USUF publishes inaugural issue of business journal Potential (01/18/04)

USUF publishes inaugural issue of business journal Potential

by Olenka Dobczanska

WASHINGTON - The inaugural issue of the business magazine Potential, the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation's newest bilingual publication, has been printed in Ukraine. Potential is a journal that promotes business and economic development in the U.S. and Ukraine by creating and sustaining communication and cooperation between American and Ukrainian businesses, educational institutions and government agencies.

Potential strives to be timely by reporting on current business news and events and by analyzing current trends and developments in the Ukrainian and American economies. Potential hopes to also become a unique and essential business reference guide for leaders in government and business in the United States and Ukraine by publishing directories of businesses with contact information and how-to articles on various aspects of conducting successful businesses.

The publication is produced in the Washington offices of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation by Managing Editor John Kun, USUF Senior Advisor for Government Relations and Foundation Development Morgan Williams and USUF Economic Development Program Manager Irene Mokra. Staff members who worked on the first issue included USUF summer interns Andriy Shekhovtsov and Lyudmyla Polyun, USUF Program Associate Miriam Bates, USUF Administration Associate Marko Serbinsky, as well as interns Yuriy Piskalyuk and Olga Sukhanova.

The inaugural 52-page issue introduces the editorial team and gives an overview of the foundation's programs. Greetings and congratulations from important players who promote U.S.-Ukraine business are interspersed throughout the issue. They include messages from Anatoliy Kinakh, president of the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Federation of Employers of Ukraine; Rep. Marcy Kaptur, (R-Ohio); Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, Ukraine's minister of foreign affairs; Tim Honey, executive director of Sister Cities International; and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance.

Each subsequent issue will contain an overview of the latest developments in Ukraine-U.S. trade and business relationships. The variety of articles that will be contained in each issue is intended to appeal to a wide audience.

Feature articles will highlight a company or institution, along with an interview with a company representative. For example, the first issue contains an interview with Jed Sunden of KP Publications, which counts the Kyiv Post among its publications, and with Yaroslav Lyubinets of Soft-Serve Inc., a Lviv-based software company that is successfully operating in Eastern Europe and the United States. There are also interviews with Michael Considine, BISNIS trade specialist for Ukraine and Moldova at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Natalka Jaresko, president and CEO of the Western NIS Enterprise Fund.

Potential will also contain very practical articles designed to serve as reference material for people interested in business ventures in Ukraine. How-to articles in the first issue include one by Nestor Scherbey on "How to Export to Global Markets." The former U.S. commercial attaché in Kyiv, Andew Bihun, provides suggestions on how do business with U.S. companies in "An Overview of Cooperation between Ukraine and U.S."

Valuable reference information can also be found in articles which list opportunities for internships and study in the U.S. available to Ukrainians, a guide to selected U.S. government projects currently under way in Ukraine, and an overview of industries, the business climate and opportunities in the state of Iowa.

Mr. Kun said he is pleased with the first issue: "Through Potential, I hope you will see the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation as an NGO that is deeply committed to Ukraine's democratic future ... I believe we can offer information that will be valuable and useful to both Ukrainians and Americans, and that we can bring more political and business attention to support Ukraine's democratic development."

To receive a free copy of Potential, where business opportunities are endless, readers may contact the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation by mail, phone (202) 347-4264 or e-mail bizlinks@usukraine.org. The foundation is looking for feedback in order to improve subsequent issues of this unique publication and would like to hear readers' ideas and insights.

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