State, banks or funds: where to get funds for Ukrainian business — discussion at the Forum of Innovative Industries
In June, the Bila Tserkva Industrial Park (a project of the UFuture holding company) hosted the second Forum of Innovative Productions, organized by KIEF. In the panel “Investment in production: prospects, conditions, risks” experts from different sectors — banking, investment, government — discussed ways to attract financing to the manufacturing sector and methods of efficient use of funds.
Among the issues on the agenda:
- State, banks, or funds: where and on what terms is it profitable to raise funds for business development?
- Under what conditions is fundraising necessary?
- How to manage money and build financial management in the company?
Kyrylo Bondar, partner, and CFO of the UNIT.City innovation park and moderator of the panel noted that the pandemic has changed the global financial sphere in a radical way:
“The impact of Covid-19 on the financial sector has been enormous. The amount of money printed by governments over the past two years is estimated at trillions of dollars. The money supply increased by tens of percent. All this affects the economy and production. States have taken unprecedented incentives to support their economies and households.”
Logistics chains are changing, there are risks that no one thought about before, the expert added.
As for production, investment in it is the basis for the economic growth of any country. Igor Liski, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Effective Investments, is convinced of this:
“The future of Ukraine is in terms of production. All the things we associate with a successful country start with production. Other sectors of the economy, including services, are secondary to it. (…) Production is the basis of any chain and any growth. This is where a successful country begins.”
Investments in production are also profitable for banks, said Oleg Malizhko, Deputy Director of Corporate Banking and Transaction Business of Ukrgasbank. Investments in production are always complex sales, he emphasizes.
“When we sell an investment loan for production, we will most likely sell working capital for it. Such funds are always needed when expanding or creating a new business. New employees are also involved — and this is a salary project for the bank. We are interested in products from the point of view of complex development and complex sales,” Oleh Malyzhko said.
What should be the role of the state, said the executive director of the Office of Investment Attraction and Support UkraineInvest Sergei Tsivkach:
“The role of the state is to govern the country for the well-being of citizens. We are engaged in attracting investments and their support, and each direction is important for us, but production has its own special place. Production is about people, about new jobs, about decent work. That is why production, especially with high added value, is a priority of the state and UkraineInvest”.
The whole world cannot go online, the speaker added: someone has to produce furniture, spare parts, food. In his opinion, the greatest potential of Ukraine is people.
“At today's Innovative Productions Forum, I see more people than at IT conferences, where we are increasingly invited. I think this is a very important signal. Production is the basis of the economy, the basis of GDP. We at Horizon Capital continue to invest in manufacturing. Despite all the hype around IT and other areas, production remains the third most popular area of investment," said Dmytro Borodai, Horizon Capital's principal.
