Ukrainian Entrepreneur Rides the (Bumpy) Road to Success

Since 1996, I've conducted high level training programs for the US Department of Commerce SABIT program. The SABIT (Special American Business Intemship Training) program goal is to support economic restructuring, encourage market-based concepts, strengthen management skills, bolster economic growth, and attract foreign investment to the eleven Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union (NIS). Senior managers, business owners and entrepreneurs are selected for training sessions that last four to six weeks. Participants are exposed to a new way of thinking, incorporating market demand, customer satisfaction and "bottom line" reasoning. My role is to deliver a three day seminar titled "Writing an Effective Business Plan."

Elena Baryshnikova, owner of Lex-Service Ltd., an accounting, auditing and business consulting enterprise in Sevastopol, Ukraine, was a participant in my first SABIT training. We struck an immediate accord and consumed our business planning dialogue via e mail after her SABIT internship concluded. Baryshnikova was determined to get me to Ukraine and she did - in April 2000 I dipped my toe in the beautiful Black Sea Natural splendor permeates the Crimea's Black Sea, a noteworthy crossroads of ancient Greek, Turkish, and Byzantine civilizations. Glorious sunshine and springtime blossoms inhance the exquisite Black Sea coast Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe with a population of about 52 million. After Russia, the Ukrainian Republic was by far the most important economic contributor to the former Soviet Union, producing more than three tunes the output of the next-ranking republic. Its fertile black soil generated more than one-fourth of Soviet agricultural advisors into revitalizing economies where businesses and organizations are in need of expertise to compete in a market driven, global economy.

During the 14 hour overnight train ride from Odessa to Sevastopol, Elena and I strategized on how best to utilize the assignment time. On site, I met collectively and individually with each staff member and each partner. In addition to her Lex-Service goals, Baryshnikova sought to implement an aggressive mass media plan for UFPAA. Much to our surprise, Journalists embraced our ideas and clamored for interviews Sevastopol City TV Station conducted two interviews: a half-hour live telecast and a hve interview for the evening news preceding an IAS lecture. Journalist Lev Bleskin from Glory a/Sevastopol met with Baryshnikova and me three times and produced a huge article reflecting our views. Radio Continent interviewed us during a live program Listeners were so enthusiastic that the station ran it twice.

One of the joys of working with Elena was getting to know her well personally. Her pas sion for her business was evident from the moment we met. She is an avid bicyclist and swimmer, adores pets, particularly her cat and bird, supports her renowned artist/sculptor husband Sasha and appreciates traveling.

Since the assignment closed in May 2000, Elena has penetrated new market niches and expanded services to undeserved industries Over the next two years Lex-Service will increase market share by 10% per year. They have introduced new client services such as systems of management accounting and output Its well-developed, diversified heavy industry supplied equipment and raw materials to industrial mining sites in many USSR regions.

In November 1992, then - Prime Minister Kuchma, now Ukraine's president, launched an economic reform program promising more freedom to the agricultural sector, faster privatization of small and medium enterprise, and stricter control over state subsidies. Even with these promises, the magnitude of problems and the slow pace in building new market oriented institutions preclude economic recovery Combating poor infrastructure in taxation, legal, accounting and banking systems weakens businesses.

"We need bold business leaders today," says Baryshnikova, an MBA graduate of Edinburgh University in Scotland, who stepped forward as a leader in implementing International Accounting Standards (LAS) Lex Service registered in 1994. The company has more than 500 clients in the Sevastopol/Yalta region and employs 14 people. Baryshnikova requested assistance with long-term strategy, including increasing market share, setting tactical goals, and lending expertise to operational/organizational productivity. She contracted my firm through Citizens Democracy Corps (CDC), a non-profit organization with over a decade of experience in Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet Union countries. CDC sends this assignment. Were we just lucky? No. Lex-Service prepared. How? By packaging press kits, briefing papers, targeting articles, preparing written and oral lectures and a organizing a concentrated, hard-hitting public relations timetable. The best is yet to come. Lex-Service now has a detailed strategic two year, long-term plan that includes a marketing map supported by a master media plan containing public relations and community outreach components and a network expansion framework. On the operations side, Elena's approach comprises client contract improvements, finely tuned staff training, implementation of-time-keeping methods, expanded client historical files, and improved collection techniques for accounts receivable.

In an e-mail last month, Elena observed, "My business is growing in accordance with the strategic plan, but the market situation is changing constantly. So I adapt my plan to it. I remember your advice. I implement it every day," she said.
Despite economic ruts and detours, the road to success is a lot smoother with a plan.