The annual Spring Business Forum “Indomitable Ukrainian Business – Expert View” was held

The first panel of the forum “Support of international partners during wartime” Yuriy Pivovarov (Chairman of the KMEF Organizing Committee) moderated perfectly, professionally building the conversation.

The panel was joined by Lesya Kuzmenko (Deputy Head of the EBRD Mission in Ukraine), Olena Voloshyna (International Financial Corporation), Oleg Noga (Member of the Board of KredoBank), Orest Hryniv (Lviv Regional Military Administration).

The second panel of the Forum “Business during the war” moderated by Volodymyr Glaschenkov, trying to build the most useful dialogue with Hleb Vyshlinsky (head and analyst of the Center for Economic Strategy), Anton Kirkach (member of the KredoBank Board), Yaroslav Rushchyshyn (people’s deputy of Ukraine).

Ruslan Ilyichev from the Federation of Employers of Ukraine and Vasyl Furman, a member of the NBU Council, provided meaningful and valuable comments on the areas of their professional expertise.

Anton Kirkach, a member of the board of JSC “Kredobank”, emphasized that before this important moment of reconstruction of Ukraine comes, Ukrainian enterprises must withstand the war.

For this, they need current lending, which before the war would have been called circulating credit, and today – financing for survival, support of business activities.

Lending was practically frozen last year. At that time, Kredobank was actively looking for other alternative sources of resources for business financing, as well as ways to cover credit risks due to full-scale military operations.

At the beginning of 2023, Kredobank JSC managed to launch two credit risk sharing programs in cooperation with the EBRD and the European Commission through the Polish Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK).

According to the new risk sharing agreement in the framework of cooperation with the EBRD, the institution assumes 50% of the credit risk of new financing provided by Kredobank, with a total value of 35 million euros, but not more than 50% of the loan portfolio.

Thanks to the EBRD’s risk-sharing tool, it is possible to finance Ukrainian companies operating in such critical sectors of the economy as agribusiness and agribusiness services, food processing, transport and logistics, retail trade and pharmaceuticals.

The line of guarantees from the European Commission has a wider geographical coverage, as it allows lending to companies on the front line or near war zones.

This was one of the conditions of the European Commission: this type of instruments should be used more widely also in view of their mission nature. The amount of the credit guarantee from the European Commission is 10 million euros, with the possibility of increasing it to 20 million euros from the 13th month of the implementation of the program.

The guarantee covers 90% of the loan amount. To date, almost 80% of loans within the framework of credit risk distribution programs have been issued to enterprises that continue their activities in front-line zones.

Kredobank is also an active participant in the state portfolio guarantee program, the state program “Affordable loans 5-7-9%” and various business support programs from local administrations.

Kredobank also lends to exporters – thanks to cooperation with the Export Credit Agency, at the beginning of May this year, it was possible to issue the first loan to an exporter company from Dnipro, which received financing in the amount of UAH 4 million to fulfill a contract for the supply of products to Bulgaria.

Kredobank plans to attract new customers of the small and medium business segment and the corporate sector from sustainable industries and industries important for reconstruction, such as agriculture and agro-processing, IT, transport and logistics, and medical services.

Full-scale war wreaks havoc on a daily basis. Therefore, JSC “Kredobank” conducts constant work with international funds and institutions, because Ukrainian entrepreneurship needs significant investments to survive.

At a time when our Armed Forces of Ukraine are fighting the enemy at the cost of incredible efforts, the organizers of the Forum could not help but include in the program an auction held together with Ihor Dulyn, an entrepreneur and the head of the public organization “Dobro.Diy”.

So, Charity auction “Collection for Birds of Victory” aroused considerable interest among those present. The most funds for the needs of the Armed Forces were collected with the following lots: a lifebuoy from the destroyed cruiser “Moscow”, a baseball cap with the autograph of General Valery Zaluzhny, a painting about the victory by Mykhailo Demtsi, a piece of combat armor from Bakhmut.

As part of the third panel of the Forum “What should be changed in Ukraine after the war”which was moderated by Taras Yatsenko (the leader of the “Your City” media hub), discussed the directions of the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine together with Natalia Kryvda, who expressed wise considerations about the role of culture in these transformational processes, and Vadym Denysenko, director of the Ukrainian Institute of the Future, who professionally formulated possible options for the future of Ukraine, Yulia Seleznyova, who focused on our veterans, who need support and help every day.

At the same time, Volodymyr Vorobei (PPV Knowledge Networks) competently summarized the steps related to institutional changes that we should implement.

The fourth inspirational panel “Examples of building successful competitive Ukrainian companies”which has been concluding the Spring Business Forum for many years, has always been moderated by Roman Bilyk, managing partner of “Nexia DK”.

This year, Olena Guseva, leader of the MILIGUS.tactical clothing project, and Vitaliy Sedler, co-owner of Intellias, shared their experience of drastic reformatting of activities, and Andriy Rozhdestvenskyi, executive director of the UCU Leadership Center, commented very qualitatively on their speeches.

The organizers are extremely grateful to the speakers, participants, and most of all to the partners of this year’s Spring Business Forum, thanks to whom it was possible to hold it at this level: KredoBank, UNIQA Ukraine, Meest Poshta, Nexia DK. Auditors & Consultants, Well Bud, Union of Business Automatizers, Molokiya, UDP, LvivTech.City, Audi Center Lviv on Lypinsky, Astoria, Hotel and Health Complex “Svyatiy Charbel”, Your City, Accents Plus, 24 Kanal, Lviv today, gram, TRK PERSHYI ZAHIDNYI, LIMO.

Spring Business Forum website:

Broadcasting: