Growing sweet potatoes on Ukrainian soils, walnut processing business: stories of the winners of the business ideas competition “Agrokebety. Grow Your Own”
Kyiv • UNN
As part of the project Agrokebety. Grow Your Own” project, 10 entrepreneurs from different regions of Ukraine received grants for business development. The participants completed six months of training and received the possibility of further lending from Raiffeisen Bank.
Since the launch of the government project “eRobota” in July 2022, 10,400 Ukrainians have received grants to start or expand their own businesses, according to the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine . In the fall of 2024, 10 more entrepreneurs from Lviv, Kyiv, Poltava, Mykolaiv, and Vinnytsia regions were added to this number. Each of them received six months of training in business plan development, fundraising, and up to UAH 200,000 ,000 in grant funds as part of the project “Agrokebety. Grow Your Own” project initiated by the Agrokebety educational project, the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) association, and the MHP-Hromada Charitable Foundation, as well as the possibility of further lending from Raiffeisen Bank. More information on the announcement of the winners of the competition is available on the website.
Alex Lissitsa
According to Alex Lissitsa , Chairman of the IMC Board of Directors, President of UCAB, and ideologist of the Agrokebety project, the project was supported by ambitious entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks and move forward despite the difficulties.
“The project ”Agrokebety. Grow Your Own” unites those who see the future of the Ukrainian agricultural sector through the prism of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. It is an initiative that not only educates, but inspires young leaders to take responsibility for their land and create new opportunities for Ukraine's prosperity,” - emphasizes Alex Lissitsa.
Pavlo Moroz
Community development and reconstruction are already underway when small businesses are strengthened and have the opportunity to operate in small towns and villages, paying taxes and creating new jobs. And the more such businesses there are in a community, the more capable it becomes. Pavlo Moroz, Director of MHP's Corporate Social Responsibility Department, is convinced of this.
“MHP's initiatives to support local entrepreneurs demonstrate how large businesses can actively help communities develop and rebuild. In 2023 alone, the winners of our grant competitions paid UAH 3+ million to local budgets, created jobs, helped others and themselves adapt to new conditions and challenges,” says Pavlo Moroz.
Sergiy Osadchiy
The idea of uniting the efforts of big business to support small businesses in communities is supported by company representative “HORSCH”
“It is very important to believe in the idea and support those who are just starting out in business. After all, the first steps can be difficult, and in order to survive in the market, you need reinforcement from those who already have experience and have gone through these stages of formation. “Agrokebety. Grow Your Own“ is about support, exchange of expertise, and growth”, adds Sergiy Osadchiy.
On November 5, 10 winners of the Agrokebety. Grow your own”. They shared their experience:
Inesa Petukhova, Chyshky village, Lviv region
The ITARA workshop produces nut pastes and sauce, nut snacks, desserts, and walnut oil. In 2023, the production moved from Mykolaiv to a village in the Lviv region, where Inesa Petukhova started her own business, set up premises, purchased equipment for micro-production, and developed her own brand. Inessa Petukhova has experience in setting up businesses in various fields, including the agricultural sector, real estate, and cooperation with utilities. She knows how to build a business from scratch, what processes are needed for development and scaling.
Ivan Pavlish, Luky village, Lviv region
Ivan Pavlish is a lawyer by training and has always been convinced that law would be his main occupation. However, in 2018, after his demobilization, he decided to set up a farm in the community where he comes from. At the same time, continued his studies. While engaged in “classical” farming, he was always looking for a niche crop as his main product. And he managed to find it - sweet potatoes, an atypical root vegetable for our latitudes, which has useful properties and at the same time a wonderful taste and color. It is an indispensable product for infant feeding. It is a great addition to the diet of diabetics, vegetarians and vegans, and is a worthy alternative to potatoes in general. Starting with a small test plot in 2020, Ivan Pavlish's farm now grows its own seedlings, has purchased specialized attachments, and is planning to launch processing. Sweet potatoes have become a family affair for the Pavlish family and they continue to grow them despite the war and Ivan's re-mobilization.
Yevheniia Molchanova, Zelenyi Hai village, Dnipropetrovska oblast
The Zelenyi Hai cheese factory has been operating since 2021 and, despite all the risks, not only did it not stop working and stayed in the market, but also successfully diversified. From a cheese factory that made cheese from raw materials from other suppliers, Zelenyi Hai has become a full-cycle farm and cheese factory, started providing green tourism services, and has also become an educational base for farmers, social entrepreneurs, and veterans, as well as a rehabilitation center for people and animals. The company employs specialists and qualified professionals in the fields of entrepreneurship, farming, and animal husbandry. The Zelenyi Hai team also actively and continuously participates in available and possible training and grant programs. These transformations bring opportunities to scale and grow. And today Zelenyi Hai has 11 cows (in addition to more than 500 other farm and domestic animals). However, in the next 1.5-2 years, they plan to increase the number of cows to 22. As the number of animals grows, so does the amount of feed stock that needs to be stored somewhere. So the business idea is to equip a room for storing the company's feed stocks and conducting educational and rehabilitation activities - a hayloft workshop, which will help save the company's financial and time resources.
The project “Agrokebety. Grow Your Own” project is implemented with the support of the following companies: HORSCH, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Raiffeisen Bank, IMC and MHP.
