Kyiv to Establish Business Incubators

KYIV, Ukraine, November 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Following the Kyiv Development Strategy 2025 the Ukrainian capital will introduce business incubators, reported Kyiv City State Administration. In December 2011, the city administration plans to adopt the major development plan for the Ukrainian capital for the next 15 years. Besides including programs aimed at accelerating development of new businesses in Kyiv, the strategy includes plans to improve the city infrastructure, introduce more cultural institutions, and employ e-government system.

The so-called business incubators will support new businesses in Kyiv and will be increasingly beneficial for Ukraine's capital, reckons one of the officials at the Kyiv City State Administration Ruslan Kramarenko. He noted that up to 85 percent of the startups survive in incubators while normally only 15-30 percent of the new businesses successfully establish themselves in the business.

The eight priorities identified by the Strategy include improving the infrastructure, attracting investment in local businesses, introducing e-governing, and increasing the amount of cultural events in Kyiv. Additionally, the Strategy stipulates renovation of the shores of the Dnipro river to make them an attractive recreation zone, stepping up the healthcare in the city, developing the business in residential areas to lessen the pressure on the transport infrastructure, and making Kyiv a destination for regional missions of various international organizations since Ukraine allows visa-free entrance for the citizens of both Europe and CIS.

While finalizing the strategy, initiated by the Kyiv city state administration in May 2011, the authors took into consideration the recommendations by the city residents and experts. The data received in person and through the hotline was carefully collected and later discussed at the themed round tables. Investors, representatives of NGOs, small and medium businesses, public structures, scientific and research institutions discussed the new strategy. It is estimated that around 4,500 residents of Kyiv participated in the talks during the summer and autumn of the c.y. Some 7,000 suggestions have been received.

Interestingly, a concept of a business incubator, quite new to the Ukrainian entrepreneurs, goes back to 1959 - when the first business formation of a kind opened in New York. Currently, New York hosts six business incubators. Nearly 15 hundred such hubs function in the US, according to the National Business Incubation Association, while the UK boasts some 300 venues, claims the UK Business Incubation.