National Identity Business Forum: Kyiv hosts event that brings together successful communities and entrepreneurs

Recently, a business forum for the exchange of experience between local entrepreneurs and community representatives called "TIME TO ACT.UA" was held in Kyiv, reports a correspondent of UNN.

Details

More than 300 small entrepreneurs, representatives of large businesses and communities gathered at one platform to network, share experiences, and develop new projects.

The first panel was devoted to government and SME cooperation, building an ecosystem between large and small businesses in communities, and successful cases of local business recovery. Victoria Kryveschenko, owner of the Charivnyi Ptakh quail farm, which was looted and destroyed by a rocket during the occupation, and Olga Olefirenko, who created the farm in memory of her deceased father and searched for opportunities to develop it for a long time, but did not give up.

Each of the forum's speakers identified the markers needed today to increase the resilience of both small and large Ukrainian businesses.

My main advice to all entrepreneurs is to make your team your personal priority. Be there for your team in the most difficult times, and when you are on the rise, know the mood of the team, people's opinions, support, reward the best, and train them. There are no small teams. If at least one person works with you, it is already a team, and therefore a great force. I would like to address the heads of communities separately. Today, your role is more important than ever! Your entire community depends on your decisions and responsibility. It is you who must charge people with resilience, faith in the invincibility of Ukraine and in the Victory

We live our lives today having made the choice to stay in Ukraine. This is about each of us here. First and foremost, it is about the military, to whom we owe an invaluable debt. We sincerely thank the main sponsor of our forum and all our events, all the opportunities, plans and goals - our Armed Forces. Our forum is held under the slogan of national identity. That is, national community, identity. By uniting around values, we, as Ukrainians, prove to the world that nothing is impossible. We demonstrate our unique ability to adapt, face challenges and recover from setbacks. It's time to act!

The organizers dedicated the second panel of the forum to strengthening national identity and implementing projects that shape it. Experts spoke about successful cultural cases in communities and the demand of local residents to learn about Ukrainianness through the prism of such projects: an increase in visitors to local museums; demand for works by classics of the Executed Renaissance and dissidents; the need to watch and listen to Ukrainian content.

"Over the past 2 years, our Foundation has allocated more than UAH 70 million to support museums, Ukrainian cinema, music, theater and literature. With these events and projects, we have covered more than 1000 villages and towns in communities, including military hospitals, IDP centers, and military units, providing access to cultural products in remote locations. Each time we implement them, we realize that strengthening Ukrainian identity is in our DNA, for us - a Ukrainian foundation with the support of Ukrainian business," comments Tetiana Volochai, Director of the MHP-Community Foundation.

"Through cultural projects, we demonstrate to foreign audiences the identity of the Ukrainian people, which has been helping Ukrainians to resist the aggressor for years. The latest case is the organization of screenings of the documentary project Culture vs War abroad. Currently, the project has 125 events in 36 countries. Thanks to the stories of artists who are defending Ukraine in the ranks of the Armed Forces and are also creators and carriers of Ukrainian culture, foreign viewers understand the importance of supporting the Ukrainian people. Our activities emphasize that Ukrainian values coincide with European values, we are close in terms of our worldview," adds Andriy Rizol, producer and head of the Watch Ukrainian! Andriy Rizol, producer and chairman of the Watch Ukrainian. 

The final chord of the business forum was a presentation of the Culture vs. War photo exhibition by photographer and cameraman Serhiy Mykhalchuk and the Liberovs. The photo exhibition demonstrated that at a time when the war of worldviews and values is ongoing, cultural projects are an important part of resistance to the enemy. That is why businesses, communities, and civil society should unite for this purpose.

Help

"MHP-Hromadas is a Ukrainian charitable foundation that started its operations in 2015. Its main mission is the comprehensive development of communities. The geography of its activities includes 12 regions of Ukraine: more than 700 towns and villages. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Foundation has been systematically supporting people in the war zone, Ukrainian defenders and rescuers, communities, hospitals and maternity homes, charitable institutions that care for orphans and the elderly, as well as people who have lost their homes and livelihoods due to the war.