As Russia amassed thousands of troops and tanks on Ukraine’s border at the end of 2021 and the threat of nuclear war loomed large, Ukraine’s leadership ramped up a distinctly non-physical counter-offensive. President Volodymyr Zelensky and his tech savvy team focused on building a communications machine harnessing social media messaging, marketing savvy and celebrity to fight Russia digitally as well as directly on the battlefield. Never has a sitting president relied so heavily on various social apps to communicate both at home and abroad, and to build Ukraine’s brand. Whether or not this strategy is sustainable amidst a protracted war and short internet attention spans is yet to be seen, but Zelensky has made a case for marketing war that other leaders are sure to follow.
The Doorstep Podcast – Links to discussions with experts as the war has evolved
Republished with permission from twotwoone.nyc where it originally appeared.
In the deluge of pandemic news, I saw that Kanye West was in a shouting match with Forbes magazine over his net worth. He was upset that he did not have a higher net worth, even after he had instructed his staff to give Forbes proof of how much money he had. As a former Forbes billionaires’ editor and writer, I thought I would read that story for a distraction and see what my Forbes colleagues said to such hubris. I used to encounter it daily. You become immune and are instead amused by how desperate rich people are to appear richer.
But isn’t chasing a super-yacht or your 1,000th pair of Manolos or another Riviera villa so last century?
Wealth creation and celebration were hallmarks of the 20th century, enshrined by debuting on annual Forbes lists. But two decades into this new one, we are still searching for how to define ourselves. Over the past five years, I have heard my college students say two things that I think are playing out today. First, it is more important to them what people are doing to be change-makers. Their appetite for wealth lists is low, as is their tolerance for hearing about another wealthy man getting ahead. They might get a kick out of the fact that Kyle Jenner made the billionaire’s list, not because she is a young woman with a great deal of the money, because it is Kyle Jenner the influencer. She had her following before she was on a billionaires’ list and she will have her following if her net worth dips below a billion. Rich, to my students, is rich. The actual dollar figure is irrelevant. What kind of life are these rich people living is what my students follow.
I propose a new index inspired by Girl Scouts. I am a lifetime member of Girl Scouts and a current leader of Cadettes. As part of their promise, they recite,“On my honor, I will try…to help people at all times.” How do Girls Scouts do it? There is a specific set of guidelines that include, “use resources wisely and make the world a better place.”
These are thankfully, in this deeply divided country, nonpartisan. Michele Obama and Laura Bush were Girl Scouts. Every field from business to the space program has a Girl Scout alum. We are out in force now making masks for front line workers, writing letters to nursing home residents, and delivering cookies to say thank you to hospital workers. These are small steps to be sure, but everything is local. We build ourselves, and our future, from the ground up.
So how do we create a list that reflects community action and shaping a better future?
Any list creation is more art than science. It involves a series of judgments about what is important. Is it how many press mentions, how your publicly traded stock is fairing that day or how your art collection has appreciated? Or something more intangible? Every list I have every worked on has both subjective elements and hard numbers. We can start working on the methodology. But we have to start now.
My students are tired of seeing the quarantine in a mansion pictures, or how hard it is to get food to my huge yacht stories. They talk instead about how inspired they are by people like environmentalist, Greta Thunberg. Her message is clear and sprouted a global movement via social media. Many of my students went to the Climate March in New York city last fall and heard Thunberg speak. They are still talking about how Thunberg inspired them and how it was one of the best things that have done in their life.
(For more listen to my Carnegie Council podcast on Genz, Climate Change Activism, & Foreign Policy.)
So Kanye – we don’t care about the size of your package. What exactly are you doing to make sure we give generations after us a better world? What kind of ancestor will you be?
I was recently a reporter on the Forbes Power Women list; indeed I have been working on the list since its inception five or so years ago. This year, the list is a bit different; glammed up to be sure.
If I would be able to add to the list, I’d definitely look at some players from Eastern Europe and Central Asia making the list a more global. (in no particular order):
*Roza Otunbayeva – Kyrgyzstan’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for this weekend with over 3,000 candidates running for office. Otunbayeva has had a huge role in making this happen. Her interim government took over after the April ouster of former dictator, Kurmanbek Bakiyev. She removed restrictions on independent media and helped ratify a new constitution in June despite ethnic violence that erupted that month. She will lead the country as president until 2011. The mineral rich nation may offer an alternative to China’s dominance in rare earth metals; Otunbayeva will play a large role in developing mining and other economic policies.
*Yulia Tymoshenko – Don’t dismiss the former (two-time) Ukrainian prime minister and one-time presidential candidate. Now leading the opposition, Yulia continues to be a thorn on the side of the current Yanokovych government insisting Ukraine maintain ties with the West.
*Dinara Kulibaeva– Daughter of Kazakhstan’s president for life, Nursultan Nazarbaev, is a billionaire through her holdings in Halyk bank and married to a potential future leader of Kazakhstan, Timur Kulibaev. Though nothing is certain because Nazarbaev keeps his succession close to his chest, clearly Dinara and Timur will remain among the nation’s future power elite.
*Mounissa Chodieva – Daughter of Kazakhstan billionaire, Patokh Chodiev, Mounissa has previously been dubbed by UK papers as Britain’s “first female oligarch.” She and her father, as well as other partners, minted money when Eurasian Natural Resources went public. As head of the company’s investor relations team, Mounissa is heavily invested in managing the company’s image and messaging. I worked with Mounissa several years ago when I wrote a profile of the company prior to IPO and can attest she will continue to be a mover and shaker.
Grazyna Kulczyk – One of Poland’s richest women is know for her support of the arts and for taking Poland up a notch in the contemporary art world. Since 2007, part of her collection has been shown in her redbrick shopping mall, the Stary Browar, a Prussian-era brewery. She also invested in a new conceptual hotel, Blow Up 5050 – both a luxury hostelry and an electronic-art installation.
Ukraine’s youngest billionaire, Kostyantin Zhevago, who almost lost his iron ore producer, Ferrexpo, when markets crashed two years ago, is back raising cash. According to Millenium Capital, Ferrexpo completed its road-show July 16 planning to place Eurobonds worth $500 million. The company plans to ramp up production by 50% over the next five years, and has the iron ore reserves to do so. ADDENDUM: It appears the Eurobond issue has been postponed.
This follows on the heels of fellow billionaire, Rinat Akhmetov, and the announcement that his steelmaker Metinvest raised $700 million via syndicated loan.
Ukraine has had success recently, negotiating a new $14.9 billion loan program with the IMF. As a result, Fitch upgraded Ukraine’s sovereign bonds stating “The IMF agreement improves the sovereign’s financing flexibility and will unlock additional funds from other international financial institutions.”
There is still a long-way to go — Ukraine’s real GDP fell 15.1% in 2009, according to Fitch, marking the second-worst economic performance after Latvia of the over 100 sovereigns rated by the agency — but billionaire confidence appears to be back up.
After recently losing Ukraine’s fourth largest steelmaker, Zaporizhstal, to an unnamed group of Russian investors, Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s wealthiest (with a fortune estimate by Forbes at $5.2 billion) is at it again.
Akhmetov’s Metinvest, Ukraine’s largest vertically integrated steel group, is negotiating a merger with Mariupol Ilyich Steelworks, the country’s largest flat rolled steel producer.
According to a note from financial services firm, Millenium Capital, the merger is a win-win for both parties and will help Akhmetov as he tries to take Metinvest public. “[Mariupol] will get access not only to the raw materials but also to the Group financial resources for modernization implementation and will improve the corporate governance too. On the other hand, Metinvest will also benefit from the impending merger. Firstly, it will joint the top 20 biggest steel producers in the world, with a crude steel production capacity of more than 17m tonnes/year, which will have a positive effect on the prospects of its long discussed IPO. Secondly, the assortment of the Holding production will increase and, thirdly, the capacity utilization will increase.”
Akhmetov’s holding company confirms the negotiations, stating, “Both the parties are considering possible scenarios of co-operation and of combining resources in order to strengthen the position of Ukrainian steelmakers on international markets.”
The obstacle: who owns the mill? On May 26, two men claiming to represent offshore companies registered in Cyprus, Boris Podolsky and Ilya Gorn, announced the sale of Mariupol to an unknown investor. Meanwhile, Volodymyr Boyko, Mariupol’s chief executive officer and manager of its shares, has stated to Ukrainian press that he “took part in no oral or written agreement to transfer their ownership.”
Russian giants like Severstal (owned by Russian billionaire Alexei Mordashov) are said to be in the mix. Will the Russians again foil Akhmetov’s bid to create a Ukrainian steel giant?
Polish richest man, billionaire Jan Kulczyk, whose fortune was estimated by Forbes to be $2.1 billion in March, is increasing his energy investments in Ukraine.
His Kulczyk Oil Ventures, through its subsidiary, Loon Ukraine Holding, bought a 70% stake in of one of Ukraine’s largest private producers of natural gas, KUB-Gas, for $45 million; the deal was completed last Friday. Kulczyk Oil Ventures, which went public in May on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (symbol: KOV); used part of the proceeds from the IPO to close deal in Ukraine.
Dariusz Mioduski, the president of Kulczyk Oil Ventures, told the Polish press that, “We plan to increase production in Ukraine and KUB-Gas has enough potential to at least double its current production.” Kulczyk Oil is also exploring opportunities across Central and Eastern Europe as well as in other hydrocarbon basins in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Poland’s foray into Ukraine comes in the midst of news from Russia that its Gazprom gas monopoly has offered to merge with Ukraine’s state energy firm, Naftogaz. Ukraine has significant gas resources that need development investment.
Ukrainian billionaires Henadiy Boholyubov and Ihor Kolomoyskyy are involved in a lawsuit recently brought by Austrian Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG against Ukraine’s largest oil company Ukrnafta for nonpayment of dividends. Boholyubov and Kolomoyskyy through their Privat holdings control a 42% stake in the energy company, but according to one analyst “effectively control the oil company through loyal management.”
The Austrian bank, which has significant investments across Eastern Europe, filed a lawsuit with the Commercial Court of the city of Kyiv in April demanding that Ukrnafta pay them a dividend in the amount of UAH 3.164mn.
Claims have also been presented to Ukrnafta by Kazimir Partners Investment Fund represented by Kazimir Ukraine Convergence Fund Limited for the dividends payout for 2005 amounting to UAH 7.6mn.
Analysts at research firm Millenium Capital write, “We see this news as negative. Information that the dividends were not paid to all shareholders confirms, once again, the lack of transparency in the management of the company.”
Back in January it was reported that Ukrnafta’s shareholders decided to pay 5.08 billion hryvnias, or $635.8 million, in dividends for 2006-2008. The government, which owns a majority stake in UkrNafta, was unable to recover its share of dividends due to a shareholder conflict with Privat’s owners who had been said to be resisting the government’s attempts to hold a shareholder meeting amid fears that the management would be reshuffled. Prior to the presidential elections, then Prime Minister and presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko had said she would return control over Ukrnafta from Privat back to the government if she won.
This past Saturday was something called Swan Day which is a celebration of women artists. The long term goal of Swan Day is “to inspire communities around the world to find new ways to recognize and support women artists as a basic element of civic planning.” I am doing my part by lauding the efforts of Virlana Tkacz who is our guest writer. She is the founding director of the Yara Arts Group creating theater pieces based on contemporary poetry and traditional myth and legend, much of it focused on women and many pieces about Ukraine. Her work is incandescent and I cannot wait to see “Scythian Stones” at La MaMa in April.
Also on my agenda: going to see the Whitney Biennial which showcases 20 women artists. And if I ever get back to Moscow anytime soon: Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Russian socialite and billionaire Roman Abramovich’s girlfriend, Dasha Zhukova’s, art space which is meant to rival London’s Tate.
I am also impressed with Ann Ziff who recently announced a $30 million gift to the Metropolitan Opera which turns out to be the largest single gift from an individual in the company’s history. Under the direction of Peter Gelb, the Met has been trying to dust off its staid image, and its new production of Shostakovich’s The Nose is a great example. I didn’t like all the visual projections – I thought they took away from Valery Gergiev’s beautiful orchestra direction, and Paul Szot’s amazing performance – but they were an interesting experiment and I was excited to be a part of it.
We can’t all be Ann Ziff, but we can do our small part by attending arts events and giving our time to promote the arts.
Where are all the women? We’re Half the Sky as but we’re always underrepresented as Catalyst reasearch points out (see my previous post titled International Women’s Day). The same is true for Eastern Europe, Russia and the rest of the CIS where only 2 women reached Forbes billionaire ranks out of some 40 or so total women on the 1,011 long list.
The richest in the region is Elena Baturina who returned to the list after a rebound in Russia; her net worth: $2.9 billion. The wife of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov (who has been in power since 1992) runs Inteko which started out in furniture and crockery then moved into construction. Her real estate projects were hard hit by the 2008 financial crisis but she is back building affordable housing for Russia’s rising middle class. She also reportedly has interests in Africa, a continent where several CIS oligarchs are looking to expand. Though rumors swirl about favoritism in winning city contracts because of her family connections, nothing sticks; Baturina is aggressive about maintaining a clean reputation.
The other is Dinara Kulibaeva, the media-shy second daughter of Kazakhstan’s long-serving president Nursultan Nazarbaev and wife of Timur Kulibaev, also a billionaire and rumored to be a potential successor to Nazarbaev. She also returns to the Forbes billionaires list; her fortune is estimated at $1.1 billion resting on her shared stake in Halyk Bank which received hundreds of millions of dollars in bailout funds from the government post 2008/2009 financial crisis.
The common thread between the two is the connection to powerful men. Though the Soviet State introduced equal gender rights and formal equality under law and this should have been grandfathered into newly independent states, the theory has not always played out in practice. Some states in Central Asia (Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) have even taken steps backward since the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union with discrimination against women rising.
2009 was a year of recovery for the World’s Billionaires as a whole reports Forbes (for whom I have been freelancing). The wealthiest in Eastern Europe, Russia and the CIS states improved their fortunes as commodities markets recovered and world stock markets rose.
Poland, a success story among transition economies, but which had only 1 billionaire on the list last year, Zygmunt Solorz-Zak, is back with 4 billionaires. In addition to Solorz-Zak, Jan Kulczyk, Leszek Czarnecki and Michal Solowow return to the Forbes billionaires list. Kulczyk, who was last on the Forbes list in 2006, is strengthened by his energy holdings.
Dinu Patriciu, Romania’s richest billionaire, is also making a big push in energy, going after licenses to explore for oil and metals in the Black Sea; in January he even got patent for a method of mining and processing seabed sediment.
Despite the fact Romania’s GDP contracted an estimated 7% in 2009 and its hopes to introduce the euro by 2014 may be thwarted by collapsing euro-economies like Greece, the country saw the return of former tennis ace, Ion Tiriac, to the Forbes billionaires list and added one new billionaire, Ioan Niculae, who has interests in agriculture.
Indeed it was a good year for agriculture – the world’s rising population needs to be fed. Andrej Babis joined the Forbes list as a new billionaire from the Czech Republic; his Agrofert agricultural holding company keeps growing and may be looking at European expansion plans. Along the same theme, two new Russian billionaires, Andrei Guriev, and Anatoly Lomakin, made their fortune in fertilizers; and fellow Russians Pyotr Kondrashev and Vyacheslav Kantor return to the billionaires list based on their interests in the fertilizer business.
