It has been three years since the start of the EuroMaidan Revolution that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power in 2014.While Yanukovych’s departure is one of the highlights of the nation’s recent history, Ukraine has had other successes — and many setbacks.
While Yanukovych’s departure is one of the highlights of the nation’s recent history, Ukraine has had other successes — and many setbacks.
Evaluating where Ukraine stands today is the focus of the Kyiv Post’s Nov. 29 Tiger Conference will be the challenge of the Reality Check panel, the last one of the day.
American-Canadian journalist Diane Francis will moderate a discussion that includes Ciklum CEO Torben Majgaard, Bloc of Petro Poroshenko member of parliament Sergii Leshchenko, former Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius and U.S.-Ukraine Business Council president Morgan Williams.
The four panelists have gained fans – and critics – for their vocal criticism of the shortcomings of some of Ukraine’s leaders.
Torben Majgaard
Torben Majgaard heads Ciklum, one of Ukraine’s largest information-technology outsourcing companies. Headquartered in Kyiv, the firm has offices across Europe and in Pakistan. Majgaard, who is originally from Denmark, moved to Ukraine nearly 20 years ago.
He founded Ciklum in 2002. It has since grown into the country’s fifth-largest IT company by number of employees.
Many look to the IT firm as an example of how the country’s human capital can be harnessed to make Ukrainian products competitive in foreign markets. Billionaire George Soros invested an undisclosed amount in Ciklum in November 2015, adding to the firm’s prestige.
Majgaard himself has been a consistent advocate of Ukraine’s IT sector as a conduit for increased investment into the country.
Morgan Williams
The business community will also be represented by Morgan Williams, head of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council. Williams, who hails from Kansas, worked on issues involving Ukraine since 1992. He was staff member for former U.S. Senator Bob Dole, focusing on agriculture issues. Those Capitol Hill connections dovetail with Williams’s other main employer: Investment fund SigmaBleyzer, for which he works as government relations executive in Washington, D.C.
Sergii Leshchenko
Member of parliament and former investigative journalist Sergii Leshchenko will also speak on the panel. Leshchenko attained prominence as a muckraking reporter for Ukrainska Pravda news website, where he started work in 2001.
Leshchenko investigated the corrupt dealings of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. After the 2014 EuroMaidan Revolution, he became a member of parliament in the president’s faction. He has used that perch to shed light on allegations of cronyism in the Poroshenko administration and he has remained a powerful voice, within Ukraine and abroad, against corruption.
In response, the president’s political party has attempted to reduce the deputy’s influence in parliament.
Aivaras Abromavicius
Former Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius, who created a political earthquake when he quit in February and accused Poroshenko ally and lawmaker Igor Kononenko of corruption and interference, will also speak.
Abromavicius started doing business in Ukraine in the early 2000s. A U.S.-educated Lithuanian investment banker, he served in the Cabinet of Ministers of former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who was forced out in April.
Abromavicius, a powerful critic of cronyism and corruption, also remains a political figure in Lithuania.
“My resignation hopefully will serve as a cold shower for the leadership of the country that something is going wrong,” Abromavicius said in his February resignation speech.
How much has changed since then will a topic of discussion at the conference.
