Can business communities become a new form of trust and influence in a world where traditional institutions are experiencing a crisis? How can entrepreneurs of Ukrainian origin unite into a global team that works to strengthen Ukraine’s brand? And are horizontal networks of leaders capable of transforming not only business, but society as well?
We spoke about the power of communities, reputation as the main capital, and the ambition to create a global ecosystem of Ukrainian entrepreneurs with Serhii Haidaichuk, founder and president of CEO Club Ukraine, CEO Club London, and CEO Club Global — a new model of a club community that brings together 500 entrepreneurs of Ukrainian origin from 100 centers around the world into a global team.
CEO CLUB UKRAINE IS ONE OF THE RECOGNIZED FLAGSHIP BUSINESS COMMUNITIES OF THE COUNTRY. CEO CLUB LONDON HAS ALSO MANAGED TO BUILD A STRONG REPUTATION. WHAT RESULTS OF THESE COMMUNITIES’ WORK DO YOU CONSIDER THE MOST IMPORTANT, AND WHAT IS THE STRATEGIC LOGIC BEHIND THE TRANSITION TO THE CEO CLUB GLOBAL LEVEL?
CEO Club Ukraine has been operating for over 14 years. And throughout this time, we have sincerely and actively proven through our work that creating business associations and business communities is extremely valuable. Everyone benefits from this: entrepreneurs and society alike. We became a role model that essentially launched the club movement in the country. Five years ago, I wrote the book “The Club. The Art of Bringing People Together,” where I honestly and openly described how everything works for us.
Today, there are already dozens of business associations in Ukraine. Sometimes I see how some of them use formats, narratives, and ideas that we created. This is great. Because the more actively business unites, the more horizontal connections emerge, the more subjectivity, trust, cooperation, and interaction grow within society.
In our club, we gather not only to help each other develop, but also to combine efforts, energy, and resources in order to make the world around us better. Today, within the community, it is considered poor form if someone does not participate in social, charitable, or public initiatives and does not contribute.
AND WHAT EXACTLY ARE THESE JOINT PROJECTS IN UKRAINE?
Our logic is the following: for society around us to progress, we must learn, unite, and do meaningful things together. Not everyone should create their own charitable foundation in their own name, but rather act collectively. Because only through unity can much larger-scale challenges be addressed. That is why our joint social initiatives are not just one-off fundraising efforts, but systemic long-term projects.
In particular, Generation+, which we have been implementing since 2018. It all started with a shared idea — to gather 100 children from vulnerable categories each year and provide them with a one-year program of professional preparation for adult life. Over 8 years of the initiative, we have shown nearly 900 children alternative life scenarios and opportunities that influence their development trajectory. I believe this is a true collective success story — achieving what we aimed for — teaching people to play the long game together.
Next is the “Soborna” foundation, which began in 2015 as an initiative by a group of CEO Club Ukraine members to support the families of fallen defenders from the 92nd Brigade, Special Operations Forces, and the National Guard. Today, this foundation supports over 1,000 children who lost one of their parents in the war. We take responsibility for them until the age of 21, provide psycho-emotional support, create educational programs for both children and mothers, and ensure participation of families in various rehabilitation and recreational programs.
We have also contributed to the “Greening Ukraine” project, support book publishing in Ukraine, and are launching an action tank within the club that will focus long-term on improving the country’s investment climate.
At the same time, it was important for us not only to create a community but also to build an institution. We are gradually transforming CEO Club into an institutional organization with corporate governance, where responsibility for the club’s development is shared among the members themselves. The club’s brand is owned by many members, the organization operates under a non-profit model, and our goal is to create an institution that could exist for decades, or ideally centuries, spreading the ethics of responsible business.
We are also preparing another major project — a foundation of Ukrainian business. This refers to a model where Ukrainian entrepreneurs collectively finance not business initiatives, but long-term civic and leadership projects: the development of civil society, independent media, think tanks, and new generations of leaders. The idea is that Ukrainian business unites resources for systemic change in the country, not just for individual charitable initiatives.
We come together not only to grow, but to unite our energy and resources and make the world around us better — together.
SO WHAT, ACCORDINGLY, DO YOU CONSIDER THE RESULT OF CEO CLUB UKRAINE’S WORK?
That all club members now share a new standard of doing business in Ukraine and leadership within that business. And this standard is about taking responsibility for the public good and working on it together. We do not do anything just because there is a market, some niche, or for the sake of money. We act only when there is a greater meaning in it.
We don’t do anything for the sake of the market or money — only when there is a greater meaning in it.
NOW PLEASE TELL US ABOUT CEO CLUB LONDON.
During the full-scale war, CEO Club London was focused on deepening relations between Ukraine and the United Kingdom. For some time, we were even referred to as the embassy of Ukraine in Britain, when there was no official ambassador here for a year, because we organized around 10 events in the British Parliament alone, most of which had nothing to do with business. In addition, we held a number of notable cultural events and around 40 major gatherings in all the closed British clubs, where we brought together more than a thousand British leaders, politicians, ministers, members of parliament, intellectuals, military representatives, and businesspeople. So we were not developing the club as a community or pursuing business interests, but were focused on promoting Ukraine’s interests globally. This is another dimension of how business, when united, can support its country.
AND ABOUT CEO CLUB GLOBAL.
Because of the war, Ukrainians have now spread all over the planet, but at the same time, this can immediately be transformed into unique opportunities. In this new, interconnected, globalized world, Ukrainians — through war and crisis — have enormous collective potential.
The idea is that CEO Club Global should effectively connect influential Ukrainians from different parts of the world — from 100 countries. Instantly, we gain a global platform, a global ecosystem, a global space of trust, and a global team that plays for Ukraine on the world stage. And we know how to do it in a powerful way and within just three years, so that other countries will take our model as an example.
On the one hand, we will take into account and fully meet the needs of our members in communication and development, just as we have been doing for 15 years in Ukraine. On the other hand, we will work toward higher purposes, where a necessary condition of membership in the club will be participation in joint projects aimed at making the world a better place.
So, on the one hand, CEO Club Global is an ecosystem that helps Ukrainian entrepreneurs scale and succeed at a planetary level. On the other hand, it is a subject of global significance that will develop the brand of a new Ukrainian business — strengthening the brand and image of Ukraine and supporting the country’s initiatives and projects on the global stage.
We are building a global platform and an ecosystem of trust that unites Ukrainians around the world into one team.
COMMUNITIES THAT YOU HAVE FOUNDED HAVE A VALUE-BASED FOUNDATION AND ARE DESIGNED TO BE BUILT ON TRUST AND PARTNERSHIP. WHAT VALUES DO MEMBERS OF THESE CLUBS SHARE, AND HOW DO THEY BUILD TRUST?
First of all, we have never built our communities solely on business criteria. We have a very high-quality, conscious, well-thought-out, and multi-level approach to selecting club members. There are membership requirements, and we adhere to them, because the overall strength of the community depends on the level of people who come together. But the most important thing is personality + reputation. If there are issues with ethics, we either do not accept such people or exclude them.
Secondly, the willingness to contribute to society and care about the common good.
Third is openness and readiness for cooperation and interaction. If you do not contribute to the development of the community through ideas, organizational efforts, moderation, or speaking, if you do not participate in the club’s social, charitable, and public initiatives and projects, then you do not align with our value system.
Fourth is the principle of trust. For us, it is the foundation, it is the currency, it is the core capital. We build trust, we cultivate trust, and so on.
And finally, personal development. We probably have one of the most powerful ecosystems for developing leaders. We organize around 1,000 events per year, and 90% of them are not meetings with speakers or content consumption. Instead, there are numerous Peer-to-Peer mini-groups and formats in business, philosophy, and psychology, where club members learn from each other. This approach did not appear overnight: we carefully developed it with experts, experimented, and I am confident that such an ecosystem does not exist anywhere else in the world.
HOW DOES REPUTATION IN THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE THE CRITERIA FOR MEMBERSHIP IN THE COMMUNITIES?
We take this parameter into account not through words, but through specific mechanisms and selection procedures. There is a separate Membership Committee. There is also a six-month candidate period, during which a person goes through special evaluation formats, including philosophical and intellectual ones. If there are any concerns regarding a person’s reputation, we will not accept them into the club.
We also have a separate institutional structure — the Ethics Committee. All of this is extremely important, because without reputation there can be no trust, no depth, and no truly powerful community. Otherwise, it would simply become a social circle. But we stand for something fundamentally different, which is why this matters so much to us.
Especially in times when it is impossible to rely on most institutions and organizations, and when people can rely only on each other, on strong horizontal communities, and on islands of trust.
WHAT ARE THE KEY DIFFERENCES OF CEO CLUB GLOBAL AS A NEW MODEL OF A CLUB COMMUNITY COMPARED TO THOSE COMMUNITIES OF THE UKRAINIAN BUSINESS DIASPORA THAT ALREADY EXIST AND CLAIM AN INTERNATIONAL SCALE?
In the business dimension, I do not see any serious organization at the global level that is “playing in the top league.” Most of what exists are gatherings, no matter how they position themselves. And they are mostly local, even if they declare global branches and international networking. The level is limited, because everything comes down to networking and events.
The CEO Club Global model is fundamentally different.
First, we will not have any branches that localize thinking. There will be a single global ecosystem whose members think and act globally. This is the key innovation embedded in the model. Second, we are building not just a community, but a team of around 500 entrepreneurs of Ukrainian origin that will become a space of trust on the global stage. A team with its own deep culture, functioning as a single organism.
Third, we are not bringing together all Ukrainian business, but only reputable entrepreneurs from the medium and large segments. Fourth, this community-team has a defined architecture. Its members will represent at least 100 countries and 100 economic centers of the world, giving it a civilizational scale.
In all the communities I have seen around the world, I have not noticed an emphasis on being specifically Ukrainian. Russian language often dominates there, and many participants are not from Ukraine. We, on the other hand, are focused exclusively on entrepreneurs of Ukrainian origin who have found themselves around the world over the past years and decades.
And just like in Ukraine, we are focused on joint effort. You cannot be a member of the club only for yourself. You can be a member if you agree that together we will do something meaningful and powerful for Ukraine on a global level.
WHAT WILL MOTIVATE THESE 500 ENTREPRENEURS TO UNITE?
People want to communicate with “their own” — with people of the same culture and values. And most importantly, we offer unique opportunities: a planetary game without borders and the maximum expansion of personal possibilities.
WHAT WILL BE THE MECHANICS OF FINDING THESE PEOPLE? WHAT ARE THE EXPECTATIONS FROM THEIR PARTICIPATION IN THE WORK?
Everything is quite simple here. We publicly declare our goals and explain our values, our idea, and our objectives. Over the past 15 years, we have built a strong brand in Ukraine and have a powerful reputation. We have never had the task of persuading or inviting. When people see what we do, they come to us themselves.
Therefore, it is necessary that the “target audience” simply hears about CEO Club Global and its idea. Those who are already at a truly high personal and worldview level will be drawn to it. Those who do not understand — are simply not our audience.
And in order to cover the target 100 countries of the world, we will go deeper, because people need to be found, especially the “long-established” diaspora. But we believe that a strong idea with the right values and the right leadership develops itself. If we dig deeper and look at our diaspora over the past 50–100 years, we will find top individuals of Ukrainian origin in almost all societies and across all fields — from politics and business to art and science.
A strong idea, grounded in the right values and leadership, has the ability to develop on its own.
DO YOU ALREADY HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROJECT PORTFOLIO WITHIN THE CEO CLUB GLOBAL INITIATIVE?
The project is only 2.5 months old. We already have 60 members. There is a clear understanding that we want to develop the brand, reputation, and image of a new Ukrainian business globally. Therefore, both the club, each member of the club, and our individual initiatives and projects must contribute to this as much as possible. To build an alternative, new brand of Ukrainian business. Because the one that exists today in Ukraine has, unfortunately, been damaged by previous generations of oligarchic “businessmen.”
IS THERE A RISK THAT, WITH INTERNATIONAL SCALING, THE CLUB WILL LOSE THE AUTHENTICITY WITH WHICH IT STARTED IN UKRAINE? IF SO, HOW DO YOU PLAN TO ADDRESS IT?
I do not think there is such a risk. Today, the club in Ukraine is fully managed by its members, to whom I have gradually transferred all authority. Because I am confident that we have laid the foundation, and the system is already operating independently.
And I will personally lay the foundation for CEO Club Global during the first 3–5 years. For this, there is already extensive experience, understanding, and reputation. Therefore, I am absolutely convinced that we will succeed and establish the right mechanisms. Because if you act with pure intentions and an open heart, even those who want to hinder you will not be able to do so. Authenticity always has power.
WHERE DO YOU SEE THE POTENTIAL OF UKRAINIAN BUSINESS TO COMPETE IN THE GLOBAL MARKET AFTER THE WAR? WHAT ROLE WILL CEO CLUB GLOBAL PLAY IN THIS?
I see that 90% of the projects that have started developing after the full-scale invasion are successful on the global stage. Ukrainian entrepreneurs are a unique type of entrepreneur. It is the DNA of people who, for centuries, have lived at the intersection of empires, cataclysms, and global crises — and survived. Such conditions have created highly talented, entrepreneurial, resilient individuals capable of withstanding any circumstances.
For us, chaos, pressure, turbulence, and unpredictability are a natural, favorable environment. That is why the new Ukrainian business succeeds against all odds, despite the fact that the state often attempts to discredit it in various ways.
I believe all of this has shaped some of the strongest entrepreneurs of the 21st century. When the war pushed many businesses out of the domestic market, they began to move globally, to thrive, to lift their heads, to see global opportunities, and to use them in unique, creative, and unconventional ways.
Ukrainian entrepreneurs were shaped in conditions of crisis and turbulence — and it is precisely this that made them strong and capable of operating globally.
WHAT WILL BE THE MAIN INDICATOR OF SUCCESS FOR THIS INITIATIVE FOR YOU: IMPACT ON GLOBAL PROCESSES OR SOLVING LOCAL (GEO)ECONOMIC AND REPUTATIONAL CHALLENGES OF UKRAINE?
The results I envision from CEO Club Global are the following:
Hundreds of Ukrainian companies have become international and global businesses, growing many times over and strengthening the reputation, influence, and image of Ukrainian entrepreneurship, the Ukrainian economy, and Ukraine itself around the world. We want Ukraine to become associated with a new generation of ambitious, responsible, and globally minded entrepreneurs. Members of CEO Club Global preserve their Ukrainian identity — they do not distance themselves from it, fear it, or hide it — but instead actively promote it and maintain a strong connection with Ukraine.
All of this becomes possible because we are building one of the strongest Ukrainian global organizations — one that represents Ukraine’s interests internationally with dignity and influence. We unite efforts, create joint initiatives and funds, and support projects that contribute to the development of Ukraine, Ukrainian leadership, and civil society.
There is also a broader global dimension to this mission. Human civilization is currently experiencing a deep crisis of values and meaning, expressed through geopolitical instability, economic turbulence, climate challenges, and rapid technological transformation. Over the next twenty years, this period of global transition will create enormous pressure on existing systems and institutions. Much of the old order will inevitably break down, and those who survive and succeed will be those capable of adapting and building new models for the future.
For civilization not only to survive, but to evolve, it needs a new generation of leaders — people capable of thinking globally, acting responsibly, and understanding that humanity and the planet are deeply interconnected.
This is why CEO Club Global is not simply a business community. It is a platform for developing leaders who are capable of operating on a global scale while remaining grounded in values, responsibility, and long-term thinking. These are the ideas and principles we want to promote internationally.
Source: print edition “PRNEXT”