During 2022 and into 2023 a colleague of HCA’s has been impacted by the war in Ukraine. Iryna Bobrus lived and worked in Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv which is located on Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia, until February 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

Iryna started her career as a teacher in the Kharkiv Pedagogical University and used this experience in teaching with her psychology background to become an HR specialist with a wide range of expertise across all the HR functions. This includes extensive expertise of HR operational and management processes, application of tools in managerial work, experience of mentoring and coaching managers in HR and leadership competencies, as well as training of HR specialists.

Iryna first worked with HCA’s Principal Lee Ridoutt in 2017 in a European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) funded project with a private health service. This involved supporting the growth ambitions of a Ukrainian private sector health services company called Mamin Dom (Mom’s House), which started with a small shop in the centre of Kharkiv in 1999 providing families with new-born babies and children under 6 necessary goods (from cloths to strollers). In 2006 a paediatric clinic called Raduga (Rainbow) was established by the same company, but initially operated as a separate business structure. In 2013 the strategy of the Company changed. It was decided to develop a unique product with the co-working of three Spaces – the space of health (a primary health care / paediatric clinic), the space of children’s education (educational centre for children under 6 and future mothers) and the space of children’s goods (shops with goods for future mothers and children under 6). Iryna and Lee worked together to deal with the obvious challenges of bringing these three business areas, with very different cultures, into a cohesive and symbiotic whole.

Soon after the war commenced Iryna travelled for a harrowing four days across Ukraine from the under-attack Kharkiv by car, eventually exiting via Poland. She is now located in Belgium with her daughter who luckily was out of the country on holiday when the war broke out. Since then, she has linked up with other equally highly skilled HR specialists who have also fled Ukraine. Iryna and her colleagues, together with HCA, are making steps to create a branch of HCA in Europe, with the intention to work across socioeconomically disadvantaged areas especially in Eastern Europe and specifically, whenever possible, in war torn Ukraine. With HCA’s more strategic HR expertise, the branch in Europe will have all the areas of HR practice covered from workforce planning through to occupational health and safety.

Iryna approaches HR with a desire to create favourable environments for efficient workflow, active listening, communication and strategic planning. Iryna has a strong belief in self-development and inspiring others to develop through effective communication. When she is not working, you can likely find her reading a book, practicing yoga or gardening. She loves to travel and immerse herself in cultural experiences and has a penchant for creating DIY contraptions.