Name: Roman Tychkivsky
Age: 29
Education: Economic science and innovations, Barcelona Graduate School of Economics
Profession: CEO of Ukrainian Leadership Academy
Did you know? He plays three musical instruments — saxophone, clarinet, and sopilka (Ukrainian wooden flute.)
Roman Tychkivsky was born in the small town of Rohatyn in western Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. From a very young age, his parents taught him to respect his country, its people and its traditions. When he grew up, Tychkivsky realized that the values he was raised with were not shared by all others in society. “I felt that it was unfair that we had to adjust,” he said.
During his last year in high school, Tychkivsky went to the United States on the FLEX exchange program. He spent a year there, and the experience convinced him that the values he was taught as a child could in fact work in Ukraine.
“I wanted to bring back everything I saw there, and put it into practice at home.”
After coming back to Ukraine, Tychkivsky studied economics at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He then took the summer program at the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University.
Next, he continued his education at the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics and participated in the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program.
Later on, Tychkivsky worked for the U. S. Western NIS Enterprise Fund as a project manager. At one of the conferences he attended, he met former Israeli official Erez Eshel, and was impressed by his speech. Eshel spoke of his country working with its people from kindergarten to nursing home.
“This story pushed me forward.”
Eshel and Tychkivsky came up with the idea of launching a leadership school for Ukrainian youth based on the Israeli model.
With the support of Western NIS Enterprise Fund Tychkivsky founded the Ukrainian Leadership Academy in 2015 in Kyiv. Today it also has branches in Lviv, Mykolaiv, Poltava and Kharkiv.
The academy offers a 10-month program of personal and social development to Ukrainian high school graduates aged 16–18.
The program is aimed at developing students emotionally, intellectually and physically and is based on values. Program participants study the liberal arts, do sports and arts, and take trips to Israel and European countries.
The academy has had 234 graduates over the last two years, and has 198 students studying this year. He says changes will come in 10 years.
“By 2030 we hope to see our students in the most challenging fields in the country — business, education, national security, government, healthcare, and diplomacy.” Tychkivsky says he wants young people to influence society. “I want our country to work with the new generation … If we work with them we can get so much in return, and we will be able to make up for so much lost time.”
