For as long as he can remember, Anton Chornyi wanted to work in education. He isn’t about to let Russia’s war against Ukraine get in the way.
“Crisis brings opportunities,” says Chornyi, who in 2021 made it onto Forbes Ukraine’s 30 under 30 list of notable young entrepreneurs. “It’s important that we not let the war stop us, because education is a fundamental part of any society.”
Chornyi is chief executive of GoIT, an educational company in Ukraine that offers online technology courses around the world. He joined the company in 2017 as the “client happiness manager.” He was looking for a job that was not too hierarchical or bureaucratic. GoIT fitted this bill and allowed Chornyi to explore his creativity while helping students excel in their courses and find jobs.
“At one point, I decided to offer students free team projects to let them practice what they were learning,” he says. “As a result of the practical experience the students gained from these projects, the number of jobs they found increased. This brought more loyalty from the students to GoIT and planted the seeds for my success.”
Find technology jobs faster
The Ukrainian entrepreneur Roman Korytskyy founded GoIT in 2014 to simplify IT courses and help people find jobs faster in technology. The target audience: people who want to change careers, but who have little or no IT background.
In 2023, Horizon Capital, a private equity firm investing in Ukraine, agreed to support GoIT and help it expand internationally. Horizon is helping innovative Ukrainian companies export more products or services. That’s important for the Ukrainian economy because—due to the Russian invasion—it’s hard to do business domestically these days.
Horizon’s goals are to bring in better returns for companies and create more impact for the region. Horizon received a €25 million investment from the European Investment Bank in 2023 to broaden its work. This financing was made possible through the EU for Ukraine Fund, established by the European Union’s financing arm to address urgent needs and sustain the economy in Ukraine.
"Supporting the private sector, helping technology companies in Ukraine expand, and creating high-value jobs are crucial tasks to ensure the country's competitiveness and development," says Iliya Mihov, a loan officer at the European Investment Bank.
With Horizon’s backing, GoIT will expand into other countries, broaden its products and improve its online teaching platform. It hopes to offer bachelor’s degrees and primary school courses soon.
“Horizon is not just a financial investor,” says Tofan Vasile, a senior partner at Horizon. “We help our companies run their operations: building a team, strategy, business development, assisting with crisis management, offering our high-level network to help our clients. This help is not so common, but it really pays off in the long run.”
- Read how the European Investment Bank is helping Ukraine rebuild and recover
Beyond programming
GoIT uses a “70:20:10” teaching model: 70% practical experience, 20% feedback and interactions and 10% theoretical knowledge. The GoIT team provides students with knowledge that goes beyond programming to focus on building soft skills, additional languages and career skills to help students feel more confident and do better during job interviews. The teaching process is driven by:
- Tutors offering live lectures and practical lessons.
- Mentorship, which uses a mixture of artificial intelligence and staff feedback for homework, career advice and other assistance.
- Client happiness managers, who offer guidance to students during the courses and after they graduate.
GoIT offers two main teaching programmes:
- GoITeens helps a younger audience develop STEM skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking.
- Neoversity provides a technology master’s programme with an internationally recognised diploma by Woolf University, a global online university.
GoIT was recognised by Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation for its success in finding technology jobs for students
GoIT
Working safely during the war
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, GoIT could have faced a crisis like many other businesses that lost clients and had trouble operating during the war. But GoIT operated fully online during the COVID-19 pandemic, so the staff already knew how to offer continuous services to students in difficult times – even during power shortages or military attacks.
Helping GoIT grow benefits Ukrainians, as well as people in the European Union and the rest of the world. GoIT provides courses in local languages, and its trainings and career advice boost employment opportunities in other countries. Today, the company offers courses in Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Mexico, Colombia and the Philippines. Its ability to operate during the war helped increase yearly revenue 2.5 times in 2022.
Chornyi, GoIT’s chief executive, encourages Ukrainian entrepreneurs to believe in themselves and their ideas, even during the worst times.
“If you truly believe in your product and the value it brings and do not bend under the challenges,” he says, “you will achieve success.”
- Read how two big funding packages are lifting Ukraine when it needs help the most
