Our in America: How to realize your dream and build a multi-million dollar business in the USA

Igor believes that a lot of successful people live in the USA. Photo: from the personal archive of Igor Pasternak

Children's dreams are a great force. Unlike other boys, Igor Pasternak, the founder of the successful American airship company Worldwide Eros with an annual turnover of $15 million and orders for the Pentagon itself, never dreamed of becoming a firefighter or astronaut. Igor knew from childhood that he wanted to design airplanes. Perhaps in a family of engineers it could not have been any other way.

His interest in airships arose after reading an article in the magazine “Young Technician” and already in 7-8, the young Igor began to implement his ideas, gathering a team of like-minded people. The head of the meteorological station in Lvov, where Pasternak was born and raised, helped young engineers by providing hydrogen to fill home-made balloons. The debut of Igor and his team was the raising of red substitutes on their balloons on holidays.

Having entered the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Lviv Polytechnic University, Igor continued to be engaged in designing and even started his first business (cooperative) to create balloons for meteorological observations and advertising. His company quickly unwound and products were in demand not only in the countries of the Soviet Union, but also in Poland and Germany.

Despite the fact that things were going well at the company, in 92 Igor decided to leave for the USA: “I left back when the Soviet Union existed - in 92. I went to the USA to build airships because I agreed with the American Constitution and the principles of society on which America is based. I didn’t leave Ukraine, I went to America.”

He perfectly remembers the moment when he made the decision: before traveling to Moscow, at the Borispol airport, Igor's flight was canceled due to the coup, and he returned to Lviv. His company gathered in the basement and everyone watched the program "Time", in which the co-operatives blamed. It was then that Pasternak realized that to implement global ideas it is better to find another place.

“Yes, it seems that picking up and moving is difficult. But when you live by the principle that you want to move somewhere, then it’s not difficult. I won't talk about how I received unemployment benefits for two weeks and how I only had 50 cents in my pocket. The important thing is where I am now and what I’m doing,” says Igor Pasternak.

New life

At the age of 30, Igor flew to the USA after his parents and sister. He planned to continue building balloons, so he founded Worldwide Aeros with his sister and friends.

When you do not know what your plans are impossible, it is easier to achieve this. Igor Pasternak checked this truth for himself. For the first American client, he went to Washington to NASA. He did not know English, he did not have a residence permit, credit history, and experience in doing business in the States. The translator helped.

Igor never stopped dreaming about airships. Photo: from the personal archive of Igor Pasternak

“I was asked a question: are you an American company? Without hesitation, I answered in the affirmative. The American official nodded and said that in that case he would deal with us. By the way, we later became friends and he introduced me to a company in Atlanta, from which we received an order - a balloon that was used at the Paralympic Games in Atlanta in 1996,” recalls the businessman.

Over the first 10 years of its existence, the company had ups and downs, but to date Igor’s business is developing successfully - Worldwide Eros builds aircraft that are used for advertising and tourism, weather observations, video surveillance and television.

One of the airships assembled by Pasternak was involved in the UEFA Cup in Portugal, providing air safety. And the penultimate model, Aeros 40D Sky Dragon, was acquired by a Mexican company in order to monitor oil pipelines.

Dream home

Igor never stopped on his laurels and dreamed of building a hybrid airship, which could carry cargo in 250-500 tons. The inspiration for Igor served as An-225 "Mriya", recognized as the largest cargo aircraft in the world, which was built in a single copy at the Kiev factory Antonov.

The idea of ​​how to create such an airship came to Igor at night. He sat down at his desk and began to draw and draw. So in 2002, Pasternak came up with a new way to lift and land airships. The project was called Aeroscraft Dragon Dream. The airship lands and takes off on its own; it does not need an area for acceleration - it rises vertically, like a helicopter.

In 2005, Pasternak’s company won a tender conducted by the Pentagon-related Advanced Defense Research Projects Agency DARPA. The task was to create an air transport with a payload of 500-1000 tons. The winning company would receive an 30-year contract for the supply of this type of transport for the US Army.

The famous airship. Photo: from the personal archive of Igor Pasternak

The project of the cargo airship, which Pasternak developed together with his team, was recognized as the best. At 2009 Worldwide, Aeros received a contract from the Pentagon at 50 million dollars to develop a prototype airship. In 2013, Pasternak built a prototype of Aeroscraft, designed for a load capacity of 66 tons, a length of 64 meters.

Worldwide Eros actively cooperates with the US Department of Defense and has received contracts worth more than $100 million. Igor’s company also cooperates with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine - Worldwide Eros installed an identification system at the Sea of ​​Azov and released modified versions of the M4 rifle.

Revival Aviation

Igor believes that it is also possible to revive aviation in Ukraine, you just need to start taking action: “To revive aviation in Ukraine, you need to start doing this. But there is always potential. Since any aviation is a business, you need to understand what people will buy today and what I need to do to get it bought. Mriya is an image, but it’s not something that can be sold today. When we talk about big business, it is a corporation. For example, Antonov is not a corporation, they need to move to become a corporation. Find good management and create a corporate culture that is based on simple everyday things that are done accurately.”

Igor Pasternak believes that if a state-owned enterprise does not make a profit, people should be fired and the enterprise should go bankrupt. Bankruptcy is a completely normal phenomenon, according to Igor. He recalls the famous American company General Motors, which went through bankruptcy to become profitable.

“To rise, you have to fall. The state should not be involved in business. The function of the state is distribution; it cannot earn money,” argues Igor.

According to an article about Worldwide Eros in Bloomberg, Igor Pasternak’s company plans to create a fleet of 2024 balloons by 24. Igor is very optimistic about the future. Especially because he believes in people and their potential: “People from Ukraine are very inventive and want to change the world. And in combination with English it’s amazing! Ukrainians have potential. Ukraine is moving towards idealism, and the Americans are already there. In this we are alike in many ways. We have employees from Ukraine and there are many of them. For example, engineers. Our company also operates in Ukraine. I myself studied in Lviv.”

For the first time after emigration, Igor Pasternak returned to Ukraine only in 2014. He believes that Ukraine has changed since he left: “In my opinion, the war is terrible, but it was this event that educated Ukrainian society. True citizens and patriots are growing in Ukraine, let the country still be built. I hope the construction never ends. After all, any camp is built by its citizens.”

Igor Pasternak began building airships back in Ukraine. Photo: from the personal archive of Igor Pasternak

Since 2015, Igor has visited Ukraine quite often, while remaining an American patriot, which he constantly talks about.

“There are more successful people in America than in any country in the world. More millionaires. And not because the air is different here, but because society is. This education, not genetics. Why are there more small businesses represented in the United States than in other countries? Because people believe in themselves. Because they are smart, hardworking and ready to build a business,” says the founder of Worldwide Eros.

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