Kyiv IT Breakfast with IT professionals in the Credit Agricole digital space

About 100 IT and creative businesses experts attended Kyiv IT Breakfast, that was held recently by Kyiv IT Cluster jointly with the international Credit Agricole Bank. Attendees spoke about technological system of Ukraine and shared experience of presenting their businesses at international events. Morning coffee, valuable information from expert Kateryna Hrechko, СЕО of Techosystem, numerous networking opportunities and exclusive gifts for donations to support charitable initiatives, which included the Flag of Ukraine, signed by Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

Jean-Pierre Pallard, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Credit Agricole shared his observations of the features of the Ukrainian IT market: “Ukrainians are very demanding regarding the level of IT services and digital solutions. This motivates us to constantly develop and launch new tools for our clients. The second market’s peculiarity I would like to mention is high level Ukrainians IT-specialists. I am mostly talking about their extremely responsible attitude to work, self-motivation for getting new knowledge and providing the best solutions to the market. It is incredible”.

For those unable to attend the event, which took place in Сredit Agricole digital space, we compiled notes to recap the presentation.

According to Kateryna Hrechko, becoming member of an official delegation from Ukraine for any event is fairly simple. There are six distinct steps that all prospective participants must follow:

• Open call for start-ups with deadline and requirements
• Sending application for a competition via USF platform
• Preliminary screening by organizers and selection of teams for the semi-finals
• Preparation for pitching
• Open online pitching before the panel of judges
• Selection and announcement of finalists

 The CEO of Techosystem shared her tips on how to best prepare for taking part in international conferences:

• Study the program of the event and plan meetings with the target audience (TA)
• Download app for the conference with agenda, announcements, side-events, list of participants
• Besides the regular pitch, prepare an elevator pitch and be ready to deliver it at all times
• Create a QR code with your contact details, printed business cards – this piece of advice is particularly relevant for political and economic events
• Upon making introductions, exchange information right away by sending a short message to the new contact or by taking a photo
• Collect leads and structure contact information
• Make a rule of following up within 24 hours, but no later than 3 days
• E-mail is an official source of communication, it is preferable to send pitchdeck and other important materials via e-mail

From her personal experience, Kateryna recommends reflecting on why you need to go to a certain conference before attending the event. The reasons may include learning new information, communication with other experts, and search of new career opportunities. She also stressed the fact that one lesser known, yet specialized conference can be more rewarding, than many generalized ones.

It is also worth paying special attention to events beyond the official program - “side events”. They can be run under the auspices of organizers, as well as independently. Among the invitees to such events, it is not uncommon to see heads of specialized ministry divisions of various countries, CEOs of tech companies, etc. 

As part of Kyiv IT Breakfast, all those willing could participate in charitable initiatives by donating to the humanitarian projects of Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation and win unique prizes from the organizers, which included the Flag of Ukraine, signed by Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

 The next Kyiv IT Breakfast will take place in a month, on October 24, and it will help reveal the real state of affairs on the Ukrainian IT market.