Cincinnati organization receives federal grant for business development in Ukraine (01/26/03)

Cincinnati organization receives federal grant for business development in Ukraine

by Jan Sherbin

CINCINNATI - Cincinnati's Center for Economic Initiatives (CEI) has received a major grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), making it possible for four groups of Ukrainians to come to the United States during 2003 for study tours. The four tours - all with the main objective of increasing productivity - will cover farm equipment manufacturing and the production of grain, livestock and edible fish.

All four groups will be from Kharkiv, Cincinnati's sister city.

"Conveying standard productivity and marketing technology to Ukrainian management is essential to improvement in Ukrainian living standards and the availability of low-cost consumer goods," said CEI President Leland Cole.

Under three previous USAID grants since 1997, CEI has brought more than 200 Ukrainian businesspeople to the United States on 13 study tours. These study tours have had a measurable positive impact on Ukraine's economy. For example, tour participants have initiated new marketing programs, introduced new products and made manufacturing more productive. Government officials in the Kharkiv region report that 60 percent of the firms represented on CEI study tours have doubled their efficiency.

"People come to understand the functioning of a market economy best by seeing for themselves what works," Mr. Cole explained. "For this reason, productivity study tours are an effective mechanism for rapidly exposing people to new ideas they can use to great advantage."

"CEI has built productive, trusting relationships with industry, agriculture and government leaders in Ukraine and is well respected there," he continued. "CEI has more knowledge of Kharkiv industry than any other American aid provider."

CEI's 2003 tours will continue in the same format as before: Each three-week tour includes 16 Ukrainian decision makers who visit U.S. companies in their industry, government agencies and trade associations. Focus areas for all groups are marketing, technology and management. Participants are required to share their study tour knowledge when they return to Ukraine. They reach thousands of their colleagues via technical reports, lectures, media interviews and articles in professional journals. For example, CEI estimates that its 2002 tour participants have reached more than 30,000 other Ukrainians.

The Center for Economic Initiatives models its study tours after those conducted for Western European businesses after World War II under the Technical Assistance Project of the Marshall Plan. It is the only organization offering a Marshall Plan-type program.

In fact, the man who proposed and implemented this component of the Marshall Plan in 1948, James M. Silberman, is an active consultant for the Center for Economic Initiatives. Under his direction, more than 24,000 Europeans studied American industry during the late 1940s and the 1950s, resulting in a quick closing of the technology gap. The results can be seen today in Western Europe's productivity and standard of living.

Mr. Silberman was among 24 people honored in October 2002 by the U.S. State Department for their Marshall Plan work.

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