The UAE in particular has recently seen an influx of Ukrainian residents who were forced to relocate due to the current war disaster or have made UAE home due to better business opportunities. The members of the Ukrainian Community in Dubai include many prominent business minds and creative persons. In fact, you might be surprised to know that one of the most luxurious properties in Dubai, The Kempinski Hotel Residences Palm Jumeirah was built by Emerald Palace Group (EPG) – the Ukrainian residential and tourism project developer and was the 1st project on Palm Jumeirah completed by foreign developer. Today we shed the light on the prominent personalities of Ukrainian community in Dubai- all of them united by quality of work and international success.
Denis Sokolovsky runs the famous Ukrainian Dynamo Football club Academy in Dubai. Training over 100 boys, his students confirm the strength of his coaching methods of Ukrainian football in a series of victories in matches against European football schools in Dubai.
Denis himself started training in Shakhtar Club, Donetsk at the age of 7. His father Mikhail Sokolovsky was Shakhtar’s record holder in terms of games played and has a star of fame and his statue. The 1st decade of the millennium saw him play for different countries of Europe.
At the age of 31, he became a coach. He moved to Dubai in 2015 to work with Juventus football academy and in 2017 at the Milan school. Later he decided to open his own school in Dubai named Ukrainian Dynamo Football club Academy in Dubai. The Ukrainian club is famous in the soccer world with branches in Dresden, Minsk, Moscow, Tbilisi, and Houston.
Evgeny is a shareholder in a German international shipping company, MLB Shipping. Previously he worked in Ukraine and in Germany in the shipping companies, and in 2012 he opened a representative office in Dubai. Evgeniy Poltavets was born in Odessa in 1983 in a family where father worked as a sea captain, and mother was a merchant in the shipping company. He graduated in the famous Odessa Maritime University as Master of Operation of Maritime Transport. Meanwhile, from his childhood he loved football and was enrolled in the football academy, SKA Odessa, from which he graduated in 1998. When he met Denis Sokolovskiy in Dubai, his childhood dream came true- they created the new Dubai Dynamo football team which now plays in the Premier league and has ever growing ambitions!
Another Ukrainian sportstar turned successful entrepreneur is Nina Yeresko who founded Aram Gymnastics Club in Dubai in 2017. And now it celebrates 5 years with branches in Abu Dhabi and Ajman. Nina was born in 1988 in Western Ukraine, in Lviv, and started to learn gymnastics at age of 4. During her sports career she took part in many international competitions. Nina came to Dubai in 2015 to work as a coach in gymnastics club and very soon started her own venture. Aram is the first Club to support and grow a local team in the UAE to compete both locally and globally. The name ARAM originates from an Arabic and means a ‘Baby Deer’. The club policy matches the vision to raise & develop a young talented generation to be a part of this sport in the UAE. From 16 to 18 December 2022, The Aram Gymnastics Club is bringing together 400 young talents from 20 countries to participate in a large-scale international competition from 16th to 18th Dec’22 at the Al Nasr Club, an indoor sports complex located in Dubai’s Oud Metha district.
Strongly motivated Ukrainian businessman Ivan Kroshnyi came to Dubai in January’ 21. In one year, he has started seven companies in partnerships. The Dubai-based large-scale project he is particularly proud of is a coffee-shop chain Roaster Coffee House. This company also runs Coffee House Al Wasl – the villa with a rooftop terrace with a spectacular view of Burj Khalifa, Coffee Island in Dubai Mall and Coffee House & NFT Gallery JBR. Another rapidly evolving businesses in Dubai are catering service and consulting for relocation to the United Arab Emirates. At a young age of 33, Ivan is the co-founder of 25 companies in 19 countries. His assets include a brokerage company, a payment system, an investment fund, a villa construction project, a manufacturer of electric bikes and motorcycles and a beauty clinic. On top of that, Ivan is the President of Cartel Club, a community that brings together traders and investors. His further plans include a number of new ambitious projects, scaling of existing businesses and investing in new areas in partnerships.
After successful EXPO 2020 season, the famous ‘Balloon-man’ Alex Ostrovskiy has chosen Dubai as his home. Ukrainian Special Act Performer, who amazed the public in 23 countries from Brazil to China and impressed America’s Got Talent judges, fell in love with the cosmopolitan spirit of Dubai. Alex was born in Kharkov in the family of engineers and from a young age he loved to perform. This led him to the famous music and circus. At the same time, his parents insisted him to follow the family pass so he obtained the Engineering degree. However, the stage was his calling and at the age of 20 he started performing on stage. He gained popularity quick and there’s no looking back ever since. He successfully performed at “America’s Got Talent 2021”, “Britain’s Got Talent 2020“, TV shows in Germany, Italy, Romania, Russia and Ukraine. He is also proud to be the ‘Laureate of the International Festival of Humour and Variety Art.’
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