Konotop, spring 2022. The city is surrounded by the Russian military, shops are closed, the settlement is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster. But the store of home semi-finished products “Galya Baluvana” works, manufactures products and feeds the population, without increasing the prices of their production.
This is a fragment of the story of Oleksandr Shaposhnyk, a veteran of the State Border Service of Ukraine. This is a story of real resilience and humanity.
Mr. Oleksandr is the winner of the “VARTO” program of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation, let’s get to know him and his own case. It all started in September 2021. Then Mr. Oleksandr bought the franchising rights for the production of homemade semi-finished products “Galya Baluvana”.
Before opening a franchise he had a cafe, but due to the coronavirus pandemic and the increase in rent prices, he had to close his business. Galya Baluvana store offers more then 90 different items in their product range. The most common are ravioli, Ukrainian vareniki, pancakes, cheesecakes, chebureks, cutlets, cabbage rolls, stuffed peppers, etc.
And it was this “menu” that saved Konotop residents during the siege of the city. Oleksandr Shaposhnyk recalls that in the first days of the invasion, Russians managed to get into the city.
The battles were still going on, and the occupiers came for some negotiations, but the locals and the authorities resisted them. Therefore, the city was closed for entry and exit.
“At that time we were working. Because both business needs to be developed and people need to be helped. Jobs must be maintained. We looked for opportunities. Dumplings and dumplings were made. We were looking for lard and meat, although it was difficult. All shops were closed. It was also difficult to find flour. The price of onions has increased several times, let’s say. But we decided not to raise the price of our products. Yes, there was no profit, but we paid salaries to our people. The store was open for an hour or two a day, and we sold no more than 2 kilograms of products to each person(in order to resist any speculations) ,” the veteran tells us.
This mode of work lasted for about two months. Later, when the Russians were kicked out of Kyiv Oblast, Konotop was no longer surrounded.
Now Mr. Oleksandr dreams of expanding the range of products and starting to make ice cream, confectionery, jams and sauces from high-quality and natural ingredients.
For this, he needs specialized equipment – a freezer (for making ice cream) and shockers (equipment for shock freezing of products). For this, Mr. Oleksandr will receive 830,000 hryvnias from the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation.
“This will double the volume of sales of our production, it will also increase business profitability and payments to the state budget. So, the sales volume for 9 months of this year amounted to 4 million hryvnias. For the corresponding period next year, we plan to reach 8 million hryvnia of which will pay UAH 200,000 as taxes to the state budget,” explains Mr. Oleksandr.
We believe that the veteran’s business will go well. He did well in the army – that’s why he will be able to manage business just as well. Oleksandr has 27 years of experience in the ranks of the State Border Service of Ukraine. He retired in 2017 with the rank of major.
As of 2014, he was performing tasks in the Luhansk region, from 2015 to 2017 he was a soldier of the Kramatorsk border detachment. “What is victory for me? Entry to the state border of 1991. Without any territorial concessions,” says the veteran border guard, coming from him, it sounds very sweet and extremely convincing.
So while the Defense Forces of Ukraine are bringing closer our victory and the restoration of control over the borders, we in the UVF are making small but decisive steps to empower the strongest.
