The first inaugural meeting of the Advisory Board of Kiddie-Co LLC (TM Ideyka) was held within the framework of the “Test Drive of Advisory Boards for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises” project, implemented by the Ukrainian Corporate Governance Institute in cooperation with the Corporate Governance Professional Association. The initiative is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development*, the EU and Switzerland, and is aimed at improving the quality of corporate governance, investment attractiveness and strategic capacity of Ukrainian small and medium-sized enterprises.

TM Ideyka is a Ukrainian manufacturer of creative products and one of the leaders of the Ukrainian paint-by-numbers market. The company’s paint-by-numbers kits, diamond mosaics, art canvases and other creative products are well known to millions of Ukrainians, hold leading positions in the Ukrainian market and are successfully represented in international markets.

During the meeting, the participants got to know each other better, presented their professional experience and expertise, discussed the specifics of the company’s business, key challenges and opportunities for its further development, and identified the priority areas of work for the Advisory Board for the coming months.

The Advisory Board includes the company’s owner, Olena Yelahina, as well as independent board members Iryna Starodubova, Feliks Indenbaum and Oleg Zubchenok, who chairs the Advisory Board.

The first meeting demonstrated the openness of the company’s owner and management to new ideas, their readiness for change, healthy ambitions and commitment to systematically developing the business even in the difficult conditions of wartime. For a company that is already a leader in its category, the work of the Advisory Board will provide an opportunity to look at the business from different perspectives, identify new growth points and strengthen management decisions.

Ahead are several months of intensive interaction, during which the members of the Advisory Board will work together with the company’s team on issues of strategy, business scaling, corporate governance, operational efficiency, international market development, marketing, partnerships, sales and strengthening the company’s competitive advantages.

The “Test Drive of Advisory Boards for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises” project enables business owners to test the advisory board format, receive external expertise and practical recommendations, while candidates for board membership have the opportunity to apply their knowledge in practice and gain new experience.

We congratulate the participants on the start of the Advisory Board’s work and wish them productive cooperation, new ideas and strong results!

*The project is being implemented with the support of the EBRD within the framework of the “Board Implementation and Strategic Development for Ukrainian SMEs” Project, funded by Switzerland through the EBRD’s Small Business Impact Fund* and the European Union under the “Women in Business” Programme.

**Donors to the Fund: Ireland, Italy, Korea, Luxembourg, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan, and the TaiwanBusiness – EBRD Technical Cooperation Fund.