Новини
Which sweet potato is better growing on Ukrainian soil and how to start a walnut processing business: stories of the winners of “Agrokebety. Grow Your Own”
07 november 2024
According to the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, 10,400 Ukrainians have received grant funds to start or expand their businesses since the yeRobota government project launch in July 2022. In the fall of 2024, 10 more entrepreneurs from Lviv, Kyiv, Poltava, Mykolaiv, and Vinnytsia regions joined. They all underwent a six-month training on designing business plans, and attracting financing, and got a grant of up to UAH 200,000 within the “Agrokebety. Grow Your Own” initiated by the “Agrokebety” educational project, the Association “Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business” (UCAB), and the MHP–Gromadi Charitable Foundation. They were also given the possibility of further lending from Raiffeisen Bank. Detailed information about the announcement of the competition winners is on the website.
According to Alex Lissitsa, Chairman of the Board of Directors of IMC, President of UCAB, and visionary of the Agrokebety project, the project supported ambitious entrepreneurs ready to take risks and move forward despite challenges.
Agrokebety. Grow Your Own” project unites those who see the future of the Ukrainian agricultural sector through innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit. This initiative is not about training only but about inspiring young leaders to take responsibility for their land and create new opportunities for the future prosperity of Ukraine.
Community development and recovery are relevant when small businesses are strong enough and may operate in small towns and villages, pay taxes, and create new jobs. The more businesses like these in the community, the more capable the latter becomes. Pavlo Moroz, Director of the Corporate Social Responsibility Department, MHP, is convinced.
MHP initiatives intended to support local entrepreneurs demonstrate how major businesses can actively help communities in their development and recovery. In 2023 alone, the winners of our grant competitions paid UAH 3+ million to local budgets, created jobs, and also aided others and themselves in adapting to new conditions and challenges.
The idea of major businesses combining efforts to support small entrepreneurship in communities is supported by Serhiy Osadchiy, the HORSCH representative.
It is crucial to believe in the idea and support those who are just starting their businesses. Their first steps can be difficult, and to survive in the market they need support from someone experienced who has passed similar establishment stages. “Agrokebety. Grow Your Own” is all about support, sharing expertise, and growth.
On November 5, 10 winners of the “Agrokebety. Grow Your Own” competition gathered in the Culinary Center of the MHP. The following shared their expertise:
Inesa Petukhova, Chyshky village, Lviv region
ITARA workshop manufactures nut pastes and sauces, nut snacks, desserts, and walnut oil. In 2023, facilities were moved from Mykolaiv to a village in the Lviv region, where Inesa Petukhova started her own business, furnished premises, purchased equipment for micromanufacturing, and launched a brand. Inesa Petukhova has experience in setting up businesses in various areas, including the agricultural and real estate sectors, along with cooperation with utility companies. She knows how to start up a business from scratch and manage the processes required for its development and scaling.
Ivan Pavlish, Luky village, Lviv region
Ivan Pavlish’s first major is law and he had always been confident that jurisprudence would be his main occupation. However, in 2018, after demobilization, he decided to set up a farm in his native community. At the same time, he continued his education. While being engaged in “classical” farming, he was constantly searching for a niche crop to become the main product. He succeeded in finding one: sweet potato, a root crop not typical for our latitudes, which has useful properties combined with excellent taste and color range. It is an indispensable product for feeding babies. It is an excellent addition to the diet of diabetic patients, vegetarians, and vegans, and is a worthy alternative to potatoes in general. Having started in 2020 with a small pilot land plot, Ivan Pavlish is now growing seedlings, has purchased specialized attachments, and plans to begin processing. Sweet potatoes became the Pavlish family business, and their cultivation continues despite the war and Ivan’s re-mobilization.
Evhenia Molchanova, Zelenyi Hai village, Dnipropetrovsk region
Zelenyi Hai cheese factory has been operating since 2021, and despite all the risks, it continued its operations and remained on the market during the full-scale invasion while successfully diversifying. From a cheese factory producing cheeses using raw materials from other suppliers, Zelenyi Hai was transformed into a full-cycle cheese farm, began to provide green tourism services, and became an educational site for farmers, social entrepreneurs, and veterans, as well as a rehabilitation center for people and animals. Professionals and qualified experts in the field of entrepreneurship, farming, and animal husbandry are employed at the enterprise. Also, the Zelenyi Hai team actively and regularly participates in all available educational and training grant programs. These transformations allow them to scale up and grow. Today, there are 11 cows in the Zelenyi Hai (as well as more than 500 other farm and domestic animals). They plan to increase the number of cows to 22 In the next 1.5-2 years. Given the growing number of animals, the number of feedstocks to be stored somewhere also increases. Therefore, their business idea involves setting up a facility to store the company’s feedstocks and conducting educational and rehabilitation activities – a hayloft workshop – which will help save the company’s financial and time resources.
“Agrokebety. Grow Your Own” project is implemented with the support of HORSCH, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Raiffeisen Bank, IMC, and MHP.