REbuilding Ukraine Agency – a Year in the Life!

Ability to see around the corners is not always a good thing. Although it gets one to places early, armed with advanced information and knowledge, it is a lonely place, as others at the time do not wish to hear, or process this information.

Today, it seems like everyone is talking about Rebuilding Ukraine, various government agencies, non-profits and private sector folks. The war still rages on, yet the “Prepare now for Rebuilding” theme is everywhere. Webinars, trade shows, talking heads, academic papers are written, new agencies and rebuilding initiatives are being established. Today’s message from the pundits is “let’s prepare, let’s start now, as it takes a long time to develop projects; it is complicated, and it is important”. For all of us at the Rebuilding Ukraine Agency, these constant posts, seminars and activities almost always put a smile on our faces, as March 24th marks a full year since the Rebuilding Ukraine Agency was officially founded with the sole mission of providing international solutions to help Ukraine recover and rebuild itself from the damages of the horrific russian aggression. A year ago, almost nobody was talking about Rebuilding Ukraine, yet a small, private sector, member-owned, international organization was created specifically to help address strategic needs of a war-ravaged country, both during and post conflict. It was created then, because all of us who founded the Agency knew that it takes a very long time, it is complicated and in order to succeed the right people would need to be selected and would have to do tremendous work. The organization, which itself has had to go from nascency to adulthood, while developing effective solutions among the chaos, political discord, bureaucracy and ongoing war, all while dealing with missile attacks on peaceful cities and Ukraine’s rapidly deteriorating economic conditions.

If one were to make a military analogy about the evolution of the Agency over the first 12 months of existence, it went from a shotgun to a high-powered sniper rifle. Its initial member and prospective member roster consisted of a buckshot of small and mid -sized firms interested in knowing more about the subject of rebuilding and charged with emotion of the early war days, when Ukraine was on CNN 24/7. Membership in 2022 was free, emotional response overwhelming and people (most of whom have never been to or worked in Ukraine) wanted to belong to the cause. As the year went on, and time came to start paying membership dues, the Agency’s membership roster shrank by about 30 percent and became laser focused. Effective management and governance were established, several projects in the areas of construction materials production, real estate and medical rehabilitation with combined value of over $100 million went into active development. Another $120+million in project financing and political risk insurance proposals are currently out for review and acceptance by the prospective investors. Active work is taking place in assisting our members to develop effective demining and unexploded ordnance removal operations for agricultural and urban environments, infrastructure and residential construction projects, new municipal heating solutions, effective PTSD rehabilitation centers and construction industry training programs. The membership bulked up, as large international companies started to join the Agency with more candidates emerging every week.

The Agency has created several strategic relationships, among which, the most notable were cooperation with the Rebuilding Ukraine Association (501C3 non-profit on industry education initiatives, signed MOUs with the Confederation of Ukrainian Builders and with the Mayors’ Club. The Agency provided humanitarian assistance to a birthing hospital in Nizhin (although much more needs to be done there and our efforts fell short of targets). We conducted free financing master classes to over 20 Ukrainian municipalities and announced another series of training sessions to help them improve their economic development activities and increase their attractiveness to international investors. Earlier this month, the Agency announced that its Board Member Dr. Anzola, who is renowned for training multiple Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) around the world, will offer a pro bono training course to Ukraine’s official Export Credit Agency. One of our members – a director of a large, global architectural firm has with the Agency’s support, led her firm to set up a pro bono effort to help modernize the city of Irpin in accordance with the latest energy efficiency and smart city standards. The Agency’s participation at the REbuild Ukraine event in Warsaw in February was a smashing success. The Warsaw event provided updated clarity of the current situation and allowed the Agency to plot new directions towards expansion of its membership roster, economic development assistance for Ukrainian cities and municipalities and development of new funding sources. Our community following the Agency on social media organically grew to over 1,500 followers.

I sincerely want to thank everyone who over the last year has contributed to the Agency’s success and development. Special thanks go to all the Board Members, our Corporate Officers, supporting professionals and Advisors. Thanks to the representatives of the US and Ukrainian Governments, as well as IFIs for all your help and support. Special thanks to our friends at the US-Ukraine Business Council and to all of you who followed our progress, read our materials and offered to help Ukraine in this difficult time. Thank You!

So where do we go from here? To find out you will need to read our upcoming posts and continue to follow us, as we remain steadfast in our commitment to help Ukraine Win this war and Rebuild! Slava Ukraini!