Volume 43 winter 2009- 2010
Eye on the Crisis: FLEX Global Villagers Share Eurasian Perspectives on the Global Crisis Elvira Nurgalieva ’04 Ulan Ude, Russia/Hershey, PA enurgalieva@gmail.com Where would you go to get an inside look at how FLEX alumni are dealing with the global financial crisis? For me, the Iacocca Institute’s Global Village for Future Leaders of Business and Industry at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania turned out to be an ideal location. As one of 15 FLEX alumni honored to receive an ECA/Iaccoca scholarship to attend this six-week intensive educational training program, I had a wonderful opportunity to feel the spirit of cultural diversity, true leadership and entrepreneurship interacting with 106 other young leaders from 54 countries. Academically the program consisted of three major parts: courses, meetings with executives and highlevel position managers from various industries, and work on a project. The program offered a wide range of courses, everything from leadership skills enhancing courses to ones solely concentrated on entrepreneurship or best business practices in certain specific fields, such as advertising or finance, from which one could choose from what sounded most appealing. It reminded me of the electives we all enjoyed at our American high schools. The executives we met came from different fields of business to share their knowledge, as well as professional and personal experience. These were not ordinary lectures where we just sat and listened, but, instead, these were interactive seminars, where we could ask all sorts of questions. We met true leaders in their fields; they sincerely shared stories of their successes, as well as failures. We met Mark Gumz, the CEO of Olympus, Susan Baer, a top manager at New York – New Jersey Port Authority,
Deborah Lovell, the Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda, and many other inspiring people. The project component offered great opportunities to acquire leadership and team-work skills - skills that are a “must” in today’s world. Most importantly, we learned about the influence of culture on work and team dynamics. The Global Village program experience is unique in large part because of the people. As ambassadors of our countries, we shared our cultures in numerous ways, from formal country presentations to informal weekly culture nights, where we cooked our traditional meals to share with others, sang songs and danced, and played games of other countries. After six weeks together we have become friends forever, with no regard to our countries of origin. We saw the incredible unions of people whose countries have historically opposed one another. We’ve become one big family, which will continue to inspire and support each other as well as help others to do so in their home communities. Everyone who comes to Global Village will find there something for themselves. So there is no single way to describe this experience, and each intern will present it in a different way. But as the old saying goes: it is better to see it once, than hear about it a hundred times. Learning the stories of other interns is a separate experience worth mentioning. I met people who had striking careers in the corporate world or had an inspiring commitment to community work. Each intern had a unique story to tell, which could not leave one indifferent. I took the opportunity to quiz fellow alumni about the crisis: how it is affecting their industries, their countries, and them personally.
1. How did the financial crisis affect the company you work for or industry you work in? Anna (banking): “The financial crisis had a direct impact on my company. People are losing their jobs, so they can’t pay their debts, mortgage or consumer loans, so there is a lot of bad debt in the banking sector. As a result the bank had to cut its operations and reduce staff.” While some banks are experiencing the negative impact of the crisis, others have noted almost no negative effect, as was the case for a local bank in Armenia, where another alumna, Karine, works. As she put it, “Despite some other banks and our country overall being really affected by the crisis, our company hasn’t been affected much: we did Elvira Nurgalieva ’04 (R) poses in a Tatar national dress with Nazar not have to cut staff or reduce our operations Cherkezov ’97 and Maria Netaeva ’02 at the Lehigh University dramatically.” Global Village Institute.
FUTURE LEADERS E X C H AN G E ALUMNI NEWSLETTER
Contents: 110
Theme of the issue: Global Economic Crisis Eye on the Crisis: FLEX Global Villagers Share Eurasian Perspectives Letter from the Editor Creating E- Works Michelle Obama’s Visit to the Orthodox Christian Sisterhood in Moscow Placing My Bet on Construction Business for More than Profit Picnic in Kyiv Interview with Bliss Browne, founder of Imagine Chicago Financial Crisis Affecting Youth in U.S. and Ukraine
11
Crisis Times: So Tough... So Good... Now What? FLEX Alumni Grant Projects Make Long- term Change
1213 FLEX Family News Planning for the FLEX 20th Anniversary 1416 Bradley Bits Career Development: 17 Principle of the Hourglass 18 19
In Memorium Profiles
Vusal Khanlarov ’02 Sona Apbasova ’08 Elnura Osmonova ’94
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Eye on the Crisis
Letter from the Editor Dear FLEX Alumni,
Is it a surprise to learn that FLEX alumni refuse to let the global financial crisis get them down? Most alumni whom I’ve been in touch with are not feeling discouraged; rather, they look for opportunities to rethink, regroup and innovate in response to this continuing financial shake up. In this issue, which focuses on the crisis, we’ve asked alumni to share their professional expertise. Shukrat Sadykov ’97 from Almaty, offers a sobering assessment of his nation’s immediate homework assignments. He shares his banker’s perspective on how the industry needs consolidation, and puts his bets on the construction sector as the key to their recovery after several years of aggressive borrowing. Viacheslav Kholopov ’94 gives you an insider’s look at the Moscow commercial real estate scene and helps us better understand how real estate investment drives economic development. A team of FLEX alumnae in Ukraine share how they and their international colleagues framed business development training as a picnic in Kyiv last summer. And these are only a few of the “crisis” stories we are proud to share. While optimism and a can-do attitude certainly help in the face of difficulties, we also know that some of you are experiencing personal hardships and that you see people around you suffering. We’d like to remind you to use our FLEX network. Post job opportunities, hire fellow alumni! If you have ideas about projects that respond to the effects of the crisis, we invite you to consider the annual FLEX Alumni Grants competition. Submit project proposals which contribute to the social, economic and civic development of your countries. Group projects are eligible for up to $3000 awards. In 2010 grant evaluators will give preference to those projects which address crisis-related issues, such as employment, business development, and community outreach to those in need. Deadline for submitting proposals is February 28, 2010. Learn more at http:// www.americancouncils.org/grantOpportunites.php. The theme for the next issue of The Bradley Herald, is the host family experience, which we know is at the heart of your FLEX year. We’ll publish your stories and thoughts on the benefits of living with a host family - everything from the cross-cultural nuances and adjustment challenges to the deeper understanding and insights into American culture. Tell us about your FLEX family: did you become best friends or fierce rivals with a sibling? Did you have to cope with a FLEX pet? For sure there’ll be funny stories and good laughs. Tell fellow alumni about what you learned and what you taught your host families during that year together. Please send your articles (up to 500 words) and photos to bradleyherald@actr.ru. We send special greetings to the more than 1,000 new FLEX alumni, who are receiving their first copy of The Bradley Herald. This publication, named in honor of Senator Bill Bradley, who launched the FLEX program, is one of the vehicles American Councils and the U.S. State Department supports to connect alumni of all years of the program. We publish The Bradley Herald in Moscow and Kyiv twice a year. Each issue has a theme and alumni are invited to submit articles and photos to bradleyherald@actr.ru. We welcome you, our newest ’09 alumni, to the FLEX alumni community and invite you to contribute! In closing, I ask you to help Bradley “Go Green.” Please see the announcement on page 11 about our efforts to reduce waste as we mail The Bradley Herald. We don’t want to print more copies than we need and we’re making efforts to upgrade our online version. We are asking everyone to update both emails and current mailing addresses. Many thanks! Mary Shea Editor
Marta (real estate development industry): “Our industry has been directly affected. Until the recession hit, it was a booming market in Ukraine. When the crisis came along, the “bubble” burst and prices dropped 50%. Our foreign investors have frozen all development activity. The situation does not look promising for the next two years. It will take a long time for the economy to recover, especially for bank financing, which is a crucial condition for business to start operating again on normal terms and achieve good, economically feasible results.” Darya (publishing industry): “In Belarus we did not feel much direct impact from the financial crisis. However there was an indirect impact, as the main consumers of our products are outside of Belarus, in Russia and Ukraine, as well as our producers, who are in Lithuania. And as these countries have been affected by the crisis, our company also felt its influence on operations, from both demand and supply sides.” Alina (international NGO): “I work in a project, which is financed by other countries. So as the financial crisis affected the developed countries that contribute to the project, the funds are also being cut back.” Nargiz (auditing company): “The situation is not very bad, as there has been a lot of government support for banks and local companies. However, there has been less activity and smaller funds than in previous years. Therefore, we have to limit our budgets as well to adjust to this situation. This year we have less promotions, less working hours, but they haven’t cut the workforce.” Zhibek (law firm): “The crisis has brought even more work to lawyers as there are more liquidation and bankruptcy cases. However sometimes we have some shortage of money as invoices are not paid on time by our clients.” 2. How has the financial crisis affected you personally? Anna: I became more careful with money. So I prefer not to spend on many things or take any more loans; I will just pay my mortgage and see what happens next. Nargiz: I decided to change companies. I moved from a larger company to a smaller one that had a strategy for attracting employees from bigger companies. They offered higher salaries and higher positions. Alina: I am constantly watching the financial situation in Moldova, just trying to know what’s happening with the financial and banking system and try to be able to make the right decision at the right time. I am constantly improving my knowledge and get more training in case something happens so that I will still be competitive to get another job or higher position. Nazar (Logistics industry): In the light of staff reductions, I keep my job secure by performing an outstanding job and also by helping others. Sayid (NGO sector): In some countries community service has also experienced some changes because of the financial crisis: fund raising has become harder, fewer people get involved in community service, as they are spending more time working now and don’t have enough time to do community service, but not in Kyrgyzstan. I’ve been coordinating a program called “Kids helping Kids”, where we work with children with disabilities. Every year we organize summer leadership camps. The main source of funding for this program is fundraising. Frankly, I can’t say that financial situation really hurt this program, because people are still very supportive of it. 3. What is your advice to fellow alumni about how to remain positive in these hard times, what to do to stay successful and become more marketable in this job market? (advice from everyone) 1. It is time to study! You should not say: “Now I know everything, and I don’t need anything.” Because times are changing so fast, unless you study and learn new things you’ll always fall behind. 2. Network! Network! Network! Talk to people in the same industry that you want to get into, and try to get some better ideas on how to differentiate yourself. That always helps because organizations
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Eye on the Crisis
always need someone and it is just a matter of making that difference, impressing people. If they don’t need someone right now, they still might consider you, because you stand out in the crowd. 3. Global Village experience. Guys, just DO IT! 4. Think positive. Crisis is a state of mind, not a state of economy. So if you think positive and just stick to what you do, and keep on doing it, everything will be alright. 5. Think strategically. Ask yourself what should I do to be happy? What steps should I make? Follow your vision and goals and keep on going with it, keep on doing what you like. 6. Don’t be picky regarding jobs. You have to try any opportunity you can find, even free internships just to build your resume. Don’t look at the size of the salary you can get for this work, because the experience you get during this time will be more beneficial and valuable.
Creating E-Works: Years of Hard Work and Success Ludwig Makhyan ’01 Gyumri, Armenia/Elkhart, IN ludwig@e-works.am Back in 2001, when I was selected as a FLEX exchange student; I could not imagine that the program would completely change my life by changing my personality. I didn’t realize the full power of the program. I didn’t quite understand that in reality FLEX was (and it still is) a ticket to an independent life, a powerful tool for making leaders. I came back to my home country with ambitions and goals to give as much as possible to the society, with firm determination to help my country to come closer to the world standards. The result of those ambitions was an idea that soon grew into a concrete plan to create something that would help me to direct all my energies, the gained experience to reality. First of all, it came to my mind to start up a web design and development company. So I did, in 2004, together with two of my partners (one of whom is also a FLEX alumnus: Gurgen Hakobyan ‘94), found a web design company, and gave it the ingenious name “e-Works.” Our slogan is no less creative than the company name: “When ‘e’ works for you…” Of course the process of creating this business was no easy thing. We encountered many obstacles and difficulties. The first major obstacle was entering the market and starting to get companies interested in our services, while you had bigger guys that have been in web development for at least a few years. They had the money; they had the connections and their big clients. We had nothing: one work station and us. But thanks to our partners in France (Web-ISI) and our fellow FLEX alumni in Armenia, we managed to start a business with minimum cost and minimum investment. We let everyone know that we existed and we provided quality. This is when I have to say that a leader is a person dashing towards his goal, overcoming all the hurdles on his way. Moreover, the FLEX
7. Keep that FLEX spirit. Don’t wait for a miracle, just go out there and do something! Global Village interview participants: Karine Botoyan ’02, Armenia Darya Loban ’04, Belarus Nana Aburjanidze ’96, Georgia Anna Romelashvili ’00, Georgia Zhibek Karamanova ’03, Kazakhstan Dinara Musabalina ’06 Kazakhstan
Sayid Abdullaev ’08, Kyrgyzstan Alina Ciobanica ’04, Moldova ’04 Maria Netaeva ’02, Russia Nazar Cherkezov ’97, Turkmenistan Marta Pryimak ’00, Ukraine
To apply for Global Village go to: www.iacocca-lehigh.org/html/globalvillage/gvhome/globalvillage Deadline: February 15, 2010
alumnus is a kind of a leader who overcomes all the obstacles more unhesitatingly because he has lofty ambitions. So, we fought all hardship, and as a result, “e-Works” in Armenia was created. My relatively less developed country is in a stage of transition. This is why it was so difficult to deal with web design in Armenia. My country needs to become an active member of a big progressive team, namely “The World.” We – the FLEX alumni - are empowered to put our countries on those tracks. The reason that I chose to create a web design company out of a range of options that came to my mind was simple. I constantly asked myself the question: “What can a power of good do to the society, or what can lead Armenian society to a better future?” Surely, it is the Internet. The Internet is the “network of networks” that consists of millions of private and public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope. 1.407 billion people use the Internet according to Internet World Stats. If only more Armenians would use this powerful tool, our country would more quickly reach those world standards I spoke of earlier. So, the company was created, and it was on its way to blossom when the world was rocked by the global financial crisis. It caused new difficulties and troubles to our developing company. The whole world was troubled: great financial losses, unemployment, strikes, poverty, and out-of-control financial systems in many countries. In fact, Armenia hasn’t been hit as hard by these problems, but this does not mean that we missed it. We decided to use this opportunity. Considering that web development does not require the presence of a client in close proximity and we do not have to deal with import and export, we decided to hit the European and U.S. markets. The fact that companies abroad have had to cut costs in their yearly spending, the cheaper services we provided (in comparison to the prices in their countries) allowed us to attract more clients interested in our services. This is when we used the crisis for our benefit and the benefit of our offshore clients.
Today, as director of a web company, I am constantly working out a variety of plans and projects for implementation. Most of my business projects involve organizations operating in Europe. We try to establish solid cooperation with foreign partners and clients and we try to generate projects, which would be of mutual benefit. Currently my company is the leading Search Engine Optimization (SEO) service provider in the country. We have clients/partners in Boston, MA, USA, which constantly use our services and have a dedicated team of specialists working for them. Currently we are thinking of expanding our web services and creating iPhone applications. This is a new market and a new target set forward for us. We already have five ongoing iPhone application developments. Soon they will hit the world market. We all must realize that this process will speed up only if we direct our efforts towards helping each other and making our lives better. I am proud to be a FLEX alumnus and to have the opportunity to share my experience with you.
Ludwig Makhyan ’01, co-founder and director of the Armenian web company E-works
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Historic Moments
Photo credit Andrey Radkevich, St. Dmitry Sisterhood
Michelle Obama’s Visit to the Orthodox Christian Sisterhood in Moscow Polina Ufereva ’99 Chardzhev, Turkmenistan/Calhoun, TN polina.yufereva@gmail.com Here she comes: Michelle Obama – a figure familiar to most people only on TV, someone we never dreamed of seeing in person. Suddenly here she comes live, a sincere compassionate person, not an artificial creature designed in a political “image-making lab.” The First Lady of the U.S. who we got to meet in person turned out to be a very sensitive and open woman, full of common sense and with a keen interest in social ministry and charity issues. Obama paid a visit to the Moscow-based St. Dimitry community of Sisters of Mercy in July this year. She was interested to find out how the Russians are trying to restore the country’s old traditions of charity, care for the seriously sick and socially underprivileged patients, and revive volunteer movements. For more than a year and a half, I have been working in the Sisterhood as a coordinator of volunteer programs. Ten years ago I went to the U.S. on the FLEX exchange program. So I was the person asked to offer the U.S. First Lady highlights about the Sisterhood and our volunteers. I was really excited about the whole thing and spent a lot of time preparing for this meeting. Volunteering has been very successful in the U.S. for many years. When I stayed in Tennessee as an exchange student, I took part in volunteer actions: charity lunches, fairs, outreach to families with alcohol and drug-addicted members. Therefore, when I was offered the chance to participate in a volunteer program in Moscow, I agreed with hope that we “can really make it” just as good as our overseas colleagues. And we really did make it! “Miloserdie” (Russian word meaning ‘mercy’ or ‘charity’) volunteer movement (more details are available on its official website www. miloserdie.ru) was founded in Moscow at the end of 2007 and now numbers some 700 people. They come from various social groups and backgrounds, but are mostly people in their 20s and 30s. Outside of their work or academic schedules, they help the Sisters of Mercy provide care for sick children at state-supervised orphanages and disabled children; they look after many lonely helpless people in need of support.
First Lady Obama was a guest of the Moscow – based Sisters of Mercy, where Polina Ufereva ’99 (second from right) coordinates volunteer programs.
I was so excited and inspired to tell First Lady Obama about the progress we have made, because I felt she was sincerely interested in the subject. We learned that she also used to be a member of a hospital’s supervisory board where she was in charge of public relations, fundraising, and recruiting volunteers. She looked very much interested when she heard that the heavenly patron saint of the volunteer movement is St. John Maximovich of Shanghai and San Francisco, who lived and ministered in America in the late 1960s and was renowned for his charitable works. A community of his followers still exists in San Francisco at the cathedral of Our Lady of “Joy of All the Sorrowful.”
As it is customary in Russia, the father superior archpriest Arkadiy Shatov and the community’s sisters greeted the U.S. First Lady with traditional bread and salt. Michelle Obama is very open-hearted. She embraced our senior sister with genuine warmth and kissed her before saying good-bye to all. Although her busy schedule was pressing her to leave, she stayed until she shook hands with each and every one of us. To make this visit still more memorable for her, I presented Obama with Russian nested dolls (matryoshkas), of which the outer one was wearing a Russian peasant costume and the inner ones – dresses of the Sisters of Mercy. Michelle Obama signed the wall poster of the Sisterhood.
But Obama was even more interested to learn that now the Sisterhood and the clergy of our church take part in the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) program “Support for Faith-Based Organizations Initiatives in Countering the HIV/AIDS Pandemic and in the Field of Palliative Treatment in the Russian Federation”’ which is jointly supported by USAID and Russia’s Federal Agency for Supervision of Consumer Rights and Human Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor). Public acclaim for cooperation among the Russian Orthodox Church, the UN, and the U.S. Government in this field has been high.
When she was leaving she said, “Thank you for your work, for taking good care of these children. They have wonderful souls. We will pray for them and we hope that you will pray for us. I am saying this on behalf of all my country.”
The U.S. President’s spouse was also greeted by our orphans who are residents of St. Sophia and St. Dimitry orphanages sponsored by the Sisterhood. The children cheerfully sang in chorus for the First Lady a few songs in English and Russian and presented gifts, which they had made themselves. In the evenings after work and on weekdays, I study at the Sisters of Mercy medical school (evening education department). This school is the only state-supervised Orthodox Christian medical vocational college in Russia.
First Lady Obama’s visit to the Sisterhood was a great joy and honor for all of us. The U.S. First Lady was suddenly our dear guest. Apart from the pleasant sharing of experience, we felt it was a good opportunity to tell many people about the Mercy volunteer movement in press and on TV. The visit was shown by Russian and U.S. TV channels. The St. Dimitry Sisterhood is now planning to take part in the project for treating HIV/AIDS patients. After the visit it was decided by the community to energize out international volunteer experience exchange. The real joy was to see that Michelle Obama is a compassionate person and reaches out to those who are suffering. She has a generous heart and our children and orphans were quick to become well-disposed toward her. After she left, we echoed each other’s feelings: “She is close to us in spirit.” This was a truly historic event which will stay in our hearts.
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Placing My Bet on Construction Shukhrat Sadyrov ’98 Almaty, Kazakhstan/Concord, CA ShukhratS@atfbank.kz “Liquidity” became the most used word in our days. Surprisingly, people today who are far away from finance are aware of terms such as derivatives, CDS and default. The explanation for this is simple: the financial turmoil has hit almost everyone. Now almost everyone, at least in the banking world, has become a “crisis expert,” which does not really help to solve the problems that we face. History shows us hundreds of examples of such crises, but still we do not learn the lesson and will not learn it. Look at the Roman Empire: partially it collapsed because of a liquidity problem. The high expenditures were not compensated with taxes and as a result they faced a huge deficit which the Romans could not cover. What is happening today? It’s exactly the same problem. One after another, countries are asking for emergency loans from the IMF or countries, which are a bit more “fat” than others. Three years ago I was “selling” the story of the Kazakh economy and I truly believed in it. Now I have to defend “the story,” explaining that not everything is so bad and that the economy will recover soon. The only question is how soon and what to do during this chaos? If I knew the answer to the first part – how soon the economy will recover, then I would not work in a bank. I would simply bet on some exotic derivative and earn a fortune. What I do know is that in the case of Kazakhstan, the economic recovery, which is primarily commodity driven, will depend on the demand and prices of oil, gas, and metals. Clearly world demand and prices are not under the control of the Kazakh government. Surely it does not mean that we should to sit and wait until the US and China start to consume more. What we need to do now is to do our homework. But what exactly do we mean by “homework”? Let me give you the top answers: corruption, healthcare, and infrastructure. The list of answers will go on and on. As far as I am concerned, before identifying our homework tasks we need to assess our resources. Of course one major advantage of the Kazakh economy is reserves that the country managed to collect during its prosperous years. Roughly we have around $48 bln in reserves, the so called “National Fund for Future Generations.” If we spend part of this money wisely, we can really get a lot of things done.
Today the agenda of the Kazakh government is to support the banks through capital injection, provide funding to small and medium entrepreneurs (SME), and finance unfinished construction sites, primarily residential real estate. I am a banker in charge of SME and retail business, including mortgages that can prove that the measures are right and necessary. However, effectiveness of the measures always depends on details. For example the government decided to support SME via financing at the rate of 12.5% per annum. Basically the logic was to provide financing with “pre-crisis” interest rates. However the measure should have been not just to support business but to STIMULATE growth. The only way now to boost growth is to provide funding to SMEs and other businesses but at LOWER interest rates. Another example is financing mortgages. In this case the government decided to provide a refinancing mechanism so that existing mortgage borrowers can refinance existing mortgage debt with preferential 11% interest rate which is even lower than the “pre-crisis” one, but again it is a supportive measure that keeps existing borrowers “alive” and has nothing to do with the stimulation of consumption. Now one can say that I am just criticizing without offering solutions; however, if you ask me what the government should focus on and what should be our “homework,” I would just say CONSTRUCTION. One can say it is a crazy idea but if you look at the fundamentals of Kazakh economy, you will see that the competitiveness and attractiveness of the economy is heavily undermined by lack or low level of infrastructure – roads, bridges, railroads and what is the major problem for the absolute majority of people in Kazakhstan – HOMES. On average, dwelling stock per capita or simply put living space per person in Kazakhstan is lower that in Russia by 15%, China – 50% and Germany 300%. One can say it is a disaster, but I say opportunity, because construction generally as an industry can stimulate growth of the whole economy. As a retail banker, one lesson I learnt for sure – keep everything simple no matter what question or problem you are trying to solve. Especially in the crisis, people in the country should get a simple and clear message in response to their concern about the direction in which the country is moving and how we will use this opportunity to solve longterm problems. That is why I am stressing again – focus on construction and the motto can be simply “a 25 square meter room for everyone, and asphalt roads in every corner of our cities.” Now one can ask who will pay for it; my answer is simple - taxpayers who already contribute a lot to the $48 bln.
National Fund plus the government needs to borrow. Of course then debates start on inflation, and the deficit…But that is a different story which clearly cannot be covered in this article. Now if I get down to earth to my job, I can say that here we definitely as a bank use this opportunity to fine-tune our business processes, service model, and products in order to be prepared for growth when the economy will start to recover. Even in this crisis time one can still grow and do business. Just to show you an example, the deposit market share of our bank in 2009 increased by 3% and reached 13%. What I clearly do know is that no matter what market conditions are, there are always opportunities to do business and grow. What is essential for that? Targets should be simply understood by every employee and the team; the rest are just details. Best regards, Shukhrat Sadyrov
MSc in Finance and Management, Cranfield School of Management, UK Managing Director ATFBank, UniCredit Group member; Member of Supervisory Council of Deposit Insurance Fund of Kazakhstan Member of Supervisory Council of Association of “Bolashak” - union of alumni of scholarship of President of Kazakhstan
FLEX Alumnus Wins ExchangesConnect Mascot Challenge Giorgi Maghlakelidze ’09 (Kutaisi) Georgia, won the “Mascot Challenge” for his design of the “iDrop” mascot on the ExchangesConnect website (http://connect.state.gov). ExchangesConnect, an international social networking site for people interested in cross-cultural dialogue and international exchange, challenged members to design a mascot that represented international cultural exchange and understanding.
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Eye on the Crisis “Business for More than Profit” Picnic in Kyiv Olga Romanyuk ’96 Mariupol, Ukraine/Royse City, TX olga.romanyuk@gmail.com Viktoriya Dzyuba ’97 Lubny, Ukraine/ Newfort, MN viktoriya.dzyuba@gmail.com Anastasiya Nanayeva Markuts ’99 Marganez, Ukraine/Bloomington, MN anastasiya@markuts.lviv.ua FLEX alumni often organize picnics, but this one was different. Olga Romanyuk ’96, Viktoriya Dzyuba ’97, and Anastasiya Nanayeva Markuts ’99 were on the team of organizers of the Start-up Picnic (www.hub. in.ua), a cutting edge event for setting up an innovative entrepreneurship center (Hub Kyiv) in Ukraine. This picnic, held June 19-21, 2009, brought together up to 50 young people from Russia and Ukraine, who are either running or planning their own businesses. The event’s core goal, held with the slogan “business for more than profit,” was to acquaint the entrepreneurial community with the idea of “living value-based business.” Using many tools, including learning maps and travel journals, they worked to define internal values in one’s business, imagine and envision social/community effect, and plan the success as a real journey. The development of dreams and skills was greatly supported by other team “engines” – Yuliya Filippovskaya, Anna Smyrnova, and Ilya Zobnov, as well as foreign guests: Bliss Browne, facilitator and founder of Imagine Chicago project (USA); Stine Arensbach Szlavik, graphic facilitator from the Bigger Picture (Denmark); and Eleanor Whitley, chief host from the Hub London (UK); as well as local start-up experts, business angels, and investors.
Interview with Bliss Browne, Founder of Imagine Chicago, and Trainer for the Kyiv Start Up Picnic Many thanks to Olga Romanyuk ’96 from Ukraine, for introducing the FLEX community to Bliss Browne. When I learned about this talented woman – her background, achievements and especially her vision for her home city and the world - I understand that she has a lot to offer all of us who are working to make the world a better place. I can confirm that she is on the go! When we checked her September travel schedule to find a time to talk, I learned that she’d be in Denmark, and South Africa for consultations and trainings before heading back to Chicago to lead a training. I asked Bliss Browne to share her thoughts on leadership and community building, as these topics become increasingly important in light of the global economic crisis. In the course of our conversation, she also tells the story of how Imagine Chicago was founded, has evolved, and how this work motivates her today. The global financial crisis has shaken the world. There is a lot of pessimistic talk about how difficult it has become to find work, start new businesses, and recoup lost savings. Bliss, please share your thoughts on what the crisis can teach us about how to respond in positive ways, and how to imagine and create a different future for our families, our countries and the world. BB Every crisis invites the possibility of reassessing what really matters. It shows us where we have put our trust, what underlying values are
Alumni organizers attracted other alumni to the event. Oksana Potapenko ‘97, originally from Luhansk, and now living in Kyiv, commented, “we all had a chance to feel that value based business is exactly what can make one happy. There were discussions on various topics, including very philosophical and absolutely down-to-earth ones... My favorite part was drawing a road map where I put all my dreams and goals. I’m already working on bringing them to life.” Nadezhda Ostrovskaya ’00, from Chernivtsi, also now living in Kyiv, noted that such events “create innovative think tanks that help people unite and take action. This first Start-up Picnic gathered open minded people who are open to new projects and eager to listen and share.” She wanted to thank the FLEX alumni organizers, “…because these projects will help us to raise responsible leaders who care about their people and their country.” Organizers were also inspired. Viktoriya Dzyuba explained that the idea of Hub Kyiv and her desire to be involved were born at the time of big changes: people losing their savings, jobs, some of them even their long-held dreams. But such times mean new beginnings and soul searching opportunities. “The Hub was a chance to make a difference in my home country, to help aspiring individuals who have bright ideas find networks and resources to implement these ideas. The Hub is still in its nascent state, but big things are done through small steps, and we are taking them.” Olga Romanyuk echoed her words, explaining, “I often ask myself: what social impact will my activity have on the community around me, on the environment in our country. Some may say this sounds too ambitious, but that’s what moves me personally, what gets things done. Knowing and seeing that there are many of us thinking this way empowers a lot and helps spread the idea further.” The Hub Kyiv team is working on developing a solid platform for starting-up and growing its own social enterprise and welcomes ideas and questions to spread value-based business across Ukraine. Interested alumni may contact Kyiv Picnic alumni organizers to start or join a Hub near you. in both market and personal terms and how we plan to create value. One of the important opportunities now is to reevaluate what we want and why, how to build structures that are more sustainable, more equitable, more value oriented, more responsible. In one of your speeches, you explain that “cynicism is a toxic habit in our public life.” You speak about the need to involve young people as leaders in community development work and challenge them to become dream bearers. Can you suggest techniques for combating that poisonous cynicism and motivating more people to join in the work of positive change? Often our alumni return home from America all fired up, but get discouraged when they don’t find others who share their passion and vision. BB The best way to combat cynicism is to renounce it oneself and reliably hold space for what is possible. This is as simple as consistently and cheerfully asking “how can this be done?” I have found the following framework essential to inspiring change: opening space for hope and acceptance within individuals, organizations and communities that motivates engagement and positive interactions; understanding the consequences of orienting mindsets and beliefs (including language); enhancing effective communications by strengthening questioning, listening and speaking skills; inspiring a sense of possibility through sharing stories of what works and how it works; shifting (and help others shift) from deficit-based to strength-based mindsets, behaviors and communication; building reliably constructive partnerships across differences of gender, age and culture; aligning actions around personal or shared goals.
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Bliss, if you had to give an aspiring leader one piece of advice, what would it be? BB Listen, live passionately from a stance of abundance, love questions more than answers, welcome life’s mystery, renounce cynicism, focus on learning rather than success. If you could help young people develop one outstanding leadership skill, what would it be? BB Creating great questions. Rainer Maria Rilke said “…Be patient with everything that remains unsolved in your heart… live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself living into the answer, some distant day.” Questions shape us long before we find any answers. They are windows into how we see, what we want, and our open edges. The questions we ask (or avoid asking) come in many sizes and open or limit the worlds within which we live.
ing and energy (rather than what the problems are) have the greatest potential to produce deep and sustaining change and inspire collective action in human systems. Which brings me back to wondering: What worlds are we creating with our questions? What questions are you asking now as the world struggles to find a new set of structures and directions? What hope is emerging for you in the current restructuring? What new insights and connections are emerging? What are your sources of courage and perspective? What questions would you most like to see people in your community thinking and talking about together? What “right questions” might open up new ways of seeing and acting that will inspire hope in the face of the current losses? What can we each do to mobilize collective action on behalf of democracy as a creative activity that requires everyone’s participation?
Every question leads somewhere; where depends on its often hidden assumptions. Our choice of questions is a moral act with impacts. “Why can’t you ever do anything right?” presumes and creates an identity of incompetence. “Who made such a stupid decision?” looks to assign blame. “How can we get even?” rallies support for retaliation. “Why bother to invest in a ‘lost generation’?” reinforces despair about the future. Conversely, questions can inspire, intrigue, delight, clarify, invite and build community. They can create pathways to positive experiences and affections, stimulate reflection on issues of importance, and help people notice what is of value. “How did you learn to do such a good job?” honors an individual’s skill and generates useful information about creating a path Bliss Browne (center) leads a training on creating value-based businesses to work for others. “How can we support and learn from your for entreprueneurs in Kyiv community?” assumes there is much to be learned and invites How have you, through your leadership, made a difference? relationship and trust. “How can we get this done now and how can I help?” infers confidence in an idea and a readiness to act on it, build- BB Imagine Chicago, the organization I founded in 1992, has pioneered ing solidarity and momentum to move forward. A positive community an intergenerational and intercultural process of cultivating hope and connection is reinforced by asking “What makes you glad to live in civic engagement, which has now inspired a movement of social innothis neighborhood?” instead of “What are the biggest problems here?” vation on six continents. It has generated many meaningful opportuniShifting ownership of the future to citizens is activated by “What can ties and enabled those not previously involved as civic actors to bring you do to make a difference?” their considerable gifts to the communities where they live. How can we ask questions that offer a path into life’s mystery and wonder? What “right questions” might we ask to help regenerate public life? In 1991, at a conference about “Faith, Imagination and Public Life”, someone asked two especially provocative questions that changed the course of my life: “What are God’s dreams for Chicago? And what would it take to bring them to life?” The questions challenged us to think from the largest perspective possible about what was ultimately worthy of the commitment of our lives. A vision emerged for me in response to that question of the recycling symbol as an image of a Trinitarian economy in which nothing and no one is wasted. Four days later, I gave up a 16-year corporate banking career to devote myself to helping create such an economy. That process became known as Imagine Chicago and has had my wholehearted attention ever since. When we first began to design Imagine Chicago we thought about what questions would get people thinking about the whole, and invite new ways of seeing and connecting to Chicago’s future as one that citizens had the choice to create. When we had completed a draft set of questions, a design team member mentioned that the interview protocol reminded him of “appreciative inquiry”, a growing body of research at Case Western Reserve University about inquiry methods that evoked stories, and encouraged groups of people to envision positive images of the future grounded in the best of the past. That research suggests that questions that search for what has life, mean-
What sustains you in your practice of leadership and your commitment to change? BB Boundless energy, an expansive vision of what is possible, a wondrous and ever-growing set of friends, the enthusiasm for life my young adult children manifest, and constantly witnessing what ordinary people are capable of dreaming and accomplishing. What is your passion? BB To create an economy in which nothing and no one is wasted-especially by liberating and connecting the imagination of individuals and institutions in a way that inspires inclusive, hopeful community building. How do you take care of yourself? BB I try to sleep every day, laugh often, exercise, spend time with friends and family, and do creative work that I love. How do you measure success? BB By how many caterpillars turn into butterflies. Editor’s Invitation: if you like what Bliss Browne has to say, let us know. Write to us at bradleyherald@actr.ru. We are considering how we can bring Bliss Browne to Eurasia to connect her with more FLEX alumni in the region. We’ll be looking for creative organizers and fundraisers.
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Eye on the Crisis Financial Crisis Affecting Young People in U.S. and Ukraine Olena Fomina ’03 Kotsubinske, Ukraine/Lowellville, OH ofomina@msn.com Short History: The Domino Effect 2008 will be remembered for the financial crisis that led to the world economic recession, considered by many to be the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It started in the U.S. with the increase in sub- prime lending, when numerous homeowners had to default on their high risk mortgages. This caused mortgage-backed securities to lose their value and led to bankruptcy of the mortgage lenders and banks which heavily invested in those. As a result of the imploding credit markets, global stock markets fell, which caused serious damage to economies around the globe. Companies went bankrupt, slowed down production, thousands of employees were laid off, and an enormous number of people lost their houses. And these are only a few major results of the current world economic collapse. Economists don’t foresee a full recovery of the world economy before 2011. That said, some slow signs of recovery are being seen as some major stock indicators are on the rise and as new forecasts released from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development indicate that advanced economies will begin the long haul toward a weak recovery by late 2009. Stories from the U.S. and Ukraine Since I spent the summer of 2009 in the U.S., I took the opportunity to investigate how the crisis affected young people there, as well as in my native Ukraine. Let me share a few telling stories. As the big world of large institutions and governments are trying to fix problem from the very top, millions of regular folks around the globe are coping and trying to deal with this problem on their own. Young people are no exception. Jim Hughes, a recent graduate from Kings College in Pennsylvania is a vivid example of how the crisis affects young people in the U.S. He works for an investment firm in downtown New York and commutes every day from Pennsylvania and said he got the job only because last year he interned at the company. Many of his friends could not find a decent job after graduation and returned to old summer jobs. “After summer jobs will be over, a lot of them will return to
school to work on a Master’s degree, simply because they can’t find jobs and hope that the economy will turn around by the time they complete their education,” Jim says. For Sam Tenney, a senior studying Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, it was a real struggle to find even a summer job. He applied to Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and The Home Depot, and also visited various construction sites to ask if anybody needed help. None of the places Sam applied to responded, and people at the construction sites told him that nobody is hiring. “I’ve also responded to job offers on Craig’s List, none of which responded. It’s pretty clear that there are lots of people out looking for jobs and very few people willing to hire,” Sam shares. Stories from Ukraine Ukrainian youth are no exception in facing hard economic times. The global economic crisis has hit Ukraine with special force. By the latest reports from the leading U.S. foreign policy think tank, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Ukraine ranks #1 of all countries most affected by the financial crisis with 60% currency depreciation and 66% in equity market decline. But not everything is as dark as it seems and stories from Ukrainian alumni and other young people offer some light on the current situation. Alena Bilokha ’03 from Kyiv worked in the banking industry for the last two years and explains her vision of the crisis and its prospects. “I believe these effects will bring a positive outcome in the future. At the moment the Ukrainian banking sphere is going through a very objective reality, which in my opinion, will reduce the number of banks operating in Ukraine at least by 50% - and this is a good change indeed, which the banking field really needs, as the crisis is mostly influencing “pocket” and unhealthy purely Ukrainian banks. Also, Alena believes that the crisis will also stop a “real-estate soap bubble” in Ukraine, which was growing out of control. “The development business definitely does not enjoy these changes, since profits were blooming in this industry. But the final consumers, regular people like most of us, can expect more affordable real estate prices; as well, real sector production and manufacturing will get stronger,” she summarizes. The crisis deeply affected not only countries, governments and businesses: it affected the lives of millions of people on a very personal level. It made many rethink their true values and priorities in life. As Bilokha puts it, “people started to put more value on family rather than always being in a money-hunting rush.” For her, the crisis has had positive effects. She used to work in a bank, going
full steam ahead with her career, but the problem was that she never really enjoyed the job she was doing. The good stable salary and promised perspectives kept Alena tied to the work. “The crisis saved me from myself,” she said. “As the bank started a staff reduction campaign, I decided not to wait to be sacked, and quit the job myself.” After that Alena gave herself a two-month vacation to rethink future plans and dreams, and to finish her master’s program at the university. Now she works for a non-profit business NGO – the American Chamber of Commerce - and truly enjoys her new life with a new job! Maryna Yaroshchuk ’02 from Rivne, Ukraine, who served as a FLEX Alumni Coordinator in 2003-2005, has her own vision of the recession and it outcomes. “I think this recession is not like any other; although it did start as a financial crisis, it has turned now into a debate on the economic order. Some skeptics already predict the end of capitalism and globalization, but I think such assumptions are premature. The U.S., where it all began, at present experiences direct governmental intervention, but it will not turn into a European social model in the end. As for Ukraine, the crisis just exposed painfully the incompetence of its government and unfortunate structure of the country’s economy.” But like the majority of alumni, she is staying positive about surviving the recession, “Following President Obama’s advice, I try not to waste a good crisis and always look for the upside even in downturn. For me, this slowdown gives an opportunity to reflect and explore my talents and skills, so that I am ready for a new professional challenge when the storm is over. Perhaps I will explore
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Financial Crisis
more in depth corporate social responsibility, although sadly enough now CSR is not in the limelight for the majority of businesses.” At the moment Maryna works for TATA Consultancy Services in Budapest, as the situation in Hungary is in many ways better than in Ukraine. “I traded freedom for security,” she says, “however, now it is difficult everywhere, especially when one doesn’t speak a local language. Some of my friends approached this crisis strategically and made the best investment into their future– got married and started a family,” she adds. But as other alumni, Maryna has positive prospects about the future, “I would like to see individuals, companies and states become more ethical, transparent and economical in the post-crisis world. Making more with less is not so difficult, if you think long-term.” The sweet and sour taste of the economic downturn was tested by Natalie Gryvnyak, FLEX program participant once and currently PR and Communication Manager at World Franchise Associates, who was influenced by the crisis directly. “It affected me tremendously as I was trying to apply to universities this year, but due to lack of financing, could not get in, but I am still trying and as in any bad situation, there is a chance to learn! Many people I know lost their jobs. I am still kicking and as any normal person want more and better. So this crisis offers the time to reflect, think over what you have, what you can do,” Natalie offers as her recipe to get through these times. Lesson Learned As the old saying goes, “there is a light at the end of the tunnel” and to prove it I offer you a quote from the world famous business titan, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. In May this year in Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University, he shared his optimism for emerging innovation in the midst of economic turmoil and the story of his own entrepreneurial path. There is something he said that reassured me that our world will recover stronger and healthier after these tough economic times. “The economy is in a resetting mode. Especially for entrepreneurship it is the right time to start.” As he also pointed out that Microsoft and Apple were started during a recessionary period; as well, General Electric was started just right after the long depression of 1873. Therefore, in the long run, as we go on with our lives, we should learn how to live and work in a constantly changing environment. As new risks will emerge continually, we need to adapt, change and overcome, and see the crisis as the time of emerging changes and unprecedented opportunities. One just needs to look deeply to see them.
Crisis Times: So Tough... So Good... Now What? Viacheslav Kholopov ’94 Moscow, Russia/Whitefish, MT kholopov@yandex.ru Greetings to you, FLEX people! I have been working in the Russian real estate market (at first - residential, later - commercial) for the past five years. Currently I am director of the Industrial, Warehouses and Land Department at Knight Frank, a global real estate consultancy with over 110 years of experience in this field. By the way, as it quite often happens, I wasn’t originally planning to work in real estate at all. On return from the U.S. in 1994, I went to Moscow State University of Railway Engineering to study software development, and spent five full years working for Hewlett-Packard (HP) in Moscow where I was responsible for the development of the service channel in Russia (administrative part) and sales of officially supplied service parts to Russian service partners (i.e. companies that take care of your broken equipment). Then five years ago I took my chances and accepted a proposal to join a local development company as the head of the sales department. And after a month at the new workplace, I asked my boss, “why did you offer this position to me?” and he replied that I had what he wanted. He needed a person he could trust, with leadership skills and an ability to talk to people and listen to what they are saying; sales and organizational skills (it’s been about 10 years and I am still learning, it’s a never-ending process); ability to go the extra mile; and entrepreneurial spirit. (Remember, for this job I had to quit a very nice place - HP - and join an unknown development team.) I guess this is what you get after a FLEX year! I still remember many people telling me I was out of my mind to drop out of HP. In fact, maybe I was - in a good sense. I still appreciate adventures and even now could get back to the IT industry if an option arose with one «fruit company» from Cupertino! But back to my boss, he saw that I had a “structural way of thinking” - I should admit that computer programming and software development does give you a “structural approach” to things. Well, despite my IT background, I am currently in charge of the largest and most successful department in the industrial real estate market of Russia among top consulting agencies, with 15 people under my supervision and an annual budget of several million dollars which we successfully executed in 2009 – and I like it!
I decided to share my vision of this current economic crisis, as I deal with this phenomenon on a daily basis. It has hit the real estate segment, my company, even my team. (Yes, I had to fire several employees; I had a bigger team in 2008.) While the economists can explain the background of these events, I will be talking about the current situation in the industrial segment, though we see similar trends in office and retail real estate market segments, too. I will give a brief forecast. While the last 12 months have been tough, we see some trends and can make some forecasts related to this crisis. Why is this important at all and why to read about all this real estate? Real estate is a capital-intensive market segment, so its current condition well reflects the current situation in the economy as a whole. And we can’t do without real estate: we work in offices, buy goods at supermarkets, which are being stored at warehouses and manufactured at various factories and plants. So any change in this market segment will influence our
lives. Your boss may decide to lower expenses and move to another business center, or your apartment may suddenly become 30% cheaper than it was a month ago, or your local supermarket is no longer able to pay rent and shuts down, etc. As for the warehousing and industrial segments, they may not play such an easily perceived role in our lives, but they do! For example, since October 2008 a number of large international and Russian companies have refused to invest in production facilities in Russia, which means that their products will remain more expensive. In the case of foreign companies, they will still be imported; add a 30% drop in the ruble-
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Eye on the Crisis Crisis Times
euro exchange rate, which has made all imported goods much more expensive for us, the consumers! Since the crisis hits all consumers, people started purchasing fewer goods at the supermarkets, and as a result the stock of goods at the warehouses has been reduced; most of the companies are shrinking their stock, which means they have less demand for their products. Some are even going out of business, and by looking at their stock and amount of warehouse space used, we can predict what will happen with the company in the market in the near future, and even details of their strategy. Since we see fewer requests for warehouses, don’t expect a wider assortment in your favorite shoe store in the near future. As I have mentioned earlier, this is a capital-intensive market. It was always attracting investors as one of the best ways of making money and securely investing extra cash over a five to seven year period. This, in return, gave jobs to construction workers, generated need for the manufacture of concrete and other materials, furniture, etc., helped in the creation of new infrastructure (roads, power generation, water supply, etc.), and increased the quality of our lives, too. For example, the creation of new retail and business centers next to my house would allow me to hang out close to my place rather than having the necessity to go to the center of the city, fighting all the Moscow traffic jams. This was also bringing money to the budgets of our cities, allowing more social programs to be carried out. Now we can say that construction of housing, retail, industrial, office premises has halted: investors are completing the projects where the construction freeze makes no economical sense, and for which they can still get investments (though at much higher price than before). This means that the development of our cities will also slow down. So what happened during these months? There are only a few industries that perform relatively well, while many retailers and most logistics operators and manufacturers are going through hard times. It came out as a joke first, but it seems that Russians are smoking and drinking more, and then trying to get better by taking medicine; in other words, alcohol manufacturers and distributors, tobacco companies, and pharmaceutical companies are doing quite OK (though this is not the only market segments where companies are doing well). First of all, demand for commercial property has reduced quite significantly in Moscow and in the regions. For example, in the warehousing sector the vacancy rate in A class - i.e. prime - properties has increased from virtually zero - 0.3% in August 2008 - to 10% in September 2009 in the Moscow region, while other cities may suffer over 35% vacancy. Tenants are reducing the amount of space they occupy; therefore a secondary market has appeared in the industrial segment. Second, there is a change in priorities of potential tenants: reduction of rental rates became the prime concern for most companies. As for new requests, rather than hearing «show us a new A-class space in the north of Moscow region» we now hear «we have a budget of 4500 rubles per square meter per year, what have you got?». Tenants are re-negotiating existing terms with their landlords or even consider leaving the premises and relocating to reduce costs. Rental rates went down by approximately 30% already in USD terms. An important thing to say about rental rates going down: every project, no matter industrial, retail, office, or residential, has a business plan, and investors expect certain profits in carrying out such projects. Most investment projects expect a payback period of seven to ten years. This has allowed real estate projects to remain attractive for investors and stay competitive in the market. So, rental rates were calculated based on construction costs - that is what an investor spends, including land price, utilities prices, years of design creation and obtaining of permits, bank fees, etc. - and market rental rates (that is the earnings). Now, as rents went down, the payback period has been extended several years, leaving such projects less attractive for future buyers and investors, i.e. those who have risked their money and invested in real estate during
the boom of 2007-2008 in some cases will not be able to return their investments in 2009-2010 without a loss. I should add that the prices were quite high and correction was imminent, but this wasn’t due to a real estate bubble in commercial real estate -though this was true for the residential segment in many cases. Current analysis of various projects shows that many of them could be constructed with less investment by optimizing expenses and stricter management; so in many cases the prices were high because we were lucky enough to live during the high times, and money was easy to make. Since new investments are not flowing in, and the future of the industrial and warehousing markets remains unclear for the next two years, developers have paused development at their existing sites and are not looking at purchasing new land plots. A similar situation is seen in office and retail industries, whereas construction of new retail parks and offices has been put on hold; only the projects that managed to secure financing at acceptable terms before the crisis are being finalized now. Shall I add something more optimistic? We do see some stabilization in the market during the period June-September; macroeconomic parameters were also stable. Deals have started taking place, and there are more negotiations going on now than during October 2008 - May 2009. However, it is still hard to make a decent forecast for more than three months, as the situation remains unclear in many industries. For now there are two forecasts for Russia: that we will see the second surge of the crisis this autumn and that we will see it later or won’t see it at all. So far production volumes are on the decline, and the Russian government budget shows a deficit, which suggests that the crisis is not over yet. I personally feel that we will see the second surge, and “blood will be shed” by the end of this year - properties will start changing hands. I have seen several examples of this in the warehousing segment already. There have been almost no investment deals during the last 12 months, as well as bankruptcies in Russia. As I have mentioned earlier, rental rates went down, while vacancy rate has increased, so the rental business is not as profitable as before and in some cases landlords are not able to service their debts in full. Another thing to look at: previously banks were providing financing for up to 90% of construction cost of new projects, which was a high risk. Now, since the prices for properties went down, some of these - even fully constructed projects - cost less in the market than the value of the credit to be returned, i.e. we can expect a number of margin calls from such owners, and banks and funds will be taking such properties away from debtors. Since banks and funds do not specialize in property management, they will either create their own management companies, or will sell the assets to cover their losses. I assume that sales will take place anyway, as banks will need cash to do business, and won’t be able to hold on to all properties. Here’s where the window of opportunity opens for investors. Unfortunately, it seems that this crisis is not yet over for Russia and the world. The horizon of our vision is limited to three to six months now, and the “fog of the crisis” covers all of 2010 for the Russian real estate market even from experts in this field. Though the second surge seems to be yet ahead of us, countries and companies come prepared, as those businesses that survived have optimized their expenses and become more competitive in the market, and now have a chance to survive. And any time of change is the time of opportunities, so don’t miss yours! Viacheslav Kholopov Director Industrial, Warehouses and Land Knight Frank Russia and CIS
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FLEX Alumni Grant Projects Make Longterm Change Olga Tomilina ’06 Mirny, Russia/Fargo, ND olalarus@yahoo.com As the FLEX alumni community grows in size with each passing year, the footprints they leave in their local communities are becoming more visible and tangible. Alumni initiate community projects and lead the people around them in making positive change. They do it not only through their personal example, but also by setting up basic foundations for change, which can be built upon by others. Allow me to share one recent example of how the wise use FLEX Alumni Grant resources were put to work by alumni grant winner Shorena Megrelishvili ’08 from Zestaponi, Georgia to bring about long-term change in her community.
unteered at the non-governmental organization Oriony in her town, introduced Shorena to their organization and their efforts. After her FLEX year, Shorena returned home ready to contribute to her community. She envisioned expanding the Oriony facilities and resources by creating a library that would offer the services and support of professionals, including physical and speech therapists, for their children’s development. She also believed that such a library would allow children and parents to gain access to needed information, which is often lacking.
And she managed to do it: with a $3000 FLEX Alumni grant, in three months Shorena and her team united local school employees and medical professionals in this work. They hired a young disabled man to update and develop the Oriony database of all the potential visitors of the library, which recorded descriptions of illnesses’ and personal educational plans for all the kids. They renovated and equipped the venue, and bought special books and toys. As a result, on September 25, 2009, the official Shorena’s project was to create the Library for opening of the library took place for 276 disChildren with Disabilities, a center in the small abled kids and their families in the region. The Zestaponi region of only about 75,000 people event received broad media coverage because for young people with special needs and their of its importance for the region. Zestaponi parents. One of Shorena’s teachers, who vol- has no special schools for disabled children. Also, this project fits into a 2005 Georgian government education reform plan to develop inclusive education and social integration for disabled children. The outcome of the project is hard to underestimate: disabled children, often from low-income families, now have a place where they can develop their skills to integrate into the society and where their parents can get professional advice and help, including consultation on their rights and other important topics. There are already promises Shorena Megrelishvili ’08 poses with children at the newly founded of government support to susLibrary for Children with Disabilities, which she helped establish in tain and develop this initiative. her hometown of Zestaponi, Georgia with a FLEX alumni grant. This is how Shorena Megrelishvili proved to be a true community leader, organizing people to provide enduring change and making the world a little better. You can find out how to apply for a FLEX Alumni Grant to follow Shorena’s example of leadership by emailing me, Olga Tomilina ’06, FLEX Eurasia Alumni Program specialist at flexalumni@americancouncils.ru.
The newly established library offers support and information to the 276 disabled children and their families living in the Zestaponi region.
You will find summaries of past alumni grant projects on the American Councils website at http://www.americancouncils. org/grantOpportunites.php.
Paper vs. Online: Help The Bradley Herald Go Green! We’re Asking You to Sign up to Receive a Paper Copy As you read this issue of the alumni newsletter, world leaders recently met in Copenhagen, Denmark for a historic international meeting on climate change. As our contribution, we are looking for ways to reduce printing and mailing costs, as well as wasted paper. We are asking all alumni to make a personal choice: would you like to continue to receive a paper copy of the Bradley Herald alumni newsletter, or would you prefer to read the publication online? If your answer is YES to continue receiving a paper copy, please sign up at www.americancouncils.org/publications/Bradley. We ask you to make your request by updating your mailing address on our site. If you choose to receive an electronic copy of The Bradley Herald, please update your email address and we’ll send you each new issue by email. Many of you have written to us asking why we don’t switch to a greener publication, offering alumni the choice. For many years it was the case that a sizeable percentage of alumni had limited or no access to the Internet. Thanks to telecommunications advances, this is no longer the case for the majority of FLEX alumni across Eurasia! Plus the global crisis is again pushing us to reevaluate how we use our resources. Perhaps the money spent on printing and shipping 10,000 copies of The Bradley Herald twice a year could be better spent on other alumni initiatives. Think about it and let us know your opinions. I am at the same time glad to report that some alumni write that they enjoy receiving the publication in their postal box – or their parents’ postal box, to be retrieved when they make a trip home! They say they find themselves saving and rereading back issues from time to time – for inspiration, new ideas, or as encouragement when they are feeling stuck in a rut. We appreciate this feedback and aren’t ready to go to a totally online version. Your comments are important as we make this transition.
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FLEX Family News Alina Ciobanica ‘04 and Tiberiu Scutaru ‘99 married on August 8, 2009. Both active alumni, they met at a Moldova FLEX reunion in 2006, and then got to know each other better during the summer of 2007, when Alina was working for the FLEX English as a Foreign Language Program and Tiberiu was volunteer-
Where No Californians Had Been Before Tatyana Lystsova ’07 Kemerovo, Russia/Modesto, CA tatyana.lystsova@gmail.com I consider it important to share with all the rest of the FLEX alumni community the fact that my host family came to Siberia to visit me. It’s been two years since I left the U.S. and that is how much time it took Pat and Leroy Egenberger to feel the necessity to come: to get the visa and the tickets ready, to become brave enough to travel to another part of the world, where, to quote them, no Californians they know, had ever been before.
ing as a mentor for the same program. Since then Tiberiu has become a Global Village FLEX scholarship winner and also a trainer for the Business for Youth project in Chisinau. In Alina’s words, “FLEX played a very important role in our relationship; we met thanks to the alumni activities we participated in.” alina.ciobanica@gmail.com Iryna Lysenko ’03 (Mykolaiv, Ukraine), president of the youth non-governmental organization Iskra, is taking part in the Action Reconciliation Service for Peace (ARSP) www. asf-ev.de that has been launched in Poland this year. She works at the Museum Stutthof in the Educational Department and conducting tours of the former concentration camp Stutthof in Gdansk, Poland. As well she is conducting workshops on the topic of remembrance in the German language for visiting groups of young people. She is also
I won’t speak of the usual things -- like how glad we were to see each other and what adventures we had while exploring the nature and museums of my region. I would like to talk to you about what seems to me the most valuable result of their visit. To start with, lots of people travel nowadays. I am sure that among your friends and acquaintances, dear FLEX alumni, almost everyone has been abroad at least once. But still, the majority of the people living in the former Soviet countries have little experience interacting with foreigners, although it surely varies depending on the geographical location. I would say that for most of my friends and relatives meeting my host family was the first such experience. “How bad is the financial crisis in California?” “Is college free for American students?” “Is health care available for everyone?” These were the kinds of questions my American guests were asked. The dialogues would get more serious. Russians and the newly arrived Americans talked about things like what is seen as the U.S.led militarization of Georgia and the resulting conflict over South Ossetia, President Obama and the course of his policies. working at a secondary site, the MaximilianKolbe-Werk, a network helping former political prisoners and victims of the Nazi regime. She conducts weekly visits to five such people, most of whom are survivors of German concentration camps. Iryna writes, “One Iryna Lysenko ’03 had her photo taken with Mr. Roman Dabrowski, author of From Hatred to Friendship, in which he describes the time he spent in Auschwitz.
Tatyana Lystsova ’07 and her host parents Leroy and Pat Egenberger explore downtown Kemerovo
The arrival of my host parents became a direct bridge of understanding between the two nations. It’s necessary to acknowledge the opinions of ordinary people, apart from the mainstream media coverage and the statements of political leaders to get a better idea. Moreover, my friends and relatives would truly trust the answers they were getting because I lived with the Egenbergers for a year, which indeed made them part of our family. It is, no doubt, a good example of the implementation of the FLEX goals. Pat and Leroy went back to the U.S. and showed their friends pictures from Russia, told them about the people they’ve met, about how hot it was in Siberia this summer. In other words, they were breaking the old stereotypes and giving birth to new ideas in the minds of Americans. Awareness, in its turn, will lead to safety in the world. Sure, it may remind a drop in an ocean but that is how all great affairs start.
of the main reasons I want to do this program is because I want to study peace and conflict resolution on the Master’s degree level, and I believe that this experience will enhance my chances as an applicant and be a valuable practical experience to have before plunging into the academic depths of this field. I am sending you a photo of me with Mr. Roman Dabrowski, taken with the book he wrote From Hatred to Friendship in which he describes the time he spent in Auschwitz. The book had a very profound effect on me and still motivates me for the work I am doing. iskra.ngo@gmail.com
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Planning for FLEX’s 20th Anniversary
Councils do to support you as leaders? What can we do to help you advance your personal and professional goals? What can we do to help you support your community?
Dear Alumni, While you are still busy celebrating the 15th anniversary of FLEX, we are already thinking ahead about how in 2013 we’re going to be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the FLEX program! American Councils and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs are considering how we can celebrate that next milestone in ways that attract support for the exchange program and your alumni efforts. More than anyone else, you, alumni, have made the FLEX program an outstanding success. You have been excellent students, excellent host sons and daughters, excellent friends, and excellent ambassadors for your countries. After returning home, you have continued to display the qualities that made you an effective exchange student: optimism, enthusiasm, flexibility, and vision. Anna Miroshnichenko ’08 chose to study classical ballet in the U.S.
Anna Miroshnichenko ’08 (Rostov-on-Don) entered the Rostov Regional Art College in the Department of Dance. As Anna explains FLEX has helped her develop her dance interest and skills. On her arrival her “fantastic” host family already had dance options from which she could choose. “Strangely enough, I chose ballet, though I never considered myself doing classical ballet…I’d made a decision to try something unusual. As it turned out that was one of the best and most valuable experiences from my FLEX year.” Recently Anna took part in the Stolnik Dance Cup and placed first in five competitions and ranked second overall. Anna writes, “As for Stolnik Dance Cup, this was another “accidental happiness” in my postFLEX life. During one of my daily practices (I practice 3-8 hrs every day ) I got a phone call from my friend, who is involved in dancing show-business. He invited me to take part in the dance competition being held by a local fashion magazine. The only thing that made me nervous was the fact that the semi-finals were in two days. I had to perform “homework” and prepare to improvise - this show is very close to Russian “Zvezdniy Tantspol” and the American show “So You Think You Can Dance.” After a successful year in the U.S. I knew that if there’s a good chance I have to take it. Also I remembered watching “So You Think You Can Dance” with my host dad in America, when he said: “Just wait, you’ll be in this show in a while!” I took the chance, made it to the top 20, top 10, top 8. Unfortunately after top 8 judges were picking top two dancers, and I didn’t make it. However I know that was a big experience for me as a dancer and as a person. marti-mouse@mail.ru
We here at American Councils are thinking about what it means for FLEX to be 20 years old. It means that an entire generation of young people has had the opportunity to live and study in the United States. It means that an entire generation has developed unique cross-cultural and leadership skills. It means an entire generation has returned to their home countries and made real differences in their schools, universities, organizations, and communities. We want to support your generation – Generation FLEX – as it matures and faces new opportunities and challenges. We’re currently talking with board members, staff, volunteers, host schools, and host families to see what they think we might do in order to support the thousands and thousands of FLEX alumni in their future lives as you make your impact on the world. Most importantly, though, we’d very much like to hear from YOU. What can American
We envision launching a large-scale fundraising campaign that would support the further development of the FLEX alumni program. We can imagine making funds available for larger scale educational scholarships, Eurasiawide professional FLEX alumni training events, more funds and support for community service projects, and much more. In December, we sent all alumni an online survey that asks exactly these questions, and others. It takes 10-15 minutes to complete. We are still accepting responses and invite you to participate. You may use this link to complete the survey: www.surveymonkey.com/s/RTFL63T If you haven’t received an e-mail 20th anniversary survey, it means we don’t have a good contact e-mail for you. In that event, please contact the Eurasia FLEX Alumni Office at flexalumni@americancouncils.ru. Without alumni leading the way, we won’t be able to come up with a viable strategy for supporting Generation FLEX. Later this spring, we’ll share the results with all of you. We’ll also let you know what we’ve heard from the friends of FLEX here in the U.S. And, finally, we’ll unveil our vision for supporting Generation FLEX through the 20th anniversary and beyond. Thank you all for your hard work as exchange students and alumni to make the FLEX program a success. I sincerely hope that we can continue to support you in all future endeavors. Sincerely, Nathan Truitt truitt@americancouncils.org Manager International Philanthropic Development American Councils for International Education Washington, D.C.
The ninth annual Faces of FLEX alumni contest will gather the best of the best photographs from FLEX alumni events across Eurasia
Check out the new site for the Faces of FLEX Alumni Photo Contest 2009-2010! This year’s contest ran November 1 to January 15, 2010.
Two prizes will be awarded in March: Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Award and Alumni Choice Award. www.flexphotocontest.org
The Bradley Herald Page 14
Bradley Bits Updating your personal information is easy: it takes just a few minutes! Go to www.flexalumni.net. And by doing so, you’ll be helping gain new support for the FLEX Program.
Challenges of Reconstructing a Self-Identity” in the Wick Spring 2009 issue. Wick is Harvard Divinity School’s literary journal. heghushik@yahoo.com
ning to take his general examinations in the Department of East Asian Languages & Civilizations next February. He also started to work as an event coordinator for the Korea Institute at Harvard this September. dmironenko@gmail.com
Class of ’95
Ani Muradyan is studying at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C. muradyanani@yahoo.com
Class of ’99
Russia
Russia
Kazakhstan
Anastasia Teterina graduated from the Moscow State University History Department in 2000 specializing in U.S. Modern and Contemporary History. In 2003, she graduated from the Economics Department of the International Law and Economics Institute. From 2000-2009 she worked at Russia’s mass media holding RosBusinessConsulting (RBC), as head of the translation department from 2002. In September 2009, she accepted a new position as the head of the Translation Division, Special Programs and Projects Directorate at Russian News & Information Agency RIA Novosti, one of Russia’s leading news agencies. a.teterina@rian.ru
Natalya Berdikyan, after graduating with a degree in business administration from the Amsterdam School of Business, founded the International Association of Business Innovation and Development in Barcelona, Spain. She then worked for as an HR consultant and business development coordinator. Today she works on marketing and promotion for EastGateWay, an association founded to help companies and entrepreneurs expand their business opportunities through innovation and development of both product and customer portfolios. http://www.eastgateway.net/node/56 natalya@eastgateway.net
Class of ’96 Georgia Nana Aburjanidze was awarded a Muskie Fellowship and is studying in the MBA program at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business. This summer she was in charge of the MBA candidate retention program for which she and her team were able to increase retention by 33%. See Nana’s interview about her MBA experience as a Muskie Fellow at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=pymZoaWso0M. Nana also received a scholarship to participate in the Global Village for Leaders in Business and Industry at the Iacocca Institute of Lehigh University this summer. nanagv03@gmail.com
Russia Farhad Fatkullin (Kazan), interpreted for Secretary Clinton and President of Tatarstan Shaimiev on October 14. Prior to that he was directly involved in eight days of negotiations between Secretary Clinton’s advance team and the Tatarstan government hosts to make arrangements for the visit. Farhad has worked for the Office of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan in the department of State Protocol as a chief translation specialist since 2006. In 2008 he participated in the Legislative Education and Practice Program in Nashville, TN. frhdkazan@gmail.com
Class of ’97 Armenia Heghine Kotoyan (Vanadzor) published the article “Immigration as Dislocation: The
Turkmenistan Nazar Cherkesov works as the Balkanabat branch manager for the freight forwarding and customs clearance company Panalpina Gulf LLC. In 2003, he earned a Master of Arts in Economics (MA) degree from the Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research (KIMEP) in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In 2009, he was awarded a scholarship to attend The Global Village for Future Leaders of Business and Industry Iacocca Institute, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, this past summer. nazar.cherkezov@panalpina.com
Ukraine
Elena Norakidze recently accepted a new job at Kazakhstan Peace Corps. She explains, “It was always my dream to work at the place where I can use both my English and my social enterprise administration skills that I spent two years studying at Columbia University in New York. I shall be working for the good of my own country along with people who are dedicated to developing the NGO system here and increasing the level and quality of education.” fsaflexcoord@gmail.com Gaukhar Kenzhegalieva works for the United Nations Development Project “Promoting Employment and Innovation in Kazakhstan,” which helps people with higher education find jobs that match their qualifications. gkenzhegali@gmail.com
Class of ’00 Armenia Tatevik Davtyan is in charge of World Vision Armenia’s Child Health Advocacy Campaign. This project will be piloted in November 2009 in the framework of World Vision’s Global Health Campaign in Armenia, Brazil, Kenya, Indonesia. The Campaign will run for five years and aims to decrease maternal and child mortality and improve the wellbeing of mothers and children. countries.tatev83@yahoo.com
Antonina Armashula is both the marketing director and an owner of the Mark Tapley Company. Mark Tapley is a British company dealing with consulting and professional development events. The company took its name from the character in Charles Dicken’s novel Martin Chuzzelwit, who is known for his optimistic view of life. imantonina@talk21.com
Kyrgyzstan
Class of ’98
Class of ’01
Russia
Turkmenistan
Dmitry Mironenko (Volgograd) is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Modern Korean History/ Film Studies at Harvard University. Recent professional experience includes working as a teaching assistant for “Sound Cinema” last spring in Cambridge, MA and “Adventures in Early Korean History and Archeology” this summer in Seoul, Korea. Dima is plan-
Aijamal Sarybaeva received a Master’s degree in American History from Ball State University in 2006. She is an assistant professor at American University Central Asia and works for American Councils as a program specialist for the Open World and Junior Faculty Development programs. aijamal@ballstate.bsu.edu
Sergey Atliyev is working on a Master’s degree in Business and Management in Emerging Markets at the University of Redding, UK. sergey_atliyev@yahoo.com
Ukraine Oleksandr Khokhlov (Drohobych) earned a Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics in
Page 15 The Bradley Herald
Bradley Bits 2006 and then began work as a programmer for Mobile (cell) Phone Servis “VIP” in Rivne. oleksasha@hotmail.com
Class of ’02 Moldova Ala Ursu earned a Master’s degree in European Economic and Public Affairs from University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland, and was accepted to a LLM programme in Transnational Trade Law and Finance as an Erasmus Mundus scholarship winner. This programme is offered by four leading European universities from four different countries (Spain, Netherlands, France, Germany) and is coordinated by the School of Law at the University of Deusto in Bilbao, Spain. ursu_ala@yahoo.com
Kazakhstan Marina Sharbakova works at the BTA bank as head of the International Relations department, and also finds time to write articles for Cosmopolitan magazine. ladywarrior@myself.com
Russia Evgeniy Sitnikov (Orel) graduated from the University of Nottingham with MSc in International Business in December 2009. Prior to this, he received a BA in History (with Chinese language) from Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia in Moscow. He seeks an entry-level position in marketing and international strategy consulting for a variety of industries. sytnikov@yandex.ru
Ukraine Marina Khorunzha (Kharkiv) participated in an international internship program with AIESEC, the world’s largest student organization. She interned with the peace building organization Propel Global in Chennai, India. During the 2009-2010 academic year, she is participating in a European Volunteer Service program. As a volunteer in an NGO called Slezska Diakonie, she is working with marginalized groups of people in Ostrava, Czech Republic. maryna.khorunzha@gmail.com
Class of ’03 Kyrgyzstan Kemel Toktomushev completed a Master’s degree in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He worked as a program officer at the Tolerance International-UK, the first international NGO that seeks to combat climate change and eradicate extreme poverty simultaneously. He was recently hired as the public relations director at American University Central Asia. kemel_t@yahoo.com
Russia
Moldova
Kseniya Gnevsheva (Saratov) received a yearlong scholarship from Yeungjin College in Daegu, South Korea, to learn Korean and work as an English language teaching assistant. http://www.sgu.ru/node/40057 kseniya-co@yahoo.com
Ana (Ceban) Chirita organized the Ideal University summer camp to organize democratic student elections into the student senate of three universities in Moldova. This project has an impressive portofolio of activities run over the past three years on different topics such as student participation, building self-governance bodies in universities and working on their capacities, anti-corruption campaigns and student polls, conferences, etc. a.chirita@gmail.com
Turkmenistan Selbi Dzhumaeva and Arslan Penjiyev received Open Society Institute & Soros Foundations Network Chevening scholarships to study human rights at Essex University in England. ufoshka@hotmail.com and penjiyevarslan@yahoo.com
Ukraine Vladimir Bilay (Sevastopol) works as an account manager in Sevastopol and Yalta in the Customer Business Development Department of Procter and Gamble. This summer Vladimir participated in the Forum FOROS, an annual gathering for Russian university students to give them insights on real politics and PR on the global scene. Members of the Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian and European Parliaments spoke, as did PR and political consultants, and other specialists. www.politforos.ru vladimir.bilay@gmail.com
Class of ’05 Armenia
Ani Hovhannisyan is working for Orange Armenia as a junior assistant in the Finance Department. Orange Armenia is a new phone operator in the country. ani_hye4life@yahoo.com
Russia Yevgeniy Yershov (Kingisepp), who finished his third year of studies at St. Petersburg State University School of International Relations, had a summer internship at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow. He worked in the First European Department in the France section of the Ministry. yevg_er@yahoo.com
Olha Lebedyna, who wrote a fairytale entitled “Little tiger, who liked to play football,” had it published in a book for children who suffer from heart disease. http://propr.com.ua/ru/ newspr/ukraine/view/14614. Hers was one of eight selected from among 40 contestants. To attract more attention to the project, each fairytale was co-authored with a celebrity, and Olha worked with TV star Dmitriy Shepelev. olhalpax@yahoo.com
Turkmenistan
Hanna Zubko recently became a shareholder of the newly established innovative marketing research company IVOX UKRAINE - www. ivox.com.ua. She is also both a shareholder and manager of Intellect Technologies LLC (www.intellecttechnologies.eu) and reports that they have recently become SWIFT certified, which brings the company to a new level of business worldwide. hanna.zubko@gmail.com
Mykhaylo Ihnatyev (Odesa) started his own consulting firm Ukrveles. He was chosen to be the city representative in Odesa. mikhail_ignatyev@yahoo.com
Class of ’04 Georgia Maka Meshveliani received a joint scholarship from the Open Society Institute, Chevening and the University of Essex to obtain an LLM in International Human Rights Law. She will participate in this 12-month academic program at the University of Essex, UK. makka_flex@yahoo.com
Aygul Hanova (Dashoguz) participated in the Insight Dubai Conference in the United Arabic Emirates. Together with 100 other international female participants, the alumna discussed such issues as women’s leadership, human trafficking, and the importance of Shariah law. aygul_hanova@yahoo.com
Ukraine
Class of ’06 Russia Margarita Bondareva (Rostov-on-Don) participated in the International Student Leadership Conference, organized by Operation Smile in Newport News, VA in August. She discussed volunteerism with more than 400 American and international students. bondmargo89@mail.ru
Class of ’07 Georgia Elene Ghelaghutashvili received a partial scholarship to study business at Hiroshima University of Economics during fall 2009. elenege@yahoo.com
The Bradley Herald Page 16
Bradley Bits Kazakhstan Almas Kebekbayev (Shymkent) received a Bolashak government-sponsored scholarship to study Computer Science at American University, Washington, D.C. He will begin his studies in January 2010. almasi77@gmail.com
Moldova Valeria Svart was accepted to the University of Potsdam and will be majoring in Geoecology in an undergraduate studies program. She also received a grant from the German Program Theodor Heuss Kolleg, to train 20 youth, through workshops, practical activities, and networking with local environmental NGOs to become catalysts for ecological change in their communities. These leaders will be students at various universities in Chisinau and will hold ecological projects with the students in their schools. valeriaschwarz@gmail.com
psychology sessions with the children to help them develop personally and engage them in society. In September they brought the children together for weekend ecological events. ecaterina.lutisina@gmail.com dashka_1991@yahoo.com
Ukraine Kseniya Larina (Zaporizhzhya) serves as the FLEX city representative. She started a new youth organization called BENZIN, which is doing events connected to arts, theatre, dance and music. As she explains, “in other words, we do everything that might help to develop and support Ukrainian youth culture. We’ve already organized two successful events - an art exhibition and a dance festival.” kseniya.larina@rambler.ru
Russia
Mariya Tkachenko (Luhansk), an active member in the European Youth Parliament, was recently chosen as a delegate to the International Session, which will take place in Norway in April 2010. happydenvery@ yahoo.com
Sergey Kononenko (Magadan) and Yan Naumkin (Yelizovo) became two of four delegates from Russia selected to represent the country during the “Junior 8” Summit, an equivalent to international G-8 Summit, in July. sergo1990@list.ru jannaumkin@rambler.ru
Olena Chemrat (Sevastopol) participated in the All-Ukrainian conference “Development of the Financial System of Ukraine” at Sevastopol National Technical University. She was also chosen to be the city representative in Sevastopol for a second year. bchemrat2002@mail.ru
Marina Kornikhina (Volgograd) was one of eleven youth leaders from the British Councils sponsored Global Youth Changemakers Summit invited to meet United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown in November. At the Prime Minister’s residence, they talked to him about their ideas for Community Action Projects (CAP) grant projects, sponsored by British Councils, and told of some of the community service projects they have organized in the past. kornikhina@yahoo.com Maksim Malyugin (Saratov) has been appointed Alumni Assistant for the American Corner in Saratov. He studies at Saratov State University in the Department of Law. aasaratov@yahoo.com
Class of ’08 Moldova Daria Calaras (Drochia) won the Republic’s English Language Olympiad. calarash_daria@mail.md Ecaterina Lutisina (Balti) and Daria Ursol (Soroca) organized a summer camp for the Drumul Spre Casa Center for socially vulnerable children in Balti and the Azimut Center in Soroca. Ecaterina won a FLEX alumni grant to conduct this project. Active alumni and Peace Corps volunteers organized team building trainings; dance, theater, and art clubs; sporting events; leadership activities; and
Class of ’09 Azerbaijan
Aydan Gasimli and Deniz Gasimli have been accepted to American University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. gasimli.aydan@gmail.com and roverandrom@hotmail.com Rahman Mustafayev and Rustam Yusufov (both of Sumgait) made approximately 60 short presentations about the FLEX program in four schools in Sumgait. They also spoke about the FLEX program in the Sumgait Central Library and with representatives at the Local Ministry of Education. They convinced them to post information about FLEX on their websites and print it in their newspapers, which are read in every school. They did a fabulous job spreading the word about the FLEX competition. rakhman1@mail.ru, clear_boy@ymail.com
Georgia Marika Kurdadze received a scholarship for a study visit program “Study Visits and Individual Internships in Gdynia.” She will travel to Gdynia, Poland, November 30 to December 13, 2009. The program aims to give young people from Eastern Europe and citizens of Pomeranian region in Poland the opportunity to share experiences and establish new contacts. The long-term aim of the
project is to contribute to the development of democratic state institutions and raising civic participation in Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia. marika1991@gmail.com Nino Kukhaleishvili is working as a tour guide in Batumi. She offers tours in English and reports that while they don’t happen very often – once or twice a month – she has met Americans, Greeks and people from other countries who come on cruises to Batumi. Her responsibilities vary according to the guests’ requests, but she usually shows them the interesting buildings, including the churches, tells them the history and then gives them a chance to meet a local family. n_kukhaleishvili@rambler.ru
Ukraine Bozhena Sheremeta (Khmilnyk, Vinnytsya region) has been elected president of the student parliament at Khmilnyk school. she_are_meta_bozhen@ukr.net
All Classes Azerbaijan
Javid Aslanov ’06, Azima Azimova ’05, Samir Khalilov ’06, Govhar Yaqublu ’03 and Mahammad Zeynal ’05 have represented Azerbaijan State Economics University in the Students in Free Enterprise National Contest and won the award of best business project in Azerbaijan. Leyla Aslanova ’07 and Gunel Isakova ’08 participated in the “Capacity Building of Youth Organizations for Working on Preventing and Transforming Religious and Ethnic Based Violence in Europe” held in Bakuriani, Georgia, September 26-30.
Russia
Karina Alimgafarova ’04, Olga Farshatova ’04, Guzel Garayeva ’05, Irina Kuznetsova ’04, Irina Pshonik ’04, Marina Stol ’94 and Gulnara Stover ’99 (Ufa) took an active role in organizing the ACCESS Summer English Language Camp for the Republic of Bashkortostan for children from low income households. The camp is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, U.S. General Consulate in Yekaterinburg, and the Ministry of Education of Republic of Bashkortostan. Rustam Gaynullin ’06 (Astrakhan), Marina Kornikhina ’07 (Volgograd), and Leysen Shayakhmetova ‘05 (Ufa) participated in the youth forum “Seliger 2009.” The theme of the forum was leadership. Marina and Rustam signed agreements with deputies of the State Duma Sergey Popov and Sergey Belokonev. Rustam presented his project at the contest held by the fund “National Prospects” and won a grant. skycry@rambler.ru, kornikhina@yahoo.com, leysen@gmail.com
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Professional Links
Career Development: Principle of the Hourglass Elena Kharlamova ekharlamova@hotmail.com From the first training program that I conducted for FLEX alumni in Moscow, I realized that this community has been blessed in many different ways. The opportunity to live and study in the U.S., the breadth and wealth of cultural and educational experiences, and the value of being involved both on global and local levels have expanded life opportunities for each and every member of this vigorous community. As the global economic context continues to change, how can we explore new career opportunities? There is the Principle of the Hourglass that I want to share: imagine a sand clock as a person’s lifetime career. In the beginning we stretch ourselves thin, trying to get as broad an experience as possible. For the first 2-3 years on the job our knowledge is not deep; it’s rather bits and pieces about “how we do business here.” Things that we learn in the beginning of our career are difficult to transfer to another industry or even company. However, if we are curious enough, soon we understand how our organization works and what kind of value we bring to it. That’s when the hourglass begins to narrow. Step by step we learn faster, and get to know ourselves better. We can answer simple questions, like “what exactly do you like about your job,” or “what do you want to become in 5-7 years,”
or “what type of company/position do you dream of.” Answering these questions directs you right into the middle of the hourglass – that’s the area that you want to focus on as an expert. After that, whether you go to graduate school to gain deeper knowledge about your career focus area, or you strategically choose your next employer in order to become an expert on the job, you spend about 3-5 years to build this sustainable advantage. Once you have moved through the bottleneck of your career, the sand clock gets wider again, because you gain broader perspective. You might change industries – like Alexander Izosimov, who moved from the position of general manager of Mars candy company for Russia and CIS to chief executive officer of Vympelcom telecommunications company. You can change geography, moving from a position in a Moscow office to a broader Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) role, for example. Or you might change specialization – like moving from operations to sales on a director’s level. Or you might keep your industry and your profession, but move up the career ladder quicker and more successfully than those who did not take the time to become the best in their area. There is a tricky part, however. You’ve got to stay true to your career values and measurements of success. It could be money, power, level of professionalism, market recognition or anything else. Once you’ve discovered
Elena Kharlamova is HR director at G2 Moscow, subsidiary of Grey Global Group. Elena is also a career coach and an organizational development consultant, working with a number of multinational companies in Moscow. She graduated from Kellogg School of Management with an MBA degree in 2005.
your major motivation, stick with it, and when times are changing, let your motivation be your guide. It will help you discover opportunities you never dreamt of. However, you must keep in mind that changing jobs in turbulent times can be risky. On one hand, companies change their strategies, and it results in letting people go and new hires are especially vulnerable. On the other hand, your current job could be on the line, and major change for you might be inevitable. When making a decision, analyze the following aspects of your employment: • How safe is your job? • W ill your present job carry you through the next year, which is still predicted to be affected by the global recession? • What are your realistic alternatives?
Elena Kharlamova (center) led a training for alumni who are developing careers as human resources professionals at the Moscow American Center.
Allow me to offer one more observation and some advice: another thing FLEX alumni seem to be very good at is networking. Information exchange at alumni reunions and internet resources such as LinkedIn provide endless opportunities for the right career move. That global outlook that each member of the FLEX community has acquired during and after the program helps you think strategically and utilize all the right resources. Don’t underestimate what you can offer one another! And good luck with your career!
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In Memorium in countries of the former Soviet Union. In part, due to his interactions with FLEX alumni, Bob then worked as a Fulbright professor at Tavrida University in Ukraine. Bob often contributed his personal funds to support FLEX alumni events in southern Ukraine. Bob’s brother Jack Zimmerman shared this obituary, which provides more details on Bob’s life. Born January 4, 1939, Bob graduated from John R. Buchtel high school in Akron, Ohio and earned a BA in International Affairs at the University of Akron. He joined the Peace Corps to begin his phenomenal record of public service and was sent to Samar, Philippines. During the Vietnam War Bob was in the Chou Hoi (Open Arms) program where his language facility was put to use urging Viet Cong insurgents to return to the government. Throughout his life he touched thousands of lives with his sincere love for the education of the youth of the world to better understand their role as future leaders. He served with the State Department through the Agency for International Development in Thailand, Indonesia and Egypt. He earned his MA and PhD in International Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C. He spoke fluent Tagalog, Thai, Vietnamese, and Indonesian. His work was greatly influenced
Robert was such a great person, he was always so optimistic about everything, he taught us to believe in a just cause, that one person can make difference, and it even seemed sometimes that he loved Ukraine more than Ukrainians here did. And I think he was a good example for our Ukrainian professors. Zeyneb Temnenko ’06 Robert (Bob) F. Zimmerman, a great friend of the FLEX program, and FLEX alumni in particular, passed from this world on August 18, 2009. Many alumni had the pleasure of meeting Bob during Civic Education Week in Washington, D.C., where he worked as a program instructor with the Close Up Foundation from 1996 to 2006. Bob was so inspired by the FLEX alumni he met that he decided he needed to travel to Eurasia to, among other things, tell these alumni’s parents what fabulous jobs they had done in raising their children. In 2004 and 2005, he traveled across much of Eurasia, making numerous stops in Central Asia, Russia, Ukraine, and the Caucasus. One practical result of those trips and conversations was a book project. Bob began conducting interviews and inviting alumni of all U.S. Government exchanges to contribute their ideas and experiences to a book on modernization and development processes
From the Aspect Foundation We are sad to tell you that our boy, FLEX alumnus of 2007 Islambek (Bek) Tologontegin from Osh, Kyrgyzstan has passed away after a valiant fight against cancer. “Bek” was a recipient of the US State Department’s Future Leaders’ Exchange (FLEX) Program scholarship for the 2006-2007 academic year. In 2006, just weeks after his arrival to his host family in Muncie, Indiana, Bek was diagnosed with a life threatening cancerous tumor pressing on his heart and lungs. Bek was immediately admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, where he underwent emergency surgery and received chemotherapy treatments. His condition slowly but steadily improved, under the watchful eye of his host parents and his natural parents, who flew in from Kyrgyzstan as quickly as possible. Bek’s host parents, James and Sherry Stout, were tireless in their
by his outreach to the young adults of these countries to better understand their form of government and its relation to democracy. After retirement from USAID he became a program instructor with the Close Up Foundation in Washington, DC from 1996 to 2006. As their most experienced instructor, he led hundreds of groups of high school students to witness the functioning of the federal government and the rich history of America revealed in its museums and monuments in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. He expanded his influence through the FLEX program that brought young adult students to the U.S. from former Soviet countries. This led to his becoming a Fulbright scholar teaching political science and international affairs to college students at Tavrida University in Ukraine in 2007-08. He assisted several of his students continue graduate studies in the U.S. The outpouring of concern for Bob when he entered hospice care was unbelievable as hundreds of messages of thanks flowed to him revealing the extent of his individual efforts with each student and Close Up staff members. Bob is survived by his daughters Jennifer D’Arezzo and Kathleen Heiston, their husbands Mark and Rod and his grandchildren, Joe, Jacob, Breanna and Garrett. Also, his brother Jack and sisters Jan and Mary (Betsy) and their families. Messages of sympathy may be sent to Bob’s brother Jack Zimmerman at jeazun@hotmail.com.
love and support, spending sleepless Bek was kind and humble, funny and nights first in ICU and later in the Ronald McDonald House at the hospital. We spirited, and wise beyond his years. He were very grateful to the wonderful will be deeply missed and always rememlocal Aspect Foundation staff, Ivan and bered. Bek’s story is a poignant reminder Carol Saval, who rallied the community of how quickly strangers become family, in support of Bek, and to the excellent staff at Riley Hospital for Children. and family becomes a source of strength Bek’s journey led him to Indiana, where and protection when it is most needed. he received not only state-of-the-art medical care at one of United State’s Councils FLEX alumni program at best hospitals, but also, and perhaps more flexalumni@americancouncils.kg importantly, a tremendous outpouring of Parents: Tologon Nusupbekov and Burul love, support, kindness and prayers from the Aydarova local community, the Aspect community, and the FLEX community worldwide. Eventually Host Parents: James and Sherry Stout Bek was able to return home to Kyrgyzstan (Please include your city, state and country, with the hope of continued good health. as well as who you are (host parent, FLEX Unfortunately, Bek’s cancer returned, and he alumnus/a, etc.). It will be a comfort to the came back to Indiana for more treatment at families to receive your messages from all Riley Hospital in Indianapolis. There it was around the country and the world. determined that the cancer had spread to his Also, American Councils staff and alumni in brain and was no longer treatable. The doc- Kyrgyzstan have conducted fundraising for tors sent him to Kyrgyzstan on a Monday to his family. If you would like to help, please be with his family and friends in Kyrgyzstan. contact the staff at the Bishkek ACCELS office Sadly, he passed away on his way to his to find out how you can contribute. The home, arriving to the capital city but not to FLEX alumni coordinator for Kyrgyzstan is also his hometown Osh. ready to assist. If you would like to send a message of To all the FLEX community, please keep sympathy to Islambek’s families, you Bek and his two families in your hearts and may write to them care of the American prayers.
Page 19 The Bradley Herald
Profiles Vusal Khanlarov
Summit: Ten Years of Service Conference
Home town: Baku, Azerbaijan U.S. City and State: Greenwich and Saratoga Springs, NY Year returned home: 2001 Email: vusalx@gmail.com
A volunteer/community service activity in which I take part: JA Student Companies project. I teach the team of high school students to create and run a school-based company.
Education (university, degrees, major, area of specialization): Azerbaijan State Economics University, Bachelor and Master, International Economics
Executive Director
Current place of work and title: Junior Achievement Azerbaijan,
Highlights of your work: http://celebrationweek.ja.org/growth_award_winners Educational, professional, and/or personal goals: Educational goal – receive a PhD in international economics; professional – become a successful entrepreneur in a service industry An interesting FLEX alumni activity in which I took part/organized: Road to Education, a volunteer initiative to reconstruct the road to the school in the IDP camp in Barda. The initiative was implemented by alumni who attended the FLEX
Sona Apbasova Home town: Abadan, Turkmenistan U.S. City and State: Bellingham, WA Year returned home: 2008 Email: sonasha5@rambler.ru Education: I plan to attend an American university and major in Political Science/International Relations. Also, I am very interested in learning Spanish and French. I have a dream to become one of the best Turkmen specialists in Political Science/International relations and help my country to prosper in all its spheres. How I feel about the future of my country: I truly believe that my country will reach most of its goals and become one of the well developed countries in the world. If the Turkmen nation has a strong leadership and friendship, knowledge and courage, honesty and belief, determination and responsibility, desire and inspiration to improve, then nothing will be impossible to achieve in the future. A volunteer/community service activity in which I take part: When I retuned to Turkmenistan I opened the “50 States” club, which then I led from August to March. I did my best to introduce the U.S., especially its culture, history, traditions, way of life, people and education system to Turkmen students. Besides these activities I enjoyed helping organize events like: Halloween, Thanksgiving
Elmira Osmonova Home town: Osh, Kyrgyzstan US City and State: Paoli, IN Year returned: 1994 Email: j.nurunbetov@mail.ru Education: graduated from Kyrgyz National University in 2000, majoring in International Relations; Diplomatic Academy-diplomacy Current place of work: Ministry of International Affairs, Consular Service - currently on maternity leave My personal and professional goals/plans: To bring up my kids-Future FLEXes and my professional goal is to continue working in the Ministry of International Affairs
Right now I’m reading: Getting Entrepreneurial! by Larry C. Farrell. The most important skill I gained from my U.S. experience: Getting self-confidence and ability to define life maxims and values My favorite place in the U.S. is: Times Square, New York City What I miss most about the U.S.: I miss the most the people I met and lived with – my host family and good friends. The FLEX Program is important because: it gives a unique opportunity for a high school student to be fully independent. A FLEXer makes important daily decisions on his/her own – whether it is related to personal budget, education, internship, sports, or social issues. FLEX places a high school student in a completely new environment, where he/she has to do personal re-evaluation and find his/her position within the new community. Now looking back, I understand what a challenging assignment I solved. What I’d like to say to fellow alumni: I would like to say to my fellow alumni not to forget the values and skills we learned within the FLEX experience. After we return back to our hometowns as the years pass, our life puts us in different shoes and quite often changes those shoes. The FLEX program builds our personality and gives us stable and positive tools to improve it, so let’s not forget the values and life maxims we defined while we were receiving those tools. Day, Christmas, and April Fool’s Day. But our visit to the Blind School in Ashgabat in January 2009 was an exceptional event for me. We treated them to snacks and then communicated with them in small groups. I was impressed and proud of how hard they work to learn about the world around them, explore it, feel it and see it, even though they don’t have good visual abilities Their words and their dreams made a big impact on me, helped me to see the world through their eyes. Right now I’m reading: No Ordinary Time-Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin My favorite places in the U.S. : were Seattle and Bellingham (the city where I lived), though I fell in love with every place I visited! I really liked the Pacific Ocean, San Juan Islands, Disney Land, Astoria, Oregon, Los Angeles, Mount Baker, and North Cascades National Park. What I miss most about the U.S.: I miss everything about the U.S. I miss my host family and host sisters, my friends, my high school and teachers, nice people, running, volunteering, Mexican food, spaghetti-that my host father cooks, Oreo cookies, Hershey’s and Reese’s, pumpkin pie, and orange juice. I miss the weather, the rain, the trees, and the nature overall. I miss the American atmosphere, culture, and spirit. The FLEX Program is important because: It gives you a life-time adventure, where you grow physically and mentally, become more independent, responsible and mature. And especially through the FLEX program you understand how important your country is: its culture and traditions, to you and to the rest of the world. FLEX prepares you to become a strong and wise future leader of your country. Overall, the FLEX program makes you a better person.
How I feel about the future of my country: I see Kyrgyzstan, as one of the most prosperous, democratic, and socially ensured countries with educated population and developed economy. Right now I am reading: Mainly books on child care, but usually classic world literature My personal achievement I am proud of: My knowledge of English, experience I have working in Ministry of International Affairs of Kyrgyz Republic, and my family How I have made use of my U.S. experience: I’ve used my experience almost everywhere: in the university, in my work in Ministry of International Affairs and in other organizations. My knowledge of English helped me a lot during my trips to other countries. What I’d like to say to fellow alumni: Always aim for the best, on getting the best education and always try to improve yourself, in order to achieve your goals, and to be a patriot of your country
Future Leaders Exchange Offices in Eurasia Alumni Office
Russia, 119049, Moscow, P.O. Box 1 (for mail) Leninsky prospect, 2, office 511 (for visits) +7(495) 638-4582, 638-4544, 956-7806(fax) flexalumni@americancouncils.ru www.flexalumni.net www.americancouncils.org
Almaty
Kazakhstan, 050000 Almaty ul. Seifullina 531, office 604 +7 (727) 272-08-03, + 7 (727)272-09-04 +7 (727) 279-80-96 (fax) flex_coordinator@americancouncils.org alumcoord@yahoo.com
Ashgabat
Turkmenistan, 744000, Ashgabat 48a Gorogly Street +993 (12) 33-10-15/16, 33-10-21/22 +993 (12) 33-06-96 flexalumni@mail.ru turkmenistanflex@gmail.com http://americancornerstm.org
Baku
Azerbaijan, AZ1065, Baku 44 J. Jabbarly str. Caspian Plaza 3 (6th floor) +994-12-4367529/30/31, +994-50-2258178 Flexalumni@americancouncils.az azerbaijanflex@gmail.com
Bishkek
Kyrgyzstan, 720040, Bishkek ul. Tynastanova 98, apt. 1 +996 (312) 66-48-38, (312) 621584 (fax/phone) flexalumni@americancouncils.kg kyrgyzstanflex@gmail.com http://flexalumni.org
Chisinau
Moldova, MD 2012, Chisinau 37 B Tricolorului Str. +373 (22) 22-58-60; 21 12-53 (fax) flexalumni@americancouncils.md flexalumni.moldova@gmail.com http://www.americancouncils.md/
Dushanbe
Tajikistan, 734003, Dushanbe 86 Tolstoy street tel.: (992 37) 221-21-03, 224-14-57 fax: (992 37) 221-17-95 flexalumni@americancouncil-tj.org tajikistanflex@gmail.com
Kazan – Upper Volga Region kazanflex@gmail.com
Kharkiv – Eastern Ukraine
flexaa_kharkiv@americancouncilskyiv.org.ua easternflex@gmail.com
Kyiv – Central Ukraine
Ukraine, 04050, Kyiv vul. Melnykova, 63 +380 (44) 482- 0221, 482- 0222 482- 0220 (fax) flexalumni@americancouncilskyiv.org.ua kyivflex@gmail.com http://www.americancouncilskyiv.org.ua
Lviv – Western Ukraine
Tomsk
alumniki@gmail.com novosibirskflex@gmail.com
Ufa
uralflex@gmail.com
Vladivostok
Russia, 690091, Vladivostok Okeanskiy prospekt, 15a, 3rd floor +7 (4232) 40- 82- 13 (fax/phone) flexalum@vlad.ru
Volgograd
southrussiaflex@mail.ru volgogradflex@gmail.com
Yerevan
Armenia, 0019, Yerevan Baghramya n 1, apt. 1 Tel: (+374 10) 560045, 544012, 544015 Cell: (+374 94) 722235 f_alumni@americancouncils.am armeniaflex@gmail.com www.americancouncils.am
flexaa_lviv@americancouncilskyiv.org.ua westernflex@gmail.com
Sevastopol – Southern Ukraine flexaa_odesa@americancouncilskyiv.org.ua southernflex@gmail.com irina.4.flex@gmail.com
St. Petersburg
Russia, 199004, St. Petersburg Tuchkov per, 4 Tel: (812) 323- 43- 80, (812) 323- 12- 99 Fax: (812) 321- 70- 26 flexalum@americancouncils.spb.ru st.petersburgflex@gmail.com www.americancouncils.spb.ru
Tbilisi
Georgia, 0179, Tbilisi 4 Kavsadze street, (+ 995 99) 380- 999 (phone/fax) flex_alumni@amcouncils.ge georgiaflex@gmail.com www.americancouncils.ge The Bradley Herald FLEX Alumni Newsletter sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State is produced and edited by American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS. Email: bradleyherald@actr.ru Editor - Mary Shea Design and Printing Production – Comline Group ul. Poteshnaya 6, Moscow, Russia Tel.: (+7 495) 221-67-76 E-mail: sales@comline.ru www.comline.ru
FUTURE LEADERS EXCHANGE ALUMNI NE WSLE T TER
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