The key Veteran Business Forum ” Veteran Entrepreneurship Support: From National to Regional Perspective” was held on February 28.
The event was organized by the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs together with veteran business communities and the public. The goal of the forum is to improve the legislative framework and create incentives for the development of veteran entrepreneurship.
“The veteran community and veteran organizations have excellent expertise, vast experience and know exactly what they are doing. And the government can scale up the existing veteran initiatives. We hear you as a veteran community, we see sociological surveys, we understand what veterans say,” emphasized Iryna Vereshchuk, Vice Prime Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine.
Veteran business support
Oleksandr Porkhun, acting Minister of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine, announced that UAH 200 million has been allocated in the Foundation’s budget this year for the development of veteran entrepreneurship. Five programs have been developed to provide veterans with half a million to 1.5 million UAH for development.
“Veteran businesses are a very powerful tool for supporting the economy, because even during the full-scale invasion, while everyone was trying to optimize processes, they were developing. Some of them have been re-located three times. But these people are trained to survive in difficult conditions. This will be of strategic importance for the future of veterans and the Ukrainian economy,” emphasized Oleksandr Porkhun.
In two years, the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation has supported 573 veteran-owned businesses.
Over the past two years, the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation has supported 573 veteran-owned businesses. The winners of the Foundation’s VARTO competition programs received more than UAH 293 million. Another 6 million hryvnias were reimbursed for the costs of running their own business up to 20 thousand UAH.
“Today we have heard from our guests — participants of the Foundation’s programs — their stories of success and challenges they have faced. And also about the innovative approaches they used to develop their businesses. Their stories demonstrate how state support provided on a competitive basis becomes a catalyst for the development of veteran entrepreneurship,” said Ruslana Velychko-Tryfoniuk, Acting Executive Director of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation, “We are proud to support such projects and initiatives. The successes of veterans demonstrate the effectiveness of our joint work and the importance of continuing and expanding veteran business support programs.”
Survey of veterans on employment
Karina Doroshenko, Deputy Executive Director of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation, presented the results of a survey on veterans’ employment. The survey showed that employers declare that they are hiring veterans, but the situation is different in reality, so it is important to support those veterans who want to start their own business.
“At the forum, we identified the unique value of our product or service, how to adapt to changes in the market and use innovations to ensure business growth and development. We focused on building a strong team and a culture that promotes innovation and efficiency,” said Taras Leliukh, a veteran, active military officer, and entrepreneur.
The forum brought together more than a hundred representatives of veteran businesses from the regions: associations, agricultural holdings, export businesses, and the defense industry.
“Veteran businesses should have easy access to financial and technological capital. In terms of financial capital, this may include conditions under which opportunities and state guarantees can be obtained. After Ukraine’s victory, veterans will become a lifeline — a powerful force for economic development,” said Oleksandr Holopoteluk, veteran and entrepreneur.
The Forum was co-organized by the NGO “Pravosvidomi“, NGO IHUB, NGO “Rehabilitation Forces of Ukraine” and the Ukraine 2.0 initiative.
The conference will be held with the support of the program “Support to Civil Society Organizations in Ukraine”, funded by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and implemented by Crown Agents in partnership with International Alert and in cooperation with Crown Agents in Ukraine.
