Creates Global Friendships

Every year hundreds of Russians return home after completing three weeks of business training through the Productivity Enhancement Program (PEP). Every year, thousands of American volunteers return to their daily routines after hosting Russian entrepreneurs. For each of them, both Russians and Americans, life will be different as a result of getting to know and interact with one another.

Beyond the incredible value received from PEP’s intensive business training, beyond the extraordinary impressions left by the experience of visiting America, Russian PEP delegates state that the largest and most appreciated benefit of participating in PEP is the collection of new friends they make. Staying with American families makes them feel as if they’ve become a permanent member of those families.

From the American point of view, PEP volunteers always describe the profound change they feel having met and become close to their new Russian friends. There are countless stories of follow-on visits to Russia by American PEP volunteers and return visits by Russian entrepreneurs to their new American families.

For American volunteers, a visit by a Russian PEP delegate allows the host to find a friend from the other side of the world without ever leaving home. Without question, the social interaction and long term friendships make PEP the powerful and unique program that it is.