Dirck Smits van Oyen manages together with a German colleague Farmgate Ukraine, a farming company in West Ukraine that he founded in 2010 together with other Dutch investors. Farmgate grows wheat, corn, soya, rapeseed and sunflower on 6,000 hectares, mainly for export markets. Dirck lives and works in Ukraine since 1999 when he was employed as the marketing director of ABInbev, the world’s and Ukraine’s biggest brewer. ABInbev owns breweries in in Kharkiv, Chernigiv and Nikolayev and Dirck travelled extensively between these cities. In 2003, Dirck decided to pursue other business opportunities in the Ukrainian brewing and DIY retailing sectors and also started the business consultancy ProMarketing in Kiev. However, Dirck wanted to become a farmer since childhood and Ukraine offered him the chance to realise his dream 12 years ago. Dirck is married to Victoria, a Ukrainian national.