OPINION:
“Please come to Kyiv next week. Don’t discuss this with anyone,” Horizon Capital CEO Lenna Kozarny told me over the phone in late April. “Just get to Warsaw by next Wednesday. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is going to host the signing ceremony for the new fund.”
At a moment when Kremlin propaganda wants the world to think multinational Western resolve for backing Ukraine in the long haul is eroding, this deal was pure proof of the contrary: The West’s confidence in Kyiv as a reliable and bankable future partner is actually growing as Russia’s war grinds through its 15th month.
Horizon Capital, the most successful private equity investor in Ukraine, was closing a $250 million fund to invest in Ukraine’s and Moldova’s impressive tech sector and expand the export-oriented companies pivoting to Western markets. Horizon had invited a representative from each “limited partner” investor in their new fund to be in the room for the signing.
I was going to represent one such limited partner, the Western NIS Enterprise Fund, or WNISEF, arguably one of the greatest international development success stories of all time.
With startup money from the U.S. Agency for International Development in 1995, WNISEF made investments in more than 120 companies earning profits while starting or modernizing entire industries. Fifteen years ago, WNISEF had spun off Horizon Capital, and WNISEF had become a limited partner in Horizon’s investment funds.
The new Horizon Capital fund, including the U.S. government, the World Bank, and “development finance institutions” backed by the Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Swiss, French, German and Dutch governments, was exciting — no less a symbolic victory than a tangible one for the region facing Russia’s long assault.
The chance for me to take up Ms. Kozarny’s invitation to come to Kyiv was a chance to take part in a major vote of confidence in a prosperous and democratic Ukraine whose future is in the European Union.
This is where the rubber meets the road in the world of development finance and foreign direct investment — a world where the U.S. and its allies are big-time players, despite global media narratives that claim China and others are the ones in the driver’s seat.
The fund will help complete the “economic divorce” from Russia.
The fund will support entrepreneurs in Ukraine who have only known an independent Ukraine. The fund will also bring Ukraine’s best ideas in technology (where Ukraine is a world leader) to the world and will create linkages with the West.
War continues to rage, but Ukrainians endure and, like a miracle, Kyiv feels almost normal. The streets are full of people and traffic. While the monuments are covered in sandbags, there is a quiet tension but a deep sense of resolve among the people.
After lunch with the American Chamber of Commerce, we arrived at a large official building complex. After going through several security checks, we arrived in a brightly lit, ornate room. Suddenly, a door opened. Mr. Zelenskyy entered.
Mr. Zelenskyy put us all at ease by making light of the fact that a number of the limited partners had forgotten to sign the document. Ms. Kozarny, who is originally from Canada, said she would speak Ukrainian for the evening news. Mr. Zelenskyy joked that he would put in his translator earpiece so he could understand her “Canadian Ukrainian.” You had to be there, but it was funny.
The signing ceremony sent a signal that Western governments and investors stood with Ukraine, its people, and its soldiers at the front
“It is the first big, symbolic investment since the onset of the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation. This fund is a clear signal that global business and investors believe in Ukraine’s victory,” said Rostyslav Shurma, head of the presidential office.
He couldn’t have said it better. I felt it when I was there. Our presence was a vote of confidence in the future of Ukraine.
• Daniel F. Runde is a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is the author of “The American Imperative: Reclaiming Global Leadership Through Soft Power” (Bombardier Books, 2023).
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