On June 14 a graduation celebration was held at LvBS. The honored guests who congratulated the graduates spoke about the topics of the much-needed change in the country and the role of business in the process of transformation. Graduates of the Lviv Business School this year are participants of the Key Executive MBA program and for the first time the MSc in Innovations and Entrepreneurship.
The graduates were congratulated by representatives of the administration of the Ukrainian Catholic University, as well as by teachers and friends of LvBS.
The rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University, Rev. Dr. Bohdan Prakh, said that when Ukraine is at war, we do not always realize that every day our brothers and sisters are being killed. “Our common goal is to stand strong, not to lay down arms but work toward serving and changing the country. This business school’s programs are designed so that you will have new experiences and knowledge that will change this country. Without you, our graduates, we won’t be able to do it,” concluded the rector.
The dean of the Lviv Business School, Sophia Opatska, addressing the graduates said that the challenges we face are much wider and larger than just doing our daily work. She added that she has very high expectations for the LvBS Alumni, a community that brings together graduates of all programs.
Bishop Borys Gudziak, the president of the Ukrainian Catholic University, gave the commencement speech. He focused on the effects of the Maidan on Ukrainian business: “Maidan became a great base for Ukrainian business and uncovered new qualities in business. If young people and students initiated the Maidan, then the middle class was the engine and the guarantor of its fruitfulness,” said the bishop.
The bishop identified several major aspects of the Maidan’s events that influenced the course of history and become irreversible point: “First the Maidan was a great Sacrament. At the fundamental level Ukrainians united for their God-given dignity. The Maidan taught us dignity. We captured the attention and won the support of the entire free and thinking world,” concluded the bishop.
Secondly, Maidan had a practical dimension. According to Bishop Gudziak, the effectiveness of management was at work. Everything was sorted and organized and this was done above all by enterprising people. And at the core of the Maidan was prayer.
Another aspect of Maidan, according to the President of UCU, is that it taught us all, especially business, new sensitivity: “We saw our neighbors differently, and the society and the country more deeply. Thanks to Maidan, we discovered in ourselves new values: the readiness to sacrifice, and the people did sacrifice.”
The Maidan crystalized our new priorities: “Today, the most savage sharks are the oligarchs – they can no longer behave in this country as they did before Maidan. Maidan brought a sense of independence and courage, which every day are needed in business. The people became agile. We want agile entrepreneurs, people agile in the spirit of Maidan,” concluded the President of UCU.
According to Bishop Borys, the generation after Maidan is called on to understand the price that was paid for what we have achieved: “It is too expensive to change it into small tasks. Our task is to transform the corporate national culture of corruption, starting first of all with ourselves. Today in Ukraine, in a time of war, we are all called on to heal the country, and the best way to start is with oneself, with one’s family, with our places of work, our friends. These days, we continue the journey from fear and maliciousness to dignity and integrity. Today we are sending you on a mission to go into the world, join new projects, go to different parts of the country with your ability to create, discover, unite, and heal,” the bishop said to the graduates.
The graduates were also congratulated by Pavlo Sheremeta, Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, Chairman of the Advisory Board LvBS, Oksana Semeniuk, HR-director of Mondelis Ukraine, Yaryna Kliuchkovska, a lecturer at LvBS, an adviser to the Minister of Revenue and Duties.
“Teaching at the Lviv Business School is happiness: you are the kind of people who do not take criticism and comments as insults but transform them immediately into action, because you are people of action,” expert in strategic communications Yaryna Kliuchovska told the graduates. “The price for this greatness is responsibility. Today we are writing the history of our country. And today’s story is also a story of great hope, because we have great confidence in you.”
