Oleksandr Leshchyner – Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 according to the Ukrainian Business Award!
The story of Oleksandr Leshchyner is an example of how a Ukrainian engineering school, professional consistency, and the ability to create world-class technological solutions can lead to success even in one of the most competitive markets in the world — the US construction technology market.
Today, Oleksandr is the founder and CEO of BWDS LLC (Best Windows & Door Systems), a company that adapted European engineering standards and introduced the innovative, US-certified BWDS E60 Tilt & Turn window system to the American market. But the path to this began long before the company was founded.
Ukrainian Engineering School: The Foundation for Professional Growth
While still in Ukraine, Oleksandr worked his way from an engineer to a manager of complex construction projects. The most significant stage was managing the areas in the company “GVF-BUD”, known for the implementation of complex architectural and engineering solutions. Here he gained direct experience in industrial production, working with facade systems, calculating loads and quality control on large objects. This experience became the basis of his future competence – the ability to combine architecture, engineering standards and real production processes.
Aestech, UNIT.City і World Architecture Festival
The next step in his professional development was working in the engineering team of Aestech, a Ukrainian company that developed an innovative technology for frameless glass facades. This technology was used in the UNIT.City project, which was shortlisted for the international World Architecture Festival 2022, the world’s leading architecture forum. Participation in WAF confirmed the ability of Ukrainian engineering solutions to compete with international ones, and for Oleksandr, it was an important realization: Ukrainian engineering is capable of being global, not local.
Creation of BWDS LLC: an engineering startup through the prism of international standards
While working in the USA in the Olympic Construction LLC team, Oleksandr drew attention to a paradox: with a high level of construction and a developed market in the USA, there were virtually no analogues of European energy-efficient tilt-and-turn systems capable of combining comfort, reliability, design and thermal efficiency.
Based on market analysis, the idea of a new technology company was formed – BWDS (Best Windows & Doors Systems), the purpose of which was to adapt European and Ukrainian technologies to American norms, climate and certification standards.
Oleksandr personally led the development of BWDS E60 – an energy-efficient tilt-and-turn window system of the new generation, which passed ICC-ES laboratory tests and received confirmation of compliance with key US building standards.
And more importantly, the market had an urgent need for such solutions.
Thus, the idea arose: to create a product of a new level – European in quality, but fully adapted to US standards and requirements.
Certification: Proof of Quality at the Federal Level
In 2024, BWDS, under the leadership of Alexander, received an official laboratory report ICC-ES Test Report BLAA062824-66, confirming compliance with American standards:
- AAMA/WDMA/CSA 101/I.S.2/A440
- ASTM E283 (air tightness)
- ASTM E330 (structural strength)
- ASTM E547 (water resistance)
- ASTM F588 (burglary resistance)
In 2025, the BWDS brand was registered with the USPTO under number 7,991,814 as a trademark, which established the uniqueness of the technology at the federal level.
Also in 2025, BWDS implemented its first major project in Chattanooga, Tennessee, installing the BWDS E60 system for a cottage community. Since then, other developers have implemented the BWDS technology – a testament to the recognition and confirmation of its competitiveness and demand.
Hybrid business model: Ukrainian brains — American market
BWDS operates under a unique model:
- technology, design, engineering control — Ukraine.
- certification, installation, implementation — USA.
This allows us to preserve the Ukrainian engineering school, provide work for specialists in Ukraine even during wartime, and at the same time meet the requirements of American standards.
What makes BWDS competitive:
- European-level energy efficiency
- Price 20% lower than analogues
- Compliance with American standards
- Brand protection at the federal level
- Possibility of production in Ukraine and the EU
- High engineering culture of execution
Alexander’s plans:
- expanding the distributor network in the USA, the Caribbean.
- opening a production facility in the USA.
- creating training programs for installation companies.
- scaling BWDS as an international-class brand.
Oleksandr’s words: “We have proven that Ukrainian business can operate according to world standards. Ukraine is capable of exporting technologies, not just materials. And we have only just begun.”
