On November 7 and 8, the second two-day training module for leaders of membership business associations took place within the walls of the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School as part of the second phase of the UNDP Project "Strengthening Membership Business Associations of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in Ukraine" in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and with the support of Switzerland. This project aims to accelerate the development of the MSME sector by strengthening the capacity of membership business associations (BAs).

"What is the value of your stay at the school?" asked Veronika Verba, a kmbs lecturer, to the audience. "I came from Lviv, traveled 650 km for new ideas. The fact that I can look at obvious things in a new way is the value of learning," replied Vasyl Masyuk, a participant in the UNDP Project.

The first day of training for leaders began with a lecture by Veronika Verba on the financial aspects of BA functioning. Participants discussed, among other things, issues of ensuring BA financial sustainability, sources and structures of financing, financial optimization, principles of BA budgeting, and more. The expert emphasized that finances are a reflection of our decisions. "If you choose a financial model, you must calculate its financial consequences — whether it will limit the development of your community or, on the contrary, provide you with opportunities," noted Ms. Veronika.

Participants also had a lecture from Marina Starodubska on effective BA communications. Ms. Marina noted that for effective communication, the reputational profile (a complete list of parameters important to you and your target audience) is of great importance. "When we communicate without a strategy, the 'sprinkler' effect occurs. That is, there is a lot of communication, but no impact," explained the lecturer.

"How to work effectively with the media? How do people consume them? What popular methods of working with the media exist?" — all this and more was covered by Marina Starodubska during the second training day. "Fewer and fewer Ukrainians watch multiple sources, more and more focus on one," noted the lecturer. "For planning your PR and communication campaigns, this means that the choice of channel is an aspect where there is no room for error. Even great content from the wrong channel will be rejected."

Participants also explored how to work with reputational risks using examples from their own BAs. This allowed them to understand what needs to be changed first in BA communication strategies.

In addition, BA leaders continued to accumulate knowledge in the field of Human Capital with Olena Zhiltsova, a kmbs lecturer. "Organizational culture is the behavior of the system and people in the system, which actually stems from values," explained Ms. Olena. She also told the audience how this type of management is interpreted on three levels: business national, corporate (at the company level), and subcultures within the institution.

At the end of the first and second training days, BA leaders were treated to two open evening events of the Ukrainian-Swiss UNDP Project. On November 7, the school welcomed Oleksandra Koltsova, an author, producer, public figure, and vocalist of the band "Krykhitka," who continued the series of lectures on the topic "My Business — My Country." Together with Ms. Oleksandra, the audience actively discussed leadership, its features, forms, gender component, and more. "A leader is a person who takes responsibility, who is engaged in their business and understands that they do it not only for themselves," noted Ms. Oleksandra.

On Monday, November 8, Project participants had the opportunity to talk with Oleksandr Starodubtsev, Deputy Head of NACP and Executive MBA-10 graduate. With a lecture on approaches to organizational transformations, he continued the series of evening events titled "State and Business."

"You can try to restore not the entire state, but individual organizations one by one, simultaneously gaining trust," emphasized Mr. Oleksandr. As an alternative to this method, he proposed his own model of organizational transformation, which occurs simultaneously on three levels: ideological, behavioral, and instrumental.

Our participants are already actively working on transforming and strengthening their own BAs while simultaneously enhancing the development of our state.