Brave Men Who Work for Victory: Do Your Business with Kurator competition winners showcase bold initiatives

Ten winners of the Do Your Business with Kurator competition from Kyiv, Dnipro, Poltava, and Cherkasy Oblasts received the awards and talked about their business initiatives. It was their projects, the process of their creation, and their expansion plans that impressed the judges.

The winners include ideas like MyasCo from Mum, which was created by a medical doctor and a mother of two soldiers, who started cooking and sending food to the front after one of her sons was killed by the enemy. Other examples include Ready Meals in Retort Pouches, which provides soldiers with homemade meals in retort pouches, and Family Café, whose owner is a serviceman from the Kyiv Oblast who helped refugees in his café in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion.

The Do Your Business with Kurator contest was organised jointly by the Kurator brand and the MHP-Gromadi Charitable Foundation for the HoReCa industry (restaurants, hotels, and catering business). At the award ceremony, the winners got a chance to talk to professional chefs, including Oleksii Povtoreiko, co-owner and brand chef of the NAZHYVO restaurant chain, and Vitalii Huralevych, brand chef of the Hvoya and Tavel restaurant and hotel complexes. They also attended a lecture delivered by Andrii Mahaletskyi, founder of the consulting company RESTETIKA, who shared lifehacks and blunders of opening a restaurant.

“The Do Your Business with Kurator grant competition goes far beyond mere financial support It represents a means of community development, a reliable home front for affected enterprises, and a source of motivation for the military and their families. I have personally studied all the winning projects and can proudly say that all our participants are incredibly brave men and women. They include volunteers, military personnel, military wives, and even families who have lost their loved ones. Despite all the challenges, they continue to focus on doing their business, expanding, moving forward, and believing in victory. And we believe in them and are happy to support their initiatives,”commented Tetiana Volochai, Director of the MHP-Gromadi Charitable Foundation.

A total of 86 representatives of small and medium-sized businesses took part in the competition, including veteran entrepreneurs, internally displaced persons, and military personnel, who developed their businesses and whose businesses were affected by Russian aggression. The organisers allocated a total of UAH 1 million for grants. Each of the winners will receive up to UAH 100,000 they can spend to develop their business. The money will help entrepreneurs start a new business, scale up an existing one, or relocate it.

“The winners of the Do Your Business with Kurator competition are entrepreneurs who, despite difficult times, do not just work but continue to look for development opportunities. The support afforded by big businesses will help them continue their efforts. This, in turn, means that communities will have more spots to chill out and get new jobs and sources of revenue for local budgets. For several years now, Kurator has been a trusted partner for HoReCa entrepreneurs, supplying them with products and sharing its expertise. Now it has also translated into grant support for businesses run by the military, internally displaced persons, and entrepreneurs whose businesses have been affected by military operations. I am confident that our collaborative efforts will help us achieve success and provide dependable assistance to the Ukrainian economy, stated Nataliia Shadchneva, Director of MHP’s HoReCa Development Centre.

In addition to the cash prize, the winners received diplomas and certificates for the improved products from the Kurator brand. They also got access to a portal with expert materials for the HoReCa industry and a ticket to Ukraine HoReCa Masters, a large-scale professional experience-sharing event.

It is noteworthy that the cooperation between the winners and the organisers of the Do Your Business with Kurator competition does not end with the award and grant. The competition jury members will provide ongoing support and share their expertise in professional matters with the entrepreneurs.

“Today, our main goal is to keep strengthening the Ukrainian identity. One of the tasks undertaken by our team is to create the MHP business ecosystem, which includes small and medium-sized producers who interact with each other and provide services, supply goods, drive our economy forward, and support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I am grateful to the participants for demonstrating their resilience in the challenging circumstances and submitting their applications for the competition, thereby confirming their readiness to strive for future victory,” noted Pavlo Moroz, one of the jury members and Director of MHP’s Corporate Social Responsibility Department.

In addition to lectures from HoReCa experts, the contestants were given a cooking masterclass on how to prepare dishes using the improved Kurator products. They cooked chicken meatballs with marinara sauce and mashed potatoes with truffles under the guidance of a seasoned chef, Roman Makovetskyi.

The competition judges were thorough in their selection of projects. To win, business ideas had to meet the main requirements of the competition organisers, such as a focus on innovation, the ability to create new jobs, and a positive impact on the social life and economy of the community. The top ten winners are as follows:

1) The Vodolii Family Café in the village of Ivankiv. In 2022, enemy troops looted it and stole expensive equipment. The owners are now starting to restore it.

2) Lunchburger by Khlibna Kyshenya TM.  Winning the Do Your Business competition in 2023 made it possible to relocate the business from Sloviansk to Dnipro, and winning the Do Your Business with KURATOR competition provided an opportunity to scale up this project.

3) A mini-hotel based on the Kapusta restaurant. The restaurant promotes ancient Ukrainian culture and cuisine. The owners look for ancient Ukrainian recipes and follow them to cook meals for their patrons. They plan to build a mini-hotel nearby, promising modern design, free breakfasts and good service.

4) TeaKava coffee and tea club. A military man and his volunteer wife opened the doors of their coffee shop in Irpin two months before the full-scale invasion, and the premises were severely damaged during the fighting. The grant will allow the owners to restore their project and scale it up.

5) MyasCo from Mum. A medical doctor and a mother of two Azov battalion soldiers, who started cooking and sending food to the front after one of her sons was killed by the enemy. This gave her the impetus to establish her own smokery. Now the businesswoman wants to scale up her project.

6) Family Café. In the first weeks of the full-scale invasion, a soldier from the Kyiv Oblast sheltered refugees in his café. Although the café is not functioning now, the owner plans to restore it.

7) Ready-to-eat meals in retort pouches. The underlying idea of the project is to provide military personnel and civilians affected by the armed aggression of the Russian Federation with home-made meals in retort pouches.

8) Shawarma Kiosk. During the hostilities in Borodianka, the contestant’s coffee shop was heavily damaged: the windows were smashed, and the walls suffered extensive damage caused by shrapnel and bullets. Now, the owner plans to turn it into a shawarma kiosk and create new jobs.

9) Caramel Kava mobile coffee shop. A mobile coffee shop represents an innovative business concept. The aim is to turn a stationary coffee shop into a mobile one, thus enabling the military to warm up and uplift their mood.

10) Liberty. In 2023, a resident of the village of Kuchakiv opened a coffee shop to meet with her friends and family, and now she plans to expand her business.