect on February 7, 2019, as well as the NBU’s course towards currency liberalization.
“Despite another relaxation of currency rules by the NBU, several approved currency liberalization measures have no significant effect on the financial market. However, the regulator took a timely decision as long as demand for U.S. dollar and at the same time for currency earnings is expected in summer,” the lawyer said.
She added that as a result of such changes businesses could actively use derivatives (forwards, futures, options, swaps).
“Bankers also hope for improvement as long as businesses will transfer currency in Ukraine more actively because now they can withdraw it any time,” she said.
The lawyer stressed that “in such situation it will be much more difficult to make dollar rate forecasts and the volume of currency on the market is also unknown.”
Breduliak added that “cancellation of mandatory sale of currency will not have a dramatic effect on businesses.”
“For example, take an agricultural company. The farmers need hryvnias to prepare for the sowing campaign. Hence, there is no point in holding currency back and the agricultural company anyway has to sell currency to insure its further work,” she said.
As reported, the NBU canceled the mandatory sale of currency by businesses from June 19, 2019.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said about his vision of how to make Ukraine the really rich country and called on business to invest money, time and ideas in Ukraine.
“We are carefully studying the experience of countries that are successful. We understand that they, first of all, invested in education, technology and infrastructure. Ukraine will do the same. Therefore, the role of the state in the economy in the next five years will be reduced to three things: do not interfere business; to build an excellent infrastructure for business and create conditions for doing business in Ukraine was simply convenient; third, focus on education, science and technology,” he said at a meeting with the business community in Kyiv.
Zelensky said that he was not used to catching up, therefore he is looking for creative breakthrough and innovative solutions for Ukraine with his team, and will tell more about them in the near future.
The president said that “to turn from a poor country into a middle-income country is not so difficult.” “The recipes are simple, success stories are known. All these is a mandatory program for us, and we will do it in the next five years,” he said.
At the same time, Zelensky is convinced that Ukraine needs to become a “truly rich country.”
“According to the World Bank, in 1960 there were 101 countries that are developing, and only 13 of them were able to become developed rich countries. In addition, most of them did it at the expense of natural resources. Economists have a special term: “middle income trap.” Its essence is very simple: poor countries compete with cheap labor. As soon as a country receives an average level of income, competitive advantages disappear and the country ceases to develop rapidly. According to this scenario, the country almost never becomes rich, the highest level is “medium,” he explained.
“Half a year ago I decided to invest the most precious thing I have – my time – in Ukraine. I urge you to do the same: invest time, money, ideas in Ukraine. Let’s change Ukraine together!” Zelensky said, addressing business at the end of his speech.
BUSINESS, EDUCATION, INVEST, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGIES, ZELENSKY
There is no need any more to go to the politics to protect own business in Ukraine, and voters do not want to see businessmen in politics, large Ukrainian businessmen said during the Ukraine: Game of Thrones. Final Season! international investment conference organized by Concorde Capital in Kyiv. According to Sergiy Tigipko (TAS group), the experience of 2014 showed that Ukrainian society does not want to see businessmen in politics.
“I think that big business needs to draw conclusions from this. They do not want to see business in politics. They want new faces,” Tigipko said.
According to Yuriy Kosyuk (MHP agricultural holding), before businessmen were forced to support politicians to protect their interests, but now there is no such need.
“Political parties can be supported, if you share values with them. Once, probably, this [funding of politicians] was protection for someone. For me, too, it was in the form of different political parties. And today, this is absolutely surely that there is no point: the power is not terrible, it is an absolute impotent, it cannot destroy anyone,” he said.
Kosyuk said that the government has taken away business from smugglers. “It does not have power over those who are doing the legal business, because civil society is now quite transparent and strong,” the owner of MHP said.
Businessmen as a whole positively assessed the change of president in Ukraine.
Kosyuk said that populistic statements, in which opponents accuse the newly elected president, will change after talking with foreign politicians.
“Populism before the elections. Where it does not exist? But when Zelensky starts running the post, will go to Washington once, many things will change,” Tigipko, who for many years held senior positions in the government and the National Bank, said.
P & O Maritime Ukraine, a subsidiary of DP World Group, a provider of tugboat services, has announced the start of operations at the Odesa seaport, the company has said on its Facebook page.
The letter on the start of the operations was sent to acting Head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority Raivis Veckagans and thee Odesa branch of the authority.
“Odesa is the third Ukrainian port after Yuzhny and Chornomorsk, in which a representative of the world’s largest operator will work. For work in Odesa, contracts with leading global shipping companies have been concluded,” the company said.
“I am sure that the port, ship owners, terminals and the towing market as a whole will benefit from our cooperation,” P & O Maritime Ukraine CEO Mykhailo Sokolov said.
As reported, in January 2018, P & O Maritime, a fully owned subsidiary of DP World Group, received control over LB Shipping company and started providing tugboat services at the Yuzhny port. The co-investor of the deal was SD Capital investment company belonged to Andriy Stavnitser and Filip Hrushko.
In July 2018, P & O Maritime Ukraine began to provide services at the port of Chornomorsk.
The business delegation of Pharmexcil, the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India, will visit three importing countries, including Ukraine, Turkmenistan and the Russian Federation at the end of November. The Indian Pharmaceutical Manufacturer’s Association (IPMA) said the delegation of Pharmexcil will hold business meetings with the local pharmaceutical companies and regulatory agencies to stimulate Indian pharmaceutical exports.
In Kyiv, the delegation of Pharmexcil will meet with the representatives of the Ministry of Health and pharmaceutical companies.
According to Pharmexcil, the sales of Indian medicines in Ukraine in 2017-2018 increased by 14.4%, to $95.96 million. In the 2016-2017 fiscal year, India exported pharmaceutical products worth $83.91 million to Ukraine.
India as a manufacturer in Ukraine in 2017 ranked third in terms of pharmacy sales in packages after Ukraine and Germany, and in monetary terms (in the national currency) it ranked fourth after Ukraine, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Among the Indian pharmaceutical companies that are actively working in Ukraine, in particular, are Macleods Pharmaceutical, Dr Reddy’s, Euro Lifecare Ltd.
