At the end of October, John Harris and Andy Baynes went to Ukraine to meet our GT team. We invited everyone to a hotel in western Ukraine and spent the weekend talking, playing games and relaxing. It has been seven months since John and Andy were in Ukraine.
'' Reuniting with the team again was the highlight of my year so far. We have over 130 team members now, and although not everyone was able to make the journey to meet us, we managed to reconnect and remind everyone just how important we all are to each other'', - says Andy.
7 months ago, the spark of Hope was incredibly small, but thanks to the resilience of the Ukrainians and all those who support them it has become a bright flame. The partnership between UK and Ukraine is ever stronger and something to celebrate and be proud of. It may still be some way off, but we all believe that in the months and years to come there is an incredibly bright future ahead.
" 10 days ago I was thrilled to be able to return to Ukraine in person for the first time since the start of the war. It was a truly special visit, to reconnect with some old friends and to meet some new colleagues face to face for the first time." - says John.
The energy and tenacity amongst our talented team have not changed, if anything there is yet greater hunger, for business success and for victory!
I wish our meeting had taken place at the GT office in Kyiv, where the entire Ukrainian team could gather for a cup of coffee and discussed the latest tech trends. It would be great if our colleagues from around the world could join us and visit the place where GT was founded.
The reality, however, is quite different ❤️🩹
There are no flights to Ukraine, it’s still not 100% secure gathering in our Kyiv office and our main concern is making sure that everyone is safe.
Despite this, we are adapting. We were thrilled to gather offline with the team in one place in Ukraine - 22 km from the Hungarian border. And here my sincere thanks go out to everyone involved.
Thank you, Andy Baynes and John Harris, for visiting Ukraine and proving your trust and immense support through your actions. Thank you, team, for spending up to 24 hours travelling to meet us, sharing your smiles, and giving those warm hugs.
Today and always, I'm proud to be Ukrainian and with all our GT hearts we stand strong with Ukraine 🇺🇦