CEI Selects Participants for "Marshall Plan" Program

Cincinnati, Ohio, June 15, 1998.  The Center for Economic Initiatives (CEI) has just completed the selection phase of its "Marshall Plan" type technical assistance program for Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Today's businessman must compete in a global marketplace and it is increasingly important to improve productivity through the use of modern management, manufacturing and marketing methods. Only in this way can industry provide higher quality goods at lower prices, and thereby help to improve the standard of living of their population.

Under this USAID-funded grant, two delegations targeted at important subsectors of the food processing industry will visit the US. The first delegation will concentrate on fruit and vegetable, including sugar and the second will concentrate on meat, dairy and edible oils.  On each team, 16 carefully selected key industry managers will visit many U.S. companies and organizations in the US Midwest during a four-week period.   The study tours will take place in August and September.

The selection phase of the program was run by CEI with assistance from the International Executive Service Corps (IESC) and the the Regional Business Assistance Center in Kharkiv.

After the program was announced, 55 companies and 77 individuals applied. Each company was then visited and discussions were held with management. A three-day seminar was then held to discuss the program, make marketing suggestions based on the company visits, and to discuss other topics designed to prepare the applicants for the trip to the US.  A homework assignment was made based on the materials presented.  Finally, a team of Americans interviewed each applicant. The final participants were determined by scores in each of these phases.

The Center for Economic Initiatives is a nonprofit corporation located in Cincinnati, USA.  Its mission is to promote economic development within Ukraine and other developing countries, including countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.