Ukrainian Alum Uses Three Decades of Business Expertise to Aid War-Affected Communities
By Scott Jackson
Thirty years since earning his MBA, Taras Ogiychuk is using the skills and experience he gained at WSU and over the course of three decades in international business to start a new venture—humanitarian aid and reconstruction in his native Ukraine.
When Ogiychuk (’93 MBA) first set foot on US soil in 1989, Paula Abdul was charting on the Billboard Hot 100, a McDonald’s Big Mac was $1.65, and the Berlin Wall was just months from being torn down. He and 15 other university students participated in a six-week exchange program hosted by WSU, and he says it was a bit of a culture shock.
“In ‘89, coming to the US from the Soviet Union, it’s like traveling to a different planet,” Ogiychuk says.
A second home in Pullman
When three WSU deans visited Ukraine shortly after that first visit, Ogiychuk was tapped to translate for Rom Markin, dean of what was then called the WSU College of Business and Economics. After several days traveling together, Markin asked Ogiychuk if he’d like to go to school at WSU. Ogiychuk replied, “Of course.”
He returned to WSU in 1990 to earn his MBA and says his years in Pullman were among the most impactful of his life. He fondly recalls reggae nights at The Cavern, a local bar once situated on Greek Row, and becoming the first Soviet member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He remains in touch with some of his fraternity brothers.
After graduating, Ogiychuk retained his ties to the region. His first job after graduation was with the Postharvest Institute for Perishables at the University of Idaho, working with a grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on projects in Russia and Ukraine.
Return to a changed Ukraine
When Ogiychuk began his MBA studies, he couldn’t have known the USSR would dissolve at the end of the following year. However, he returned to a changed economic landscape, and soon found the marketing and communication skills he’d learned at WSU were extremely useful in a country rapidly shifting toward capitalism.
After finishing his work with USAID, Ogiychuk struck out on his own and has since formed business partnerships that span multiple industries including power, real estate, and hospitality.
“Having connections in the US and having that knowledge of a business student in the US, I was able to come up with some good business ideas,” Ogiychuk says. “When I met some business people in Ukraine, we merged our experience and our capabilities as a startup business—and one business led to another.”
Providing hope for Ukraine
Ogiychuk and his wife and son were living in Kharkiv, about 30 miles from the border, when Russia began its full-scale invasion in February, 2022. Within hours, the city was the target of intense shelling. Ogiychuk packed what he could into a car and drove his family hundreds of miles to get away from the fighting. They are now taking refuge in Poland.
With his buildings empty of tenants and many of his businesses dormant, Ogiychuk began to think of ways he could use his connections to aid the war effort. He started by helping to secure equipment like helmets and bulletproof vests for the army and has since expanded into humanitarian aid and reconstruction with the help of US-based partner Matt Moore.
“We have opened a company called Amerikrane that will be involved in rebuilding and reconstruction of Ukraine once the war is over,” Ogiychuk says. “With the same partner, we also opened a fund called Sprouts of Hope. It’s a charity organization that provides humanitarian help to people, mostly in the Kharkiv region.”
Now that the war front has been pushed back toward the Russian border, Ogiychuk spends much of his time in Kharkiv. He says the city is slowly returning to life now that it’s not constantly under bombardment.
Speaking from one of the office buildings he owns in Kharkiv, Ogiychuk seems hopeful. He says he plans to restart his dormant businesses when the conflict is resolved and perhaps reclaim a restaurant and hotel he owned in Crimea before the war.
While it’s been more than a decade since he’s been to Pullman, he says he thinks about visiting every year and hopes he will have the opportunity when the war is over.
He says he feels a deep sense of gratitude to WSU and the Markin family who made the life-changing time he spent at WSU possible.
“Those were my best years,” Ogiychuk says. “I learned a lot, made a lot of friends, and applied all the knowledge that I received there in my business career and my life.”