The fourth season of the educational project “The Long Game”—an initiative that has become a true digital platform for the development of Ukrainian entrepreneurship—has officially concluded. This year, the project expanded to include 5,538 registered participants who spent several months mastering tools to sustain and grow their businesses right on their smartphones.
Results That Speak for Themselves
This season demonstrated both quantitative and qualitative growth. The key indicator of success was an NPS (Net Promoter Score) of 87%, reflecting exceptional trust from the audience: 88% of participants gave the project the highest ratings.
Key figures for Season 4:
+1.8 points – the average increase in participants’ confidence in running a business after the training.
50% of graduates have already taken concrete actions during the course: from creating a financial model to registering a business or entering new markets.
9.3 out of 10 – the rating for the usability of the new learning platform.
94% of participants plan to return next season.
A Profile of Those in It for the Long Haul
The project’s audience is a mature, economically active community, with people aged 31–40 forming its core.
Who participated this year?
- Women’s Leadership: 62.1% of participants are women.
- Entrepreneurial spirit: 41.7% are business owners, and another 9.9% are top managers.
- Business scale: The vast majority run micro- or solo businesses (up to 10 employees).
- Loyalty: 20.6% of participants return to the program for more than 1 consecutive season.
- Geography: The largest number of participants registered from the Kyiv (30.2%) and Lviv (20.5%) regions; 2.6% were studying abroad.
This season, we paid special attention to supporting those who need it most. Among them were 420 internally displaced persons (IDPs), 176 active-duty military personnel, and 132 veterans. Among the industries represented, the IT sector led in terms of the number of participants (14.7%); the service sector ranked second (13.6%); other major sectors included marketing and media, as well as education.
Focus on the Future: AI and Digital Transformation
In Season 4, alongside classic topics such as finance, marketing, and strategy, participants highlighted the module on artificial intelligence and digital transformation the most. Lectures on practical AI tools for business and process automation were among the most popular. Entrepreneurs learned to use modern technologies as “game-changing tools” to optimize operations, enabling Ukrainian businesses to remain competitive even under extremely challenging conditions.
“Automation today is a basic requirement and a necessity to meet market demands. It gives businesses agility and, at the same time, is a prerequisite for implementing artificial intelligence, which companies—including those in Ukraine—are already actively integrating. Therefore, for businesses that want to ‘play the long game,’ automation is the foundation without which it is impossible to reap future benefits,” says project instructor Olena Kuzmichova, a graduate of the Key Executive MBA program at the UCU Business School.
What’s next? Bootcamp and preparation for Season 5
The training on the platform is complete, but for the top-ranked participants, this is just the beginning. One hundred winners have been selected and invited to an intensive in-person boot camp. It will take place July 23–25 in Ivano-Frankivsk at the Promprylad Charitable Foundation. These three days will feature in-depth networking, practical case studies, and competition for grants to support education and business development.
The project is being implemented thanks to the synergy of its partners: the “Promprylad” Foundation, the UCU Business School, and the marketing agency Netpeak.
For more details about the project, visit the “The Long Game” website. Videos of the lectures and case interviews are already publicly available.
