Ivan Svitek, general manager of the Alfa-Bank Ukraine and Chairman of the Management Board of Ukrsotsbank enjoys an impeccable reputation in the banking sector. Due to his 30 years of experiences in banks worldwide, he was recognized as the best performing foreign CEO a bank in Ukraine.

Mr. Svitek shared his vast experience with the students of the SE MBA class and discuss his approaches to doing business in Ukraine.
Currently, Mr. Svitek manages two banks undergoing mergers. His goal is to make the integration result in the creation of the best bank in Ukraine. So far, his efforts have been successful. “Last year was the most successful in Alfa-Bank history,” Ms. Svitek said.

His approaches to running a business in Ukraine and skills which successful managers in Ukraine needed caused even more discussion than banking and financial system in Ukraine.

“A CEO should be responsible for his/her decisions which are often unpopular,” Mr. Svitek stressed. He believes that a person needs to have a wide variety of skills to run a business. Understanding which of the skills needs to be applied now is even more important.

Team performance and business success depend on the quality of management. Retention was one of the much-discussed questions. Part of the class believed that people leave because of the lack of perspectives, others – lack of remuneration. Mr. Svitek disagreed with both. According to him, most of the staff’s turn-over was caused by poor management. “Your immediate boss and your immediate team make the difference,” He said.