The Ukrainian Veterans Foundation has launched a microfinancing program for businesses of veterans and their family members. We reimburse 20 thousand hryvnias for the purchase of goods and equipment for running your own business. Applications can be submitted by veterans, spouses, husbands, fathers, mothers, children (including adopted ones) of combatants, as well as fallen defenders.
The program is designed for 500 applicants. The maximum amount of reimbursement is 20,000 hryvnias per application. A total of 10 million hryvnias have been allocated for the program.
If you are interested in the program, what do you need to do to participate?
Collect a package of copies of documents:
- applicant’s passport with registration;
- an extract or an extract from the Unified State Register about individual entrepreneur or a self-employed person;
- a document confirming the status of a veteran:ID card of a participant in hostilities, identity card with a disability due to war, ID card of a war participant;
- a document confirming co-living with a veteran before the war: a marriage certificate or a child’s birth certificate;
- documents confirming the purchase after February 24, 2022 for the operation of the business in accordance with Standard Industrial Classification codes (check or invoice).
If your application meets the requirements, after document verification and approval, you will receive funds within 10 days. The project will operate until the end of martial law.
So far, the Foundation has financed 162 applications from participants. In the meantime, we share the stories of those who have already used the microfinancing program.
Escaped the occupation and found the strength to continue working
Ella is an experienced lawyer who had to leave home. Since 2004, she has worked in the legal field exclusively in the Zaporizhzhia region. After February 24, the Russians entered her city. Ella lost her job. The family was able to live in the occupation for 42 days and came to a difficult decision - to leave their native region. Another factor that forced the family to leave home was the Russians' search for Ella's husband. He served in the ranks of the National Guard of Ukraine in 2015-2016 in Mariupol. He was mobilized to fight back the Russian Federation in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Ella and her family passed 14 checkpoints of the Russian army. At first they lived in Zaporizhzhia, but now they are settling in the capital. The woman wanted to continue working, but did not take anything with her - no documents, no computer. Only her 18 years of professional experience remained with her. Ella saw a post about a 20,000 refund for running her own business. "I read the conditions, from a self-employed person I became an entrepreneur, opening a business enterprise. I called the UVF, and clarified the details. And, in the end, she bought a computer, it cost a little more than 19 thousand hryvnias. I collected all the checks and documents, submitted an application, and within five days, I received compensation," the lawyer recalls. "I am very grateful to your foundation, indeed. Very satisfied. I had never used someone else's money in my life, I have always earned my own money. But you helped me a lot," says Ms. Ella.
Assistance from the Foundation helped make a childhood dream come true
Anastasia Shvayko is the wife of a veteran and the mother of a girl, named Kvitka. Her husband has been at the front since 2014 - he is an active serviceman. It was he who sent Anastasia the announcement about the program of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation "20 thousand". "I decided it was worth a try. It was a bit of a hassle to apply, but everything worked out! Then I open an account and there the money came quite quickly" With the funds of the UVF and her savings, the photographer purchased a stabilizer for shooting videos. With the help of new equipment, she filmed a children's camp, and now she is editing materials.
20 thousand helped the veteran to develop his own business in a new place
Mykola Voropai had his own photo studio in Mariupol. Things were going well — there were orders for filming, he was making souvenir products. And in the ranks of the public organization, which he was the founder of, he worked in the field of helping ATO participants. So to say, he returned. From 2015 to 2021, he served as part of the Maritime Guard unit of the State Border Service of Ukraine. Later, he resigned, but had to return. "On February 24, I arrived at my military unit. We performed tasks in the area of the Azov Ship Repair Plant and the Mariupol Sea Trade Port," recalls Mr. Mykola. In total, he and the unit performed tasks in the surrounded city of Mary for 42 days. He had to see with his own eyes that apocalyptic picture in the city on the coast of Azov: when planes dropped rockets and bombs, and artillery and "Grads" shelled in residential areas. Later, Mr. Mykola left the surrounded city. Mykola Voropai was already in Zaporizhzhia on May 26. He found his family in Ivano-Frankivsk - they had been evacuated from the city even earlier. And it was here, in Prykarpattia, that Mr. Mykola started his own business again, from scratch. In particular, he was helped by the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation and its "20 thousand" program of financial support for veterans. This money is part of the finances with which Mykola received photo and laser equipment, rented an office (two tables, a wardrobe, a shelf, two chairs). And already in the summer, the man resumed the production.
Thanks to microfinancing, logging resumed
18 days under shelling and under occupation. Volodymyr and his family faced the beginning of a full-scale war in the Kyiv region. In March, the husband and his family left for a safer place — Vinnytsia. But already at the beginning of April, they returned home. "Fortunately, the surroundings and the house were intact. We left a piece of white cloth in the yard as a sign that people live here. We were not robbed. But they made a good mess of my brother and neighbor's house: they shot the car, the TV, turned everything in the garage," says Volodymyr. Later, he saw that Russian thieves did take a very important tool from his farm - a chainsaw. The man is engaged in logging, so he had to buy new equipment promptly. Therefore he applied for the reimbursement program and has already received 20,000 hryvnias for the purchase of business goods from the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation.
20,000 from the UVF helped a rehabilitation doctor
Anastasia's life as an internally displaced person began back in 2014. She had to leave occupied Kadiivka, in the Luhansk region, to Severodonetsk. She later moved to Irpen, Kyiv region. She is a doctor. And he has been engaged in physical rehabilitation of children for 10 years. At first, she worked in medical centers, and two years ago she opened her own business. About 80 children from Irpen, Bucha, Gostomel, and Vorzel came to the specialist for therapy. She works in various areas: musculoskeletal system, neurology, autism, epilepsy. At the beginning of the full-scale war, Anastasia left for Vinnytsia. She learned from a news story that her rehabilitation center in Irpen was destroyed by an artillery shell. "I saw a journalistic report about Irpin - they also showed the remains of my center. It was completely burned. We returned - and I began to restore everything little by little," says Anastasia. Now the woman rents a new separate office and conducts rehabilitation for 15 children. Anastasia purchased new equipment and received compensation from the UVF.
Microfinancing gave an impetus to the start of sales
The wife of a veteran, Tetiana, has a shoemaking business in the Kyiv region. "We sewed the first spring collection of shoes, launched the first advertisement in February, and the next day the war started. The husband immediately left the business and joined the army. We were both categorically against going abroad ", says Tetiana. When the situation in the region stabilised, the entrepreneur decided to resume the business. Tetiana's husband, while in the area of the combat mission, saw information about the Foundation's support program. He forwarded the post to his wife. "For the money received from the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation, we launched advertising. As a result, in a week we sold 20 pairs of shoes. The first sales brought incredible optimism. These 20 thousand are like a straw that you can grasp and go forward. The main thing is to get on your feet, start, then everything will work out," says Tetyana. ...And the shoes, which were sown for the spring of 2022 and were not sold because of the Russians, will wait for their season. For example, in the fall of 2022. Or a peaceful spring already in 2023.
The assistance from the Foundation made it possible to start production from scratch
Yulia is a veteran and entrepreneur. From the spring of 2015 to 2019, the woman was in the Armed Forces, in particular, a participant in the battles for Debaltseve. Later, she joined the ranks of air reconnaissance. She left the army when she became pregnant with twins. The husband, a sergeant in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, continues to serve and is now fighting on the front line with the occupiers. Before the full-scale invasion, the woman managed a poultry farm on a decent scale, was engaged in the production and sale of poultry meat and meat products, had several incubators and sold chickens. She worked with hens and quails. With the full-scale invasion, the couple joined the ranks of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. They joined the local territorial defence unit. "The instinct, like Pavlov's dogs, worked: there is a threat to the country and we must go to the army," the woman explains, laughing. After a few months of participation in the Territory Defence, Yulia returned to business affairs, but her husband is still in the ranks of the Defence Forces. Now he is performing combat missions in one of the hot areas. Yulia had to move from the Zaporizhzhia region to the Kirovohrad region. She states that the scale of sales of products is not the same, because the buyers were mostly veterans, and they also went to fight. Now Yuliya is engaged in the production of sausages, snacks, semi-finished products, etc. Using the "20 thousand" program from the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation, Yulia purchased equipment for processing poultry into semi-finished and ready-to-eat products. And recently Yulia sheltered unusual refugees... a dozen goats from Orikhov, in Zaporizhzhia. Their owners left for France, leaving the animals alone. Yulia sheltered them and has no regrets - milk is delicious. But also thoroughbred, lop-eared. ataman's wife, so I have to behave with dignity. He is at the front, I'm holding the rear," Yulia sums up.
