Eurasia Foundation develops regional business centers (05/17/98)

Eurasia Foundation develops regional business centers

by Allison Pearsall

RIVNE - Ukraine's transition to capitalism has meant unprecedented opportunities for entrepreneurs, the transition has also ushered in a major side effect in the form of unemployment. Unemployment has become a fact of life for millions of Ukrainians, among them a sizable segment of college graduates now desperately trying to join the country's work force.

In the northern Ukrainian city of Rivne, where tough times have hit harder than in most regions of the republic, the majority of residents under age 30 are out of work. Though official figures put the number of jobless at 30,000, unofficial unemployment estimates run as high as 65 percent in a city of a quarter million people.

"In Soviet times unemployment was non-existent, and university graduates were automatically given jobs," said Peter Vakhnyuk, director of the Rivne Regional Business Center (RRBC), a non-governmental organization supported by the Eurasia Foundation. "Standard Western-style career centers, which can be found on every college campus and in even the smallest towns in the U.S., are a rare commodity here. Our office is in fact the first and only employment and small business center in the entire oblast," he noted.

Pioneered by Help-NORD Ltd., a local company, the RRBC was established to promote jobs and small business activity in the area. The RRBC's services include a wide range of courses and seminars to train job seekers, business and legal consultation for entrepreneurs, and economic roundtables involving economists, government representatives and the business community.

Recently the Eurasia Foundation awarded the RRBC two separate grants that total almost $32,000 for upcoming economic support projects. With these grants the center will be able to train approximately 75 managers in business leadership and continue to provide professional guidance to entrepreneurs. The center will hold seven business seminars on issues such as corporate management in joint-stock companies, small business management and current tax regulations.

Since its inception, the RRBC has held four two-month, comprehensive training courses in small business management, and 17 seminars on topics such as the fundamentals of a market economy, marketing, management, accounting, and legal and customs regulations. To date, over 400 people have attended the center's seminars and, as Mr. Vakhnyuk proudly pointed out, 41 of the 85 trainees have already found employment with various private companies in Rivne or obtained financing to start their own businesses.

The RRBC also maintains a good working relationship with local authorities. The center recently organized a two-day roundtable to address unemployment issues, and to help strengthen cooperation between the government and private businesses in boosting the region's economy with the intention that recommendations made during the roundtable eventually will be incorporated into the regional state administration's economic policy.

Created by the U.S. government in 1993 and currently funded by a mix of public and private donors, the Eurasia foundation is an independently managed grant- and loan-making organization headquartered in Washington, with field offices in Aremenia, Azebaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan. With an open-door policy designed to encourage initiative at the grassroots, the goals of the Foundation's field offices are to respond to local funding needs, provide financial support for economic development and civic reform, and help build strong, market-driven economies within a solid democratic framework.