Ukrainian climbed the ranks for international giant.
Taras Lukachuk, a 35-year-old Ukrainian, is taking over as a vice president of international food giant Kraft Foods, heading operations in Ukraine and helping to oversee 11 other markets in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Lukachuk accepted the big promotion, a rare instance of a Ukrainian being entrusted to such a high executive position at a multinational corporation, after veteran George Logush, a Ukrainian-American, was hired as vice president by leading Ukrainian poultry producer MHP.
Lukachuk is a veteran of Kraft’s operations in Ukraine. He joined the company in Ukraine in 1995.
It was then that Logush started building the group’s now strong business in Ukraine from scratch. As a student of Ukraine’s prestigious Kyiv Mohyla Academy back in 1995, Lukachuk was just 19 when he started rubbing shoulders with some of the most experienced top executives at Kraft. At 24, Kraft appointed Lukachuk sales department manager.
“Logush believed in me,” Lukachuk recalls. “At that time, I was pretty much the youngest manager at the company.”
During his first two years as sales director, his department – which was selling chocolates, snacks, coffee and other food products – was recognized as the best within the vast company.
Lukachuk left Kraft for a year to gain experience in the investment banking business, returning in 2008.
He was put in charge of Kraft’s business development in 11 Eastern Europe and Central Asia nations. When the time came to find a replacement for Logush this August, it didn’t take long for Kraft to appoint one.
To build a successful business in Ukraine, Lukachuk advised to find the “keys to the country.”
Lukachuk said one of his primary tasks will be to complete construction of a new production factory in Trostyanets, which is due to be opened at the end of this year.
Kraft Foods has invested $36 million into this Sumy Oblast-based biscuit plant.
Kraft pumped more than $200 million in capital investments into Ukraine since 1995. Contrary to many other companies, which suffered during the recent recession, Kraft came out even stronger.
Net revenues nearly doubled to more than $500 million over the last three years.
“One should treat business in Ukraine as a long-term one,” Lukachuk said.
If you take a long-term view of things, “when certain problems occur, you won’t curtail business activities, stop advertising, layoff people and squeeze investments.
At the very peak of the recent crisis, we increased our investments into advertising budgets, in contrast to what other companies did.
Now we are benefitting from that decision.”
As of 2010, Kraft held a 60 percent market share of Ukraine’s salted snacks, 40 percent of instant and natural coffee and 24 percent of chocolates.
In the first six months of this year, Kraft Foods Ukraine stood out as the group’s most quickly developing business unit in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions, according to Lukachuk.
A decade ago, most multinationals put expatriates in charge of their business in Ukraine.
To build a successful business in Ukraine, Lukachuk advised to find the “keys to the country.”
“The first key is to come first to the market. Second is to have a primary focus, to treat it as a priority.
The third key is to build a strong and stable local team of people who understand the Ukrainian market,” Lukachuk said.
Much of the company’s local management team is comprised of Ukrainians who have stayed with the company for the past 15 years.
A decade ago, most multinationals put expatriates in charge of their business in Ukraine.
“This trend started changing because a new generation of Ukrainian managers is emerging,” Lukachuk said.
There aren’t many of them in the most senior of positions at multinationals yet.
But they are following in Lukachuk’s footsteps, gradually proving themselves at top management positions.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Faryna can be reached at [email protected].
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