When Neo-Eco, a French SME with over 50 full-time staff, entered Ukraine in 2022, few in Central or Eastern Europe had heard of it.
Less than three years later, the company has earned a media presence beyond its size. It has been featured in 100 articles and interviews in Ukrainian media, nearly 30 in France and 25 from other countries, and it's a frequent guest on the international conference circuit.
Neo-Eco Ukraine, which specializes in recycling war rubble and industrial waste into low-carbon construction materials, has also appeared repeatedly on Ukraine Rebuild Newswire, with multiple eye-catching stories, such as here, here and here.
All of that is at least in part because Kate Le Moignic, the company's Director of International Relations, Partnerships, Fundraising and Communication, has helped make the Neo-Eco Ukraine story highly alluring to journalists - it's a green, clean, optimistic, and, above all, human narrative in the midst of immense tragedy.
Kate says her career has been shaped by intercultural communications. From Baltimore Technologies in her native Ireland, where she oversaw company acquisitions in Japan, Australia, the US and UK, to the Doublet group in France, where she managed communications strategies at subsidiaries in the US, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Poland, to Neo-Eco, she has communicated across languages and cultures.
Now, for Neo-Eco Ukraine, she is adding a sensitivity to war-time pain and chaos to her repertoire, and conveying the five following tips for communications professionals and others who are considering joining the historic reconstruction of Ukraine:
Kate Le Moignic's 5 Tips for Businesses Helping Rebuild Ukraine
#1 - Lose the Corporate Ego
"Humility is very important. We never lose sight of our objective to help Ukrainians rebuild their country for themselves. So you'll find that our communication is less about Neo-Eco Ukraine, and more about supporting the green reconstruction. It's about an innovative, holistic approach with civic engagement that includes vulnerable groups such as children and IDPs and veterans. You'll also notice that individuals are very rarely mentioned – it's all about the team and the people of Ukraine."
#2 - Positivity is Important, Especially in Wartime
"The press was eager to follow a positive story of sustainable reconstruction, with resident engagement, when the news was mainly concentrating on the horror of the hostilities. I believe that our impactful green approach, early entry into Ukraine and the vision of reconstruction by recycling war and construction rubble struck a chord with the media."
"We're also about consistent positive messaging - we think it's key that we post regularly, but when you look the visuals are general, we hope, meaningful with real people, whether they be residents or team members or MOUs or shaking hands."
#3 - Be Ready to Switch Up Your Social Media Processes
"Many of our Ukrainian partners are not on LinkedIn, which is more tailored to an international audience. I know local executives of international companies who operate solely on Facebook and have no LinkedIn presence. And they prefer Telegram to WhatsApp. Our Facebook page is exclusively in Ukrainian as the platform is more popular in Ukraine there and we’re able to reach the residents and beneficiary communities where we work.
"I also think tagging people and companies is extremely important. And getting in first - for example, for the third anniversary of the war, we've scheduled the post already for 6 am on the 24th of February. If you wake up and start posting at 9 or 10 am, there's already so many posts that yours is going to get lost in the noise. Avoid reposting to show originality and not surf on other people’s content.”
"We get more attention typically when we have partnerships with Ukrainian local authorities, Ukrainian businesses, and, especially residents, children and vulnerable groups.
"When we're seen to be getting our hands dirty in the country, producing results and helping communities, that tends to get the most engagement. But there's spikes and troughs to the engagement."
#4 - Practice Empathy - 'Kyiv, not Kiev'
“Cultural sensitivity and a deep knowledge of the language is always a factor in international communication, but during a war, even more so. At Neo-Eco Ukraine, we try and not only acknowledge, but I would say to 'pay homage to' Ukraine's historical geopolitical sovereignty and their resilience.
"Also pay attention to terminology and the spelling of communities such as Kyiv, Lviv and Odesa. That spelling has changed, and if you don't use the correct spelling now, it's very offensive to the Ukrainian people."
"Also, if we take a word such as ‘conflict’, Ukrainians don't appreciate that, because, the word implies two parties having a disagreement. This is not a conflict. It's an invasion. And Ukrainian's don't consider that the war has lasted three years. It has lasted more than 10. The war didn't start in 2022 - that was the 'full scale invasion' or Ukraine by Russia."
#5 - Get to Ukraine
"At a certain point in time, people need to get their bag ready and jump on a train or a bus and get to Ukraine, meet the people and feel the atmosphere. There's a notion of trust and confidence that can only be built up when you take the time to go to Ukraine. Sitting behind a screen trying to advise Ukrainians, is both limited in its results as well as being perceived as a colonial stance that we don’t agree with
"So my main advice if you want to understand and work with Ukraine, would be to go to the country, or at the very least, ensure you have Ukrainians on your team.”
