Business ideas from 616 entrepreneurs have been submitted to the “Do Your Business” competition
On April 9, the period of accepting applications for the “Do Your Business” business idea competition was closed. This competition allows small-business owners from among the community to receive up to UAH 100,000 for their business development.
For 2024, the MHP-Gromadi Charitable Foundation, the competition’s organizer, received 616 applications from entrepreneurs. Business ideas were submitted by entrepreneurs from 15 regions of Ukraine, including the oblasts of Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Lviv, Poltava, Sumy, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, and the city of Kyiv.
16% of registered projects (99 applications) were submitted by representatives of the veteran community. Such projects are related to healthcare and rehabilitation services, craft goods production, and food security.
“We have been observing veteran business activity among our communities. Having returned from the front lines, dozens are already showing interest in starting up a business. Some of them wish to have a business related to vet rehabilitation or military support, while others want to fulfill their business dreams that were deferred by the war. The potential of such initiatives is extremely high. After all, they are motivated entrepreneurs, already demonstrably capable of fighting for the things they love. Therefore, we are proud that we can participate in community development while simultaneously supporting veterans,” comments Tetiana Volochai, Director of the MHP-Gromadi Charitable Foundation.
In general, most of this year’s applications were related to food security – 30%. According to organizers, the second most registered projects were related to consumer services provision – 16.8%. Business ideas related to craft goods production made the top three – 12%.
It should be noted that this year, the competition participants will yet again receive mentoring support and will be able to join the educational program, which includes courses in marketing, business planning, accounting, and more. The Foundation will also cover all taxes related to the grant.
“Usually grant providers or donors do not cover such costs. That is, it works out that the winner of the competition gets not UAH 100,000 but UAH 80-85 after taxes. We allocated another UAH 2 million to the competition budget to pay the winners’ taxes so that they get the full amount to start their business,” notes Volodymyr Panchenko, National Projects Manager of the MHP-Gromadi Charitable Foundation.
An expert judge panel has met to evaluate our participants’ business ideas. The winners will be announced on May 9.
For reference, the “Do Your Business” grant competition was launched in 2016 for entrepreneurs in small towns and villages with the financial support of MHP. Back then, it was called “Village. Steps Towards Development.” In 2022, the competition was renamed to “Do Your Business” to reflect its geographic expansion across the country. In the last two years since Russia’s invasion, the competition has supported 154 entrepreneurs with a total amount of over UAH 15.2 million.