Ukrainian professor at Cambridge Judge helps develop blueprint to rebuild war-torn homeland

An executive education programme at Cambridge Judge Business School inspired by the National Bank of Ukraine has designed a strategy to rebuild the country’s financial sector.

It’s unknown what further damage Ukraine will suffer, but the cost of rebuilding will be staggering – estimated at multiples of pre-war GDP – and it’s unlikely the existing financial framework will be able to cope.

The new blueprint has been designed by Prof Andrei Kirilenko, professor of finance, at Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS), a native of Ukraine who spent 12 years fighting financial crises around the world for the IMF, and then worked as a financial regulator in the US post-crash. Prof Kirilenko, who lost his 85-year old mother during the siege of his hometown Mariupol at the hands Russian aggressors in April 2022, says he has “never worked harder” than when leading CJBS’ programme.

“I’m honoured to be involved, and am very deeply emotionally attached to the programme and the people,” he said. “It’s unknown what further damage Ukraine will suffer, but the cost of rebuilding will be staggering – estimated at multiples of pre-war GDP – and it’s unlikely the existing financial framework will be able to cope.

“I want them to build a sanctuary – for the Ukrainians and their culture and civilisation. For that, Ukraine needs to rebuild its financial sector and to become a wealthy nation, because by being wealthy you can defend your independence. Then you don’t have to go empty-handed and ask the rest of the world for help.”

The idea of the Ukrainian course, which later involved 50 financial market visionaries, was born in Kyiv during the shelling. The development of the executive education course itself raised £13k for the Ukrainian military. The course began in July and was supported by Mastercard Ukraine and Deloitte in Ukraine. The group was split into five teams, and each team produced a blueprint. All modules included a lecture and discussion part: during the discussions global trends were superimposed on Ukrainian realities and market visionaries, who together with the programme participants were looking for insights into the Ukrainian economy and society revival.

The blueprints were then synthesised into one overarching vision, which leans heavily on fintech, plus sustainable ways to rebuild the country once the war ends, and to use society-based projects to re-integrate traumatised families and veterans returning from the war.

Kate Shcheglova-Goldfinch, senior project manager at the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on the fintech market, digital technologies and regulatory platforms development, had just started her fintech Executive Education programme at CJBS when the war started in February 2022 “and completed my assignments from bomb shelters”.

She says of the process, she says: “Performing the visionary tasks, I thought: ‘It would be very cool if there was an opportunity for Ukrainian financiers to get together and brainstorm about the future of Ukraine in the post-war period, to think about scenarios for reviving the economy and developing the financial sector’. At that time, I did not know that in three months I would already be discussing the structure of the future Ukrainian Executive Education programme with the CJBS dean and leading professors.

“It is worth saying that I was already engaged in the creation of academic programs with Ukrainian universities in the context of my work at the NBU as an external consultant responsible for fintech. Cooperation with the academic sector has become an element of the Fintech-2025 strategy of the National Bank of Ukraine. I am grateful to the NBU team for the unprecedented support of the partnership with CJBS, despite the very difficult conditions associated with maintaining the financial stability of the financial sector during the war. However, even in such a difficult time, the development of innovations and interaction with the market, financial literacy and strategic development remain among the regulator’s priorities.”

The challenges are vast.

“Some parts of the country have been completely destroyed – no houses, no infrastructure, no payment terminals, no internet – but other parts of Ukraine are totally digitalised and becoming more resilient,” notes Prof Kirilenko. “It’s a matter of how we join these two worlds.”

In November 2022, the National Bank of Ukraine presented to the public a detailed concept for e-Hryvnya, a central bank digital currency, which was discussed in draft form on the programme. Several programme participants, along with Professor Kirilenko, have joined an advisory group on virtual assets created by the National Securities and Stock Markets Commission (NSSMC) of Ukraine, its regulator of securities markets.

The advisory group is led by Yuri Boyko, the NSSMC Commissioner – who also participated in the CJBS programme – and is currently discussing the legal and regulatory agenda regarding virtual assets.

“I would like to run the next iteration of the programme at Cambridge Judge for Ukraine,” concludes Prof Kirilenko, “but it needs to be financially supported to make it viable. CJBS is currently hosting a displaced Ukrainian academic and a PhD student. We are doing what we can to help – they are part of our Cambridge family.”