Ukraine, 1995 to 1997: Building Markets from the Ground Up

Most folks who know me think of my adventures in buying and selling. They picture molas, tagua carvings, and baskets from Panama, along with the treasures I dig up at yard and estate sales. I have been happily hooked on that world for three decades. Before that passion took over, I lived a very different life.

In my earlier career I bought and sold futures and securities, with commodity trading taking the lead in those first years. I was fortunate to work with a client named Bob Wright who had an audacious idea: create a commodity exchange in New Orleans. One thing led to another, and long story short, I became President of the New Orleans Commodity Exchange in the 1980s. That experience taught me how futures contracts are written, how memberships are structured and sold, and why clearing houses matter. I did not realize at the time that this education would open the door to a new chapter.

In 1995 I was invited to help develop a commodity exchange in Ukraine, a newly independent nation after the fall of the Soviet Union. It did not take long to see that the economy was not yet ready for futures trading. Before futures could work, Ukraine needed a firm grasp of the cash market and forward contracts. For the next two years I crisscrossed the country with interpreters and taught these fundamentals. I also took teams of officials to the United States to visit our commodity exchanges and to see modern market infrastructure in action.

When I left Ukraine in 1997 I carried home an experience I will never forget, along with a lingering question. Would Ukraine ever be ready for a full commodity exchange? Not long after, a friend at U.S. Wheat, a trade association, called with encouraging news. The Black Sea Commodity Exchange had opened in Odessa.

That call felt like a milepost. It did not answer every question, but it signaled real progress and showed that patient groundwork and shared know-how can help new markets take root.