Vasyl Khmelnytskyy, founder of the “Bila Tserkva” Industrial Park, announced the suspension of plans to build three plants within the industrial park due to high risks.
“I know that fortune often favors the bold. But today I went to Bila Tserkva and made a decision: for now, not to begin new construction of three factories. We’ll finish what we’ve already started, but put the large-scale plans on hold. Right now, the risks are too great—both for the business and for the people. I’m ready to take responsibility for the business. Although, to be honest, I’m already at my limit. But I’m not ready to expose people to a risk I can’t control,” he said on social media.
According to him, such decisions are difficult to make, but an entrepreneur’s responsibility also includes knowing when to stop.
“I don’t like the phrase ‘until better times.’ So I’ll be more specific: we’ll return to these plans when the risks are lower. Right now, our task is to finish what we’ve started, keep the team together, and maintain the ability to move forward,” the entrepreneur emphasized.
The projects of entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytskyi’s holding company, UFuture—FOP “Bila Tserkva” and “Bila Tserkva 2”—were included in the Register of Industrial Parks in 2018. The parks are home to more than two dozen tenants (including foreign companies).
The total area of the parks is 70.3 hectares, of which 45 hectares have already been developed. More than 85,000 square meters of industrial and warehouse real estate have been commissioned.
Oleksandr Symchyshyn, mayor of Khmelnytskyi, has been awarded the title of “Mayor of the Year (Large Cities)” in the 30th anniversary edition of the nationwide “Person of the Year 2025” program.
Symchyshyn has led Khmelnytskyi since 2015. He also serves as chairman of the Khmelnytskyi regional branch of the Association of Ukrainian Cities.
Supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces remains one of the key priorities for the Khmelnytskyi community amid the full-scale war. In recent years, the city has consistently ranked among the leaders in the volume of such assistance, according to various rankings. Local authorities also devote significant attention to veteran and social policies.
Based on the results for 2025, the Khmelnytskyi City Territorial Community took first place in the “Best Social Community” competition.
Transparency in governance remains a priority for city officials. The Khmelnytskyi community received the national award “For Consistency in Open Governance,” and according to research by Transparency International Ukraine’s “Transparent Cities” program, Khmelnytskyi was included in the list of cities with high transparency scores, particularly in the financial and budgetary spheres.
At the same time, the city continues to modernize its public infrastructure. According to data provided by the program’s organizers, nearly 90% of Khmelnytskyi’s trolleybus and bus fleet has been updated, and 44 new trolleybuses have entered service over the past year.
Another major infrastructure initiative has been the modernization of the waste management system. Khmelnytskyi is implementing a comprehensive project designed to transform the system for collecting, sorting, and recycling municipal waste.
The community is paying special attention to energy sustainability and the development of distributed generation. The “2 MWe of Sun” project for the municipal utility “Khmelnytskyi Vodokanal” won the 100 gREen AWARD-2025. In 2025, the Khmelnytskyi community also joined the European Energy Award program.
Khmelnytskyi’s international ties are actively expanding. The community is developing partnerships with Stuttgart and Dresden in Germany, and in 2025 received the “Best Practice 2025” award from the U-LEAD with Europe program.
A new direction in international cooperation was the establishment of a sister-city relationship with the American city of Tampa, Florida. The parties signed not only a main partnership agreement but also cooperation agreements in several areas.
In particular, Khmelnytskyi and Tampa plan to develop cooperation in the fields of business and investment, education, renewable energy, healthcare, digitalization, and culture. For Khmelnytskyi, the partnership with one of Florida’s major economic centers opens up additional opportunities to attract international projects and investments.
Oleksandr Symchyshyn was born on November 4, 1980, in the village of Yosypivka in the Khmelnytskyi region. He graduated from the History Department of the Kamianets-Podilskyi State Pedagogical University, completed graduate studies, and defended his dissertation, earning a Candidate of Historical Sciences degree.
The nationwide “Person of the Year” program has been held in Ukraine since 1995 and honors representatives from various spheres of public, economic, cultural, and professional life. “Person of the Year 2025” marks the program’s 30th anniversary.
Open4Business is the information partner of the nationwide “Person of the Year” program.
community, KHMELNYTSKYI, local self-government, PERSON OF THE YEAR, Олександр Симчишин
As part of his business goals for 2026, Vasyl Khmelnytsky, founder of the UFuture holding company, plans to establish a training center in the Bila Tserkva Industrial Park, the entrepreneur wrote.
“At the beginning of the year, I always set my goals. I know that I will not fulfill the plan 100% because I cannot predict exactly what challenges 2026 will bring. But goals are necessary — they keep you focused,” Khmelnytsky wrote in a Facebook post.
Among the five business goals he has set are the launch of a school and an art alley at UNIT.City.
In addition, Khmelnytskyi intends to retain and develop his team and pay off at least $10 million in loans.
“Next, I will break these goals down into specific tasks and start taking action,” he said.
UFuture is Khmelnytskyi’s holding company, which brings together his commercial and social projects. It has a diversified portfolio of assets in real estate, infrastructure, industry, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, and IT. UFuture’s assets are estimated at $500 million, and the total capitalization of the businesses in which the holding company has invested is up to $1 billion.
IP “Bila Tserkva” and “Bila Tserkva 2” were included in the Register of Industrial Parks in 2018.
There are 19 residents operating in the developed territory of the park, including Unilever, InTiCa Systems, Peikko, and Pripravka, which moved from Kharkiv in 2022, as well as the Nova Poshta logistics depot, the Volytsia-Agro grain storage and processing complex, the Plank Electrotechnic electrical fittings factory, and Virastar, a manufacturer of high-altitude equipment for construction work.
As reported, in the summer of 2025, IP “Bila Tserkva” signed an agreement with Gualapack Ukraine, a subsidiary of the Italian company Guala Pack, which manufactures packaging for the food industry, to build a complex of industrial buildings with a total area of about 10,000 square meters for the purpose of relocating the plant, which operated in Sumy and was partially restarted on leased premises in the Ternopil region. The planned investment is EUR12 million.
The UNIT.City innovation park, created in Kyiv on the site of a former motorcycle factory, brings together startups, IT companies, R&D centers, and educational spaces to develop an innovative ecosystem.
Following the Kyiv International Economic Forum, entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytsky published a column with conclusions from a public conversation with undisputed world boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk. The key idea is that lasting victories are built on the “long game,” through discipline, consistency, and teamwork, rather than quick decisions.
According to the author, business and sports share the same principles: daily routine work, discipline, the ability to learn from mistakes, and reliance on the team. Usyk, using his own regime as an example, emphasizes that it is not motivation that matters, but habit and responsibility to the team. The column notes that long-term sustainability is created by investing in processes and people, and mistakes are seen as data for improvement.
The context of the forum is a focus on people and economic recovery. A charity auction was held during the meeting: gloves autographed by Usyk were sold for UAH 1,100,000, and the proceeds from the sale were donated to the Soborna Ukraine Foundation to support the children of fallen defenders.
“We are in it for the long haul. A champion is not afraid to lose — he learns. A strong leader surrounds himself with strong people and delegates,” Vasyl Khmelnytsky highlighted from the conversation at KIEF.
What does all this mean for business?
1) Strategy: prioritize long-term goals and sustainability over “quick wins.”
2) Operations: focus on establishing routines and process metrics rather than one-off spikes.
3) Team: build trust and fair rules, strengthen the role of department leaders.
4) risk management: formalize error analysis and a plan for corrections after each “round.”
Vasyl Khmelnytsky is a Ukrainian entrepreneur and investor, founder of UFuture. He initiates and supports educational and entrepreneurial projects, including schools and acceleration programs. A regular participant in KIEF, he writes columns on entrepreneurship, team development, and business.
Oleksandr Usyk is a Ukrainian professional boxer and undisputed world heavyweight champion. He is known for his discipline, team approach, and systematic training. He participates in charitable and public initiatives and supports projects to help children and veterans.
On April 24, Bila Tserkva Industrial Park hosted the international forum “Industrial Evolution: Production turns on the economy” was held in Bila Tserkva Industrial Park. The event brought together more than 1000 participants – representatives of Ukrainian manufacturing companies, the government, international partners and investors – to discuss how to restore Ukraine’s industry, attract investment and launch a new industrial economy.
In four panel discussions, leading experts discussed key issues of industrial development in Ukraine: prospects for industrial growth, the role of industrial parks, investment mechanisms, innovation, and effective interaction between the state and business.
The first panel discussion “The Road to a Strong Economy” was attended by Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for Innovation, Education, Science and Technology Development and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Viktor Mykyta, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, Ruslan Kravchenko, Head of the State Tax Service, and Kostiantyn Yefymenko, President of Biopharma Plasma.
“If we want to see Ukraine among the top 30 countries in the world in terms of GDP, we must develop technologies and innovations: microelectronics, chips, drones and other breakthrough areas. That is why we have created the WINWIN Strategy for Digital Development of Innovations in Ukraine until 2030, which unites 14 areas – from fintech to AI. We are already working on various tools to create conditions for the development of innovations in Ukraine: incentives, regulatory fast tracks, access to financing, and mechanisms for opening new markets. After all, digitalization, technology, and innovation should become the foundation of our economic development,” said Mykhailo Fedorov.
In his speech, Vasyl Khmelnytsky, the initiator of the forum and founder of UFuture holding, emphasized that industrial parks are the key to economic growth and the return of Ukrainians home.
“It is possible to bring our people back from abroad. We need to create competitive opportunities in Ukraine – quality education, jobs, decent wages, living standards and services. An industrial park is just such a point of economic growth and a magnet for innovation, investment and talent. The support of industrial parks by the state and local communities is an investment. Last year, we transferred UAH 18 million in taxes to the local budget, this year – UAH 25 million, and next year – UAH 50 million. In 20 years, we will have paid more than a billion. And this is only the local level. Today, we are laying the foundation for the future 15-20 years ahead,” Vasyl Khmelnytsky said.
The forum also saw the opening of a new plant by Peikko Group (Finland), a leading European manufacturer of solutions for monolithic and prefabricated construction. The enterprise, built on the territory of the industrial park, is an example of foreign business confidence in the potential of Ukrainian industry. The launch of the plant means new jobs, technology transfer and an additional impetus for the development of the production cluster in Bila Tserkva.
“We are investing in Ukraine because of your talent and excellent engineering skills. You have a lot of good know-how and production, a lot of demanding consumers, which is good. And you have a sales market that functions in such a difficult environment, but still works. And this is enough for us to open our production here. It was a risk worth taking. The question was not “why in Ukraine?” but “why not in Ukraine?” And I could not find any reasons why not. That is why we, a European company, are here today. And I would like to emphasize that Ukraine’s place is in Europe,” said Topi Paananen, CEO of Peikko Group, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the plant’s opening.
In addition, Minister of Community and Territorial Development Oleksiy Kuleba and Viktor Mykyta met with business representatives from different regions during the forum. The conversation was dynamic and constructive.
The event featured a Made in Ukraine expo zone, which presented modern technologies and innovations that are already changing production, urban infrastructure and industrial logistics. Among the solutions presented were automation equipment, construction and infrastructure equipment, machinery for the utility sector, systems for electric mobility, welding, ventilation and material processing, as well as components for industrial and automotive electronics.
The forum showed that despite the war, the Ukrainian industry is not stopping, but is looking for ways to develop and partner. The event has become a space for networking, presenting solutions and finding common ground between business, investors and the government.
