The Ukraine Scholarship Support Fund was established by IMD in 2022 to help people whose lives have been disrupted by the war in Ukraine to gain new leadership skills, and to support a cadre of resilient, inspiring, and determined business leaders, ready to lead the country back to prosperity.

Scholarships awarded by the fund enabled nine Ukrainian nationals to participate in our general management and leadership programs. A further scholarship was given to a Ukrainian candidate in the EMBA program.

Following the week-long course, she decided to step down from her role as Executive Director of her company Osnowy Publishing, to give herself space for the big picture, out-of-the-box thinking needed to prepare the business for the future. She also co-founded United for Ukraine, an NGO that provides emergency relief to people affected by the Russian invasion.

Bohdana Pavlychko attended IMD’s Strategies for Leadership program with support from the fund in June and says the program gave her time to re-evaluate her career.

Meanwhile, Nadia Kobyliak and Oksana Lesyk, both public sector project managers working on civil and corporate governance reforms at some of Ukraine’s 3,500 state-owned-enterprises and public institutions, were enabled to participate in IMD programs with help from the Empowering Women in Leadership through Executive Education alumni-funded scholarship scheme.

Lesyk attended the Mobilizing People program and says it gave her the chance to develop her approach to leadership and team management. Kobyliak, who took part in the Strategies for Leadership program, says the course gave her the opportunity to learn how to uncover her most authentic and effective leadership style.