This explanation was given by Jaroslawa Johnson, President and CEO of the Western NIS Enterprise Fund, while introducing this year’s program recipients. The event was attended by the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey R. Pyatt.
Among the recipients of the SEED Grant program, scholarships were granted to nine students who will pursue their MBAs and four students majoring in MPA, MPP and LL.M studies. They will attend the best universities in the U.S. and the U.K., including the MIT Sloan School of Management, Yale School of Management, Duke Fuqua School of Business, University of Michigan Ross School of Business, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and others.
“We are pleased to congratulate Ukrainians striving for personal growth for the sake of their country’s development,” stated Jaroslawa Johnson, President and CEO of the Western NIS Enterprise Fund. “This year we have been observing a positive tendency towards an increase in a number of applicants keen on entering leading American schools to gain necessary skills and implement their ideas in Ukraine. It is important that scholarship recipients represent various fields, ranging from investment banking and the oil and gas sector to education and communications”.
Geoffrey R. Pyatt, the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, commented that the U.S. is ready to invest in developing the professional competency of Ukrainian business leaders and state officials in order to make a real difference in reforming the country.
The Western NIS Enterprise Fund plans to invest about USD 5 mln, within the framework of the SEED Grant Scholarship, by supporting Ukrainian professionals in obtaining a business education in 2016-2018. By 2018, a total of 40 successful Ukrainians will receive a scholarship through the SEED Grant. In 2015, five students from Ukraine pursued studies with funding from the SEED Grant program. All scholarship recipients are to return to Ukraine after two years of study and apply their knowledge and skills towards the development of this country’s business and economy.
