The Western NIS Enterprise Fund will provide scholarships for 40 Ukrainian students to study at top American business schools.
The $150 million regional equity fund’s Seed Grant offers financial support to young people from Ukraine and Moldova who win places on one of the top 50 master’s in business administration programs in the United States.
According to the Global MBA Ranking 2015 of the Financial Times, Harvard Business School, where annual tuition fees are $61,225, is the best in the world, the average scholarship from the Seed Grant is $100,000, covering nearly two years of education.
“During our investment activity, we’ve learned that Ukrainian businesses need additional education to be able to operate at the international level,” the president and chief executive officer of the fund, Jaroslawa Zelinsky Johnson, said at a press conference on Dec. 15.
To receive a scholarship, students have first to win a place at a school, and then apply for a grant. The Seed Grant announces its decision in two weeks. After graduation from the MBA program, students have to return to Ukraine for three years.
“Ukraine needs economic leaders and this is the best way to get them,” Zelinsky Johnson said.
According to Seed Grant research, MBA graduates get a salary 80 percent higher than others. But only up to 15 Ukrainian students are enrolled in top U.S. business administration programs every year, while neighboring Poland sends around 200 students.
The Seed Grant aims to change this. Roman Tychkivskyy, the fund’s economic leadership program manager, said that they hope to see 40 Ukrainian MBA students studying in the United States in 2017.
“This country’s greatest asset is its human capital,” U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey R. Pyatt said during the press conference. “The talent, energy, and vision of Ukraine’s young people is what makes me deeply optimistic about this country’ future, its future in Europe.”
In 2014 the fund granted scholarships to five Ukrainian students, who are currently studying at the University of Chicago, Duke University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Los Angeles.
“Our economic leadership program focuses on training the next generation of Ukrainian leaders through training programs, scholarships and establishing schools,” Zelinsky Johnson said.
Besides its Seed Grant, the fund has financed the launch of a Ukrainian Leadership Academy for pupils and students aged 17-19. The first year of courses started in September, and brought together 39 young leaders from all over Ukraine.
In addition, early this year the fund allocated $30 million in technical assistance to the Ukrainian government and for charitable activities.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuliana Romanyshyn can be reached at [email protected].
