Sauce producer scales up its business with support from MHP-Hromada

The MHP-Hromada Charitable Foundation has launched the first project of this year's season of the Do Your Business business idea competition. This is the project "Your Jam" - a workshop of sauces and jams" by Yaroslav and Svitlana Stetsenko from Sokyrna, Cherkasy region.

They won almost UAH 100 thousand in the competition, which they used to buy a rack, an induction cooker, dehydrators, and other equipment. The equipment will be used to expand their product line.

This year, 80 representatives of small businesses who plan to start their own business or scale up an existing one won the MHP-Hromada Do Your Business competition.   

According to Yaroslav Stetsenko, the mastermind behind "Your Jam" - a workshop of sauces and jams, he and his wife decided to continue their business in Ukraine despite the war. They invested a lot of time in training and self-education and as a result were able to establish business processes and a pricing system, set up processes for procuring raw materials (some are purchased from local farmers), develop a line of products that are in demand, taking into account seasonality, and launch sales of products through offline stores (in Cherkasy and Chernihiv) and online (via Instagram and Rozetka). In three and a half years, they have already sold about 6.5 thousand jars of finished products, and this year they plan to reach 11.5 thousand jars.

We plan to develop, scale up and enter national retail in the near future. In a few years, we want to fully switch to automated production. At the moment, we are developing a risk diversification strategy, i.e. an export strategy, and we will test  certain sales channels in order to have a plan B, on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is also one of the ways to saturate the country's budget

According to Oleksandr Pakholyuk, Director of the MHP-Hromada Charitable Foundation, such examples of small businesses that have not been stopped by the war should not only inspire, but also make us confidently move forward despite the difficulties.

Small businesses such as Your Jam, a sauces and jams workshop, demonstrate extraordinary fortitude and adaptability, continuing to grow even in difficult circumstances such as war. These are not just success stories - they are examples of true resilience and determination that should inspire others. Their development shows that even in the most difficult times, it is possible to create an environment for business to thrive. Such enterprises become centers of economic stability, inspiring those who have relocated or are planning to start their own business. This is a path worth following