Dedham Businessman Living In Kyiv Reports On Invasion

DEDHAM, MA - A Dedham businessman and longtime Westwood resident has been living in Ukraine for the past few years, moving to a Kyiv apartment two weeks ago during the beginning of the Russian invasion.

In a Boston Businesss Journal article published Thursday, Henry Shterenberg, a partner at Dedham-based investment bank Briggs Capital who grew up in Ukraine, described what it is like in Kyiv and his experiences in working to change Ukraine's economic structure.

"For the first time in eight days, I walked out or went outside for food," he said in the article. "The city's unrecognizable. In a 15-minute drive, we were stopped at least six or seven times to check our IDs."

He added that there was a bombing of Kyiv the previous night.

Shterenberg said he has been establishing a social media network for the country since he moved back in 2017 to help ingivorate the country's economy and make it more appealing for outside investment.

"So when in 2017 the parliament passed the law of decentralization, that was my trigger to move back to Ukraine," he said. "Now we can do the economy bottom up."

He has been working to establish connections with business leaders and government officials across Ukraine so that they would be prepared to capitalize in emerging economic opportunities.

On Tuesday, Shterenberg started an Instagram page called United Students of Ukraine to give young people an outlet to voice their opposition to the conflict and desire for peace. He also has engaged students in building free websites for municipalities. Shterenberg created a business directory called The Marketplace, according to the article.

Shterenberg said that continued economic pressure on Russia would be vital to ending the confilict.

He has relatives in Massachuestts, according to the article.

Read the article here.