Ukraine should create equal opportunities and access to education for young talents whatever income they can have. Vasyl Khmelnytsky, an entrepreneur and owner of UFuture Investment Group, made this statement in an interview for AIN. According to Mr Khmelnytsky, he is now bringing the most advanced and innovative educational institutions into UNIT.City Innovation Park he created.
“We want to invite as many quality educational institutions as possible here and are ready to offer them favorable conditions. For example, now we are in talks with a school of English from the West. I will lease premises to them at cost price in an effort to bring them in our initiative. After all, it is difficult to become successful today without a good command of English. If you have a good educational project, come to us, we will offer you good conditions,” said Vasyl Khmelnytsky.
He mentioned DTEK Academy as an example, saying that they had a strong methodological basis and expertise. In future, Vasyl Khmelnytsky expects the UNIT Factory educational initiative to expand to have up to 2,500 students.
The entrepreneur is set to build something like a student dormitory in UNIT.City in a move to create comfortable conditions for all students, regardless of the wealth of their families: for young people from small towns who cannot afford to rent expensive housing in the capital city. Those who will not have money even to pay for the dormitory will be able to enjoy a credit line with a very low interest rate of 5%.
At the same time, Vasyl Khmelnytsky reminded that the school would be tuition-free.
Commonly, talented people do not have enough money. Vasyl Khmelnytsky believes that if the tuition is high, the children of rich parents will come to school, without any motivation and ambitions. “If we offer equal conditions for all, we will bring real talents in UNIT.City. These very children will later join businesses based in UNIT.City. Here we have the following business model: the costs do not scare me so much, because I understand the future income from the entire system. This is a long game, and the return will not come immediately, but in a few years,” Vasyl Khmelnytsky underscored.
According to the businessman, students having a strong academic performance will have high chances to find a job in companies based in UNIT.City. However, no one will force them to work for one or another company. Mr Khmelnytsky said they would be able to choose either to work for a UNIT.City resident company or land a job outside the park.
Vasyl Khmelnytsky emphasized the role of the educational environment in UNIT.City, saying it creates added value. “People sometimes tell me that it is a little expensive here. Indeed, somewhere you can find a price, which is lower by $2 per sq m, but here we have students, schools, universities, other companies, educational programs, accelerators, laboratories, security and so on. If you find no point in this, there is no reason to spend $2 more in this case. However, the bonuses offered by UNIT.City will help you become better, that is why the price is higher,” he said, summing up the project.
Ukrainian IT talents have received another important argument in favor of the industry development in the country. A new business campus of the UNIT.City Innovation Park with the Chasopys.UNIT co-working place has opened in Kyiv. Many incumbent and future residents of the innovative city – more than 500 people – gathered to celebrate a house-warming party on June 14. “Our main task is to help talented people grow and succeed in our country but not abroad, create big companies. This is a challenge to build not only a modern city but also a space for new opportunities for the development of a creative economy of the country,” founder of UFuture Investment Group and one of the major investors in the project Vasyl Khmelnytsky said.
The building with an area of 3,800 square meters is designed for 360 people to work comfortably at once. The project of the new building was created by the Odesa architectural studio Haliulin Architects. The campus has the shape of a cube, while three types of glass were used in construction. “If to walk along the building, it seems to be hovering in the air, going up and down along the axis,” CEO and Managing Partner of UNIT.City Max Yakover said.
Some 50 well-known companies have entered or selected offices in the new campus, including SolarGaps, a Ukrainian startup in the field of alternative energy, the Quadrate28 marketing agency, ARbrowser, LookinAR, and Crosslytics.
“The first residents of the new co-working space became the following companies: Imperious Group, Royenko Agency, Hubble Ukraine, the DTEK design team, the Quadrate28 representative office and others,” UNIT.City Managing Partner Maksym Bakhmatov stated. The Fedoriv creative agency plans to become a resident of UNIT.City. Andriy Fedoriv is seeking a location in the innovative city building being under construction, the opening of which is scheduled for this year.
“Chasopys.UNIT is the fourth co-working place of the Chasopys network,” CEO of Chasopys Creative Family Aliona Kalibaba said. According to her, the best practices achieved in the last six years were united in the design of the building. “The campus events calendar is being filled in. Schools of entrepreneurship, international competitions and a form of expert Fridays will be held here,” Kalibaba added.
Businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky intends to expand the area of the UNIT.City innovative park in Kyiv from 19 hectares to 26 hectares.
“We are now buying at dual prices those plots that were taken before us, and we’ll reach about 26 hectares,” Khmelnytsky said in an interview with the Novoye Vremia edition.
The UNIT.City innovative park officially opened in April 2017 in the territory of the former Kyiv motorcycle plant. The area of the park is 19 hectares. It includes the co-working area Chasopys-UNIT, the UNIT Factory IT school, three laboratories, a business campus, a fund and five accelerators. The park’s residents are 38 companies.
According to UNIT.City’s website, it is planned by 2019 to create four new business campuses, three accelerators, four funds and increase the number of resident companies to 100. By 2025, the park should include 25 hectares of space for work and leisure, as well as more than 300 companies and R&D laboratories (Research&Development are laboratories for the development of innovative technologies).
The managing partners of UNIT.City are Maksym Bakhmatov and Maksym Yakover (the CEO of the park).
Yakover is also a co-owner of the Chasopys creative co-working space at 3 Lva Tolstoho Street in Kyiv.
