Lviv 2020: how Lviv family business transforms Ukraine

30.09.2020

The 36th FBN Ukraine event, which took place at the end of August in Lviv, a city with a special atmosphere of hospitality and doing business, gathered 70 participants-representatives of the Association of Family Business Owners. This long-awaited meeting after the quarantine was made unforgettable by its bright program, which included a visit to the best Ukrainian family companies in Lviv, the members of FBN Ukraine like Enzim, Kormotech and Barkom. Among other things, there was the communication with the representatives of the Lviv UCU business school and a visit to the unique Sheptytskiy library, a trip to the Svirzh castle, viewing the performance in the theater named after Les Kourbas, and much more.

The event started with a trip to the Svirzh Castle, the first mention of which dates back to 1530. The castle was built in the Middle Ages as a fortress, but over time, it lost its defensive significance and turned into the most romantic castle in Lviv region.

After registration, the participants got acquainted with the family of the Edem Resort Medical & Spa complex owners - Igor Krivetskiy and Olga Filatova-Krivetskaya. For the guests, they prepared an excursion with a visit to the recreation areas: the main square, galleries, lakes, golf courses and villas.

Traditionally, after dinner, the participants of the event gathered in the Circle of Trust, where they discussed the lessons of quarantine: what the lockdown taught, how the crisis in families and companies was come through, what conclusions they made.

The evening of the first day ended with a separate networking format for NextGens. At 8 next morning, the representatives of the family companies second generation gathered to discuss NextGeneration cases.

The welcoming speech of the FBN Ukraine President Vladislav Burda ‘10 years later. Terrain orientation’ was dedicated to the FBN community. Larisa Mudrak, CEO of FBN Ukraine, spoke about the second annual competition for the best family company in Ukraine.

The program was continued by the NextGen panel, during which the representatives of the second generation in business reflected on the topic ‘Advice to Oneself in the Past.' Alexander Mikhaylenko (NextGen leader, Head of the MIRS Corporation Project Office), Marina Yevtushenko (Chief Strategy Officer at Familia Dental Clinic), Sergey Korin (CEO at Ruta Family Club Hotel), Dmitriy Burda (Head of the RedHead Family Corporation Real Estate Department) presented the retrospectives of integration into their family businesses.

Sofia Opatskaya, the founding dean of the school, made a presentation on the Lviv Business School of UCU (LvBS) and its new business model ‘UCU Strategy on Forming a Value Leader for Ukrainian Business.’ After networking in an informal setting, the participants of the event went for a tour of the UCU founder Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskiy’s library. The library is one of the leading university libraries in Ukraine and a public space. The UCU Resource and Information Center combines classrooms, public space, conference rooms, a children's area, a cafe, a bookstore, an exhibition area, some administrative premises and the library.

The family company Barkom (TM Rodynna Kovbaska) hosted the Lviv event. Three generations of the company owners made a presentation and showed the guests the genogram of the Baran and Bavorovskiy family. Barkom has over 20 years of experience. Now it is a vertically integrated structure engaged in hog and cattle growing, manufacturing and marketing of food products. The company owns about twenty farms; 8 thousand hectares of land are cultivated. 260 Rodynna Kovbaska stores are located in 11 regions of Ukraine and in Kyiv. The company employs 1,900 people.

Next morning started with a transfer to the Enzym office and a tour of the plant with a visit to the museum of the company. Enzyme is a second-generation family business. A large-scale, biotechnological Ukrainian enterprise with a long history, it is the leader in the domestic yeast product market with a 60% share exporting about 40% of its products to 16 countries. To conserve natural resources, it uses biogas obtained from wastewater treatment, which provides about 70% of the company's energy needs.

Then the participants of the event got acquainted with the presentation of the Vovk family - from the owners of Kormotech and Enzim companies Rostislav and Juliana Vovk, Yelena Vovk and Philip Vishich. After tasting some yeast products and Croatian rose, the participants of the event continued to communicate with the family members in an informal setting.

After lunch, the participants went on a tour of the Kormotech office. The company was founded in 2003. Kormotech is the largest producer of animal feed in Ukraine and exports its products to 25 countries. In 2017, they took the 30th place in the rating ‘TOP-50 manufacturers of animal feed in Europe.’ The company created the unique development school for industry specialists and a humanitarian scholarship for schoolchildren. 85% of the company's employees are cat and dog owners.

The case of the Lviv Business School (LvBS) that deals with Kormotech was presented by the marketing director of the company Igor Blistiv. The case answered three questions:

- how to enter global markets having developed an export strategy;

- how to diversify risks in business and turn threats into new opportunities;

- how the global export strategy affects internal changes and the operating processes of a company.

The Kormotech presentation was made by the co-owner of the company Rostislav Vovk.

Viewing of the play ‘Grateful Herodiy’ at the Lviv Academic Theater named after Les Kurbas gave a chance to finish the day in a glowing way. The theater was founded in 1988 by Vladimir Kuchinskiy and a group of young actors, and named as a tribute to the outstanding Ukrainian theatre director Les Kurbas. Critics consider its collective the unique theatrical phenomenon that has brought back intellectual prestige to the Ukrainian stage. In the play ‘Grateful Herodiy,’ philosophical texts echo the images of Bosch's paintings, which are present in costumes and projections. This is one of the most beautiful performances of the theater, and the play has a long history, as its first version appeared back in 1933. It became one of the most significant events in the modern history of the Ukrainian theater.

On Sunday, after a golf master class, everyone took part in the ‘First Family Golf Tournament of FBN Ukraine.’