Before February 24, 2022, Oleksandr Shved had completed his master’s degree in Finland, returned to Ukraine, and started his own business. Now, Oleksandr is fighting on the Zaporizhzhia front as a member of the 141st Separate Infantry Brigade and is studying at the MBA program at KSE Graduate Business School.
Oleksandr received the scholarship thanks to FUIB, a strategic partner and regular benefactor of the KSE Foundation. Thanks to the bank’s investment in the scholarship program launched by the Kyiv School of Economics Foundation, more than 60 students of KSE University have previously received grants for higher education.
Despite his rich life experience – two years of master’s studies at Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland), two years of living in the UAE, and a year in China – Oleksandr Shved always planned to live and work in Ukraine. He returned home in 2018.
“I have never had a desire to stay abroad or emigrate somewhere. I have always liked Ukraine. I have always believed and continue to believe that we can build a successful and strong country that we can be proud of,” he says.
Before the full-scale war, Oleksandr was involved in consulting, helping businesses find effective management solutions. It was during this time that he realized the need to gain new knowledge through an MBA program—the owners of successful companies he worked with shared their experiences of going through this program.
However, Oleksandr’s plans changed with the start of the full-scale war. He put his studies on hold, as defending the country from the Russian invasion became his top priority, and he joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“After the first combat mission, I felt calm, satisfied with the successfully completed task and tired. In general, fatigue accompanies you constantly at war: today my day started at 5 am, after a few hours of sleep. But despite this, it’s important to find time for things that allow you to think about the future. For me, it was studying at KSE GBS,” Oleksandr shares.
Despite a constant lack of time and a busy service schedule, he manages to balance his studies with his service in the Armed Forces. Every free moment he dedicates to lectures or assignments: “Studying during a war is also a way to distract yourself from the harsh reality around you. The less free time you have, the less you focus on the negative.“
Oleksandr is studying in the MBA program at KSE Graduate Business School thanks to a scholarship from FUIB. He says that such business support is especially important now: first, it gives soldiers the understanding that they are awaited at home and that there is investment in their reintegration. Second, the level of social responsibility of Ukrainian businesses is a crucial part of a strong Ukraine.
“Studying, like serving in the army, is another challenge for me and a way to grow. We don’t know how long the war will last. I don’t want to find myself in a situation where, after the war, I am no longer needed in the job market. I want to continue developing my knowledge and skills to be useful and implement changes after the war,” says Oleksandr Shved.