Open lecture with Vasyl Khmelnytsky and Rick Rasmussen gathered entrepreneurs at UNIT.City
On April 17, in UNIT.City innovation park, Rick Rasmussen and Vasyl Khmelnytsky talked about the global trends that are changing the business world today. The event was organized by Small and Medium Entrepreneurship School and gathered more than 400 people, mostly entrepreneurs.
Vasyl Khmelnytsky revealed the main challenges entrepreneurs will face in the near future and told about the steps the companies of UFuture Investment Group already take to prepare for the global changes. And the first tendency, according to Vasyl Khmelnytsky, is the displacement of the retail industry by the Internet commerce.
“One hypermarket is being closed every day in the world. The reason is the speed and affordable prices in online shopping. In the future, the need to buy many types of products will decrease significantly as a large percentage of the people will be able to produce the necessary things from the comfort of their home with the help of 3D printers that will become widespread at that time. And this is why UDP, our development company, isn’t building hypermarkets now,” the founder of UFuture said.
The second global trend noted by the head of the investment group is urbanization . “According to futurologists, in 100 years, there will be about 300 large cities with a population of 10 to 50 million in the world. And the term “country” will probably be forgotten by that time.” This is why Vasyl Khmelnytsky continues to invest in the Ukrainian capital, developing the UNIT.City innovation park as well as building residential and commercial real estate and modernizing the Kyiv International Airport .
The third challenge, according to the founder of UFuture, is climate change . In order to slow down global warming, governments should switch to renewable energy, which takes only 2% in Ukraine. “Green energy, garbage recycling, and the creation of ecosystems for a healthy life – this is the future. And this is why UDP Renewables keeps building solar power stations all over the country. And by 2022, the company plans to become one of the largest producers of clean energy in Ukraine with 300 MW of power plants’ total capacity”, – Vasyl Khmelnytsky said.
And the last challenge for entrepreneurs around the world will be the intense use of robotics and artificial intelligence . Systems that can determine the veracity of a person’s words have already been invented and work successfully. “Imagine how banking, law enforcement and jurisprudence will change in the near future!” Vasyl Khmelnytsky said to the participants of the event. The founder of UFuture added that the companies of the investment group will use the benefits of this trend using automation systems that increase the efficiency of production by hundreds of times. And on the other hand, Vasyl Khmelnytsky will keep creating thousands of new jobs by opening enterprises. ” Plank Electrotechnic that was opened on April 11 in Bila Tserkva Industrial Park provided up to 50 specialists with jobs. It’s not many. But as soon as all the necessary components are being supplied from Ukrainian productions, we create jobs at those enterprises simultaneously, instead of stimulating the development of the economy of China or Turkey.”
Professor of the University of California in Berkeley, Rick Rasmussen, who is a mentor of more than 1,000 successful companies, also gave a speech at the event. Like the founder of UFuture, the professor also spoke about global trends in business development, particularly about the globalization trend. Accordingly to the native of the Silicon Valley, Ukrainian entrepreneurs should not limit themselves to the domestic market and they should think about the entrance of their business to the international arena from the very beginning.
Rick Rasmussen is convinced that in order to enter the global market, an entrepreneur must consider the cultural specificity of the new audience, have a clear understanding of the problems and values of the inhabitants of the target region. And, in addition to communicating with new clients in their language, taking into account even the local accent, in many cases, it’s also necessary to localize the product itself to make it meet the needs of the new consumers.
According to Rick Rasmussen, managing director of Concordia Ventures, an international company that develops innovative ecosystem strategies for more than 20 governments and private companies around the world, to enter the foreign market, a business owner needs to have a stable position of his company in his home country. It will be a great support when it comes to having difficulties in the new market.
The speakers encouraged the participants of the event to develop business both in Ukraine and globally and not to be afraid to lose their profession as, according to Vasyl Khmelnytsky, entrepreneurship will be the last kind of work a robot can replace.