OREANDA-NEWS. In September 2014, Media Group Ukraine is going to set up a new structural unit, Aid+Help TV production company, to cooperate closely with the Humanitarian Centre of Rinat Akhmetov's Foundation.

Aid+Help TV will operate under the umbrella of Media Group Ukraine and focus on social TV and multimedia projects. The mission of the new company is to help to address the common humanitarian problems of the country by sharing, through information projects, the life stories of concrete people who got into trouble and need help. Aid+Help TV will work with the Humanitarian Centre of Rinat Akhmetov's Foundation, which helps people who suffered in the military operations zone. Media Group Ukraine believes that TV and multimedia projects addressing pressing and socially important issues to be featured by Aid+Help TV will be of interest not only for the Group's channels but also the other national media platforms.

The team of the new company will comprise the specialists of Media Group Ukraine's TV assets: Ukraina and Donbass TV channels as well as the Dnepropetrovsk-based 34 channel. The team will include professionals with extensive experience in information and production of socially important TV projects, including in the challenging environment in Ukraine's east. Marina Mirgorodskaya, one of the most skilled senior managers of MGU, will lead and inspire Aid+Help TV. After she moves to a new position, MGU's director Yevgeniy Lyaschenko will be responsible for the overall operational management of Ukraina TV.

Yekaterina Lapshina, Chairperson of the Supervisory Board of Media Group Ukraine, SCM Director of Media Business Development:

“Our key objective is to find a solution to any concrete problem and thus help to develop a common solution of the important social and humanitarian issues faced by the country. We sincerely hope that our colleagues will partner us in promoting major social projects. Ukraine will need to make gigantic efforts and spending to help people and reconstruct the region. However, it will take more time and energy to recover psychological relations between people and build tolerance to each other. We cannot be passive observers. We are happy that Marina will be lead the movement as she is a TV professional and an experienced manager.”

Marina Mirgorodskaya, director of Aid+Help TV:

“Ukraina TV channel has always covered the situation in Ukraine and in the country's east fully and effectively. The channel's correspondents have reported from trouble spots telling viewers what's been going on with recognised speakers commenting on the situation in the studio. Yet the huge scale of the current events has generated a string of relevant and important information topics, social issues and humanitarian problems that go beyond the channel's broadcasting frame. I hope that here my TV expertise will come into play to create and develop big TV projects that will help to draw attention and find solutions to the current problems of Ukraine and Donbass. Our team will develop specific formats of TV and multimedia projects to give people a better footing in the challenging environment, help them find missing families and friends and get back to normal life.”

Rimma Fil, Coordinator of the Humanitarian Centre:

“Every day we help to address issues of concrete people who have lost their homes, jobs, family and friends because of the hostilities. We constantly hear that these people need information, they must be heard and their voices must help others who suffered in the same way. It is better to tackle difficult tasks together. I believe that cooperation of all SCM Group's businesses will have a tangible effect on our common humanitarian mission. We wish our colleagues from Aid+Help TV a productive work time.”

Marina Mirgorodskaya joined the team of Ukraina TV channel in 1991 and went all the way with it from the regional TV studio DOKA TV to the national broadcaster. Marina was an advertising director, programming director and editor-in-chief and worked as CEO of the channel since April 2011. She participated in Central & Eastern European Internship Program (1992), OPEN WORLD (2006) and received an honoured journalist of Ukraine award in 2010. She graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv majoring in Roman and Germanic Philology.

Yevgeniy Lyaschenko has been a director of Media Group Ukraine since July 2014. He joined the team of MGU as a financial director in July 2012. Before, he worked in finance and consultancy roles for over 17 years, with 14 years - in leadership positions. In 1998, he became a financial director of Slobozhanska Budivelna Keramika. In 2011-2012, he served as a financial director of Corum (part of SCM Group); in 2007-2011, he worked for London & Regional Properties (Ukraine) and in 2005-2007 - for Alyaska Ltd. In 2003-2004, Yevgeniy was a management consultant implementing projects to optimise business processes and worked as a regional director of Coca Cola Beverages (Ukraine) before. He graduated from the Department of Economy at Kharazin National University of Kharkiv.

Media Group Ukraine is a media holding that includes Ukraina national general-interest TV channel, NLO TV channel, Futbol 1 and Futbol 2 thematic channels, Regional Media Group (regional channels Donbass, 34 channel, Sigma and TV Sfera), Mediapartnership sales house, Digital Screens (oll.tv), Tele Pro production company, Front Cinema, Aid+Help TV and Segodnya Multimedia holding. The company is owned by System Capital Management. For more information, please contact the press office of Media Group Ukraine at press@mgukraine.com <mailto:press@mgukraine.com>.

System Capital Management (SCM) is a professional investor, the managing company of the biggest Ukrainian financial and industrial group focusing on three business areas: mining and metals, energy and finance. The company also operates in other sectors including telecommunications, media, real estate, grocery retail, clay production, petroleum products retail, agriculture, heavy engineering and transportation.

SCM Group includes Metinvest Holding, DTEK, First Ukrainian International Bank, Renaissance Capital Bank, ASKA and ASKA-Life insurance companies, Vega Telecommunications Group, Media Group Ukraine, ESTA Holding (real estate), Ukrainskiy Retail (grocery retail), UMG (clay production), Parallel (petroleum products retail), HarvEast (agriculture), Corum Group (heavy engineering), Portinvest transportation holding and others.