Its purpose was to present to a wide audience of micro, small and medium enterprises the opportunity to join the expert and educational work of the UNDP Project "Strengthening member business associations of micro, small and medium enterprises in Ukraine" to increase their competitiveness. This project is carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and with the support of Switzerland.

“I am particularly glad to be here today, because it does not always happen that you have all three necessary components for success," said Nicole Ruder, Head of Cooperation, Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine, "namely, the right idea, which in our case is the development of business organizations, reliable partners, and the demand for what we do. I think now we have successfully managed to bring them together”.

“Supporting business organizations of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises aims to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in Ukraine. This is a difficult process full of significant challenges, one of which is the fragmentation of the MSME sector. Therefore, only by uniting and acting as a single voice MSMEs will be able to overcome all obstacles and make a valuable contribution to the sustainable economic growth of Ukraine”, claimed Ms. Manal Fouani, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative to Ukraine, in her welcoming speech.

"The first seven business associations that studied at the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School and became part of this Project have shown outstanding results," said Eduard Maltsev, Deputy Dean of kmbs. "Therefore, we hope that the participants who are undergoing the program now will also have great achievements."

In total, the conference brought together almost 200 online and offline listeners. The event took place in several stages. First, Olena Sapozhkova, a teacher at the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School, presented a leadership program for business leaders with an online learning component. "This is a program about leadership," said Olena Sapozhkova. "After all, strengthening the company as such is impossible without strengthening the leadership in the BO, which ensures joint development."

Participants had the opportunity to join the online component of the training program directly at the event. In addition, all interested leaders of Ukrainian business associations will be able to join the online component of the program "Development of member business associations of Ukraine" until November 13. The program will include the broadcast of five monthly one-day modules, weekly webinar consultations and online broadcasts with leading experts. Detailed schedule of webinars and registration - follow the link.

"The phenomenon of modern leadership allows people to join forces under someone's management, moderation and facilitation, but to create a vision together," said Eduard Maltsev, explaining the role of a leader in the transformation of modern business associations. He stressed that successful leaders create a sustainable environment, profess equality between men and women, speak the language of many cultures and are champions in the struggle for the common good.

In addition, the experts presented the unique developments of the Project. In particular, Iryna Fedets, UNDP National Consultant, demonstrated the results of mapping industry and universal business associations in Ukraine as of 2021 (detailed report). "The idea of ​​the Project was to analyze the current situation of the business of the SME sector, highlight the challenges they face, their areas of influence, as well as try to estimate the number of active associations," said Ms. Irina. As a result, a methodology was developed for the analysis, including a list of criteria, an analytical report on the current state and challenges for the CA, as well as a common base with more than 400 CAs in Ukraine.

Valery Pekar, a kmbs lecturer and a UNDP national consultant, said in his speech on the results of the IASB Development Strategy foresight that the main problem of modern business is the constant change of the rules of the game. This conclusion is obvious from the "map of the main problems of business", developed during the foresight. "The key problem for individual entrepreneurs is uncertainty about the future," Mr. Valery addressed the audience. - For microbusiness, these are high taxes on labor and low purchasing power. Lack of manpower is key for small businesses. But for medium-sized businesses are characterized by insecurity and raiding.

The participants of the first phase of the Project, which lasted in 2015-2018, demonstrated the successful experience of development and transformation of BO on their own examples. In particular, Tetyana Kravets, a member of the Audit Commission of the Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers, stressed: “2018 has become very important for us. After all, there has been a global reassessment and change of values. "

"We got to the first phase of the Project just when something needed to be changed," said Larisa Samosyonok, director of the project office of the NGO "Interaction-Plus". - That's why what we were told became very valuable. We can say that there has been a certain "revolution", that is, a complete revival of our business association. "

"During the two years of the Digital Chamber project, we have digitized almost all the chamber's services, which is the basis for bringing all services online," said Natalia Zabrudska, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine.

At the end of the event, the participants were addressed by Andriy Remizov, Acting Director of the State Enterprise "Office for Entrepreneurship Development and Export". He announced a new joint project with UNDP, which will be available on the portal Action. Business in late November. "This project will help you talk about your own BOs and attract new members in digital format," said Andriy Remizov.

"We hope that this program will become not only a tool to increase your individual and organizational capacity, but also a tool for quality transformation," said Maxim Boroda, UNDP Project Manager. small and medium enterprises of Ukraine ". Mr. Maxim stressed that the goal of the program is to develop and strengthen not only the 27 business organizations directly involved in the Project, but also to strengthen the entire SME sector.