President Petro Poroshenko places big hopes on business managers as he appoints Yuriy Kosyuk, chief executive officer and majority shareholder of Ukraine’s biggest poultry producer Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP), first deputy head of presidential administration, according to the July 3 decree.
Previously, local media reported Kosyuk was considered a candidate for the offices of first deputy prime minister and defense minister.
Earlier, Poroshenko appointed Borys Lozhkin, former head of
Ukrainian Media Holding, major player on the local media business scene, chief
of his staff.
Kosyuk, whose fortune is estimated at $1.3 billion by
Forbes Ukraine, will be coordinating the administration’s defense policy, while
Defense Ministry is being actively criticized for poor organization of supplies
to the soldiers fighting separatism in country’s eastern region.
On the day of his appointment Kosyuk resigned from his
position at MHP that was passed to Yuriy Melnyk, holding’s employee since 2010,
according to the press release published on the website of London Stock Exchange, platform
where company’s 34 percent free floating package is traded.
“The decision of the President of
Ukraine to give Yuriy Kosyuk important functions in the presidential administration
is a strong signal that fundamental problems besetting the Ukrainian administration
will be tackled vigorously,” commented MHP’s board chairman Charles
Adriaenssen.
MHP share price fell by 0.6 percent during July 3
trading session that followed Kosyuk’s appointment, while during the day price
drop was reaching as much as 3 percent. Investors do not seem to be too happy
about the fact that company lost its energetic CEO. However, they are far from
being in panic mood since they have not yet seen the quality of Melnyk’s
managerial decisions.
Kosyuk, 46, launched what later became MHP in 1995,
while introducing Nasha Ryaba poultry brand in 2001 was crucial for company’s performance
as Ukrainians on average consume more poultry than Europeans since it’s cheaper
than pork and beef. MHP’s share of local poultry market reaches 54 percent,
while 24 percent of its production is being exported with the European Union as
one of the key export destinations since 2013.
Kosyuk is seen as a manager with strong personal
skills both by his former co-workers and his competitors. Most of the MHP’s
corporate decisions included his direct involvement, while he is able to
delegate powers to the management team. Almost 20 percent of company’s workforce
is being laid off annually to let talented newcomers in, which is an element of
Kosyuk’s staff policy, influenced by the views of Jack Welch, American business
writer.
Dina Ivleva, who holds one of the senior positions in
MHP management, calls Kosyuk a good planner whose decision making is based on numbers
and calculations.
Oleksandr Bakumenko, board member of major chicken egg
producer Ovostar, thinks Kosyuk’s patriotism is his key motivation for
accepting the office in Poroshenko’s administration, since salaries of government
officials have little in common with those of agriculture CEOs. “As a young man
he dreamed to become a soldier,” added Bakumenko.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Agribusiness Club leader and
Industrialna Molochna Kompaniya agriculture holding CEO Alex Lissitsa sees
Kosyuk as one of the nation’s most effective managers. “He created one of the
best vertically integrated agriculture companies in the world from nothing,” he
admitted, while many local moguls are being criticized for building their
wealth trough suspicious privatization programs.
However, many former business executives, who received
public offices after overthrowing former president Viktor Yanukovych, complain
about the sabotage of the employees, most of whom are used to Soviet-style bureaucratic
management with long decision implementing process. Since now, this might be
Kosyuk’s major challenge too.
Kyiv Post staff writer Iana Koretska can
be reached at [email protected].
