The European Union has always been very active in supporting the development of new businesses, particularly among women and particularly in the regions of Ukraine.

Since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine, the European Commission’s Support Group for Ukraine together with the EU Delegation to Ukraine and EU projects working with Ukraine have reacted to the Russian aggression by rapidly repurposing their activities in the face of the humanitarian crisis and the massive displacement of populations, including additional support for women, displaced people, entrepreneurs and vulnerable groups.

So don’t think that you need to be in Kyiv, to have a higher education or an established business in order to access EU support. The EU supports a number of programmes and business support facilities that provide know how, practical help, and even funding to help you start your business.

Here are some examples:

As a part of the EU4Business initiative, a network of Business Support Centres has been set up across the regions of Ukraine, offering business advice services, trainings and workshops. Visit the network’s website www.bisc.org.ua for more information including a full list of business support centres and their contacts, as well as available opportunities.

The “Start.Business” learning platform targets both beginners who are interested in entrepreneurship but do not know where to start and those who already have their own business and are looking for practical advice on developing it. The platform offers interactive courses dedicated to different business areas such as the creative industry, for example, or hotel management, or fabric or ceramics production, and has recently added new courses for micro-enterprises displaced by war, where entrepreneurs can learn what is needed to create and scale up their businesses, how to minimise possible risks, develop e-commerce and many other practical aspects. https://startbusiness.com.ua

For women in Eastern Ukraine, the EU-funded Gender Culture Centre in Kharkiv has launched various resources for women including an SME Development Centre, where women can take part in training, get advice on starting or developing a business, have a mentor, and become a part of women’s business network – all for free. The centre provides services for all women, whether you want to start a business, or already have one and want to develop it.

Across the rest of the country, the Mayors for Economic Growth programme supports local authorities in developing economic growth and job creation, with additional funds for supporting the recovery of local economies and communities impacted by the war. In the liberated municipality of Trostianets, for example, a new business support centre is assisting businesses to become operational again, promoting entrepreneurship among the town’s residents – most of whom had never owned a business before.

Another EU-funded project offers free training for 1,000 women. The project on Building resilience of Ukrainian women IDPs and refugees and increasing female workforce in tech-driven industry aims to empower Ukrainian women with IDP and refugee status, offering training to facilitate their employment in creative and tech-driven industries. Click here to find out more and sign up.

The EU-funded Collaborate for Impact project aims to develop social entrepreneurship and social investment in the Eastern Partnership countries. In Ukraine, it partners with SILab Ukraine to support social entrepreneurs with hackathons, trainings, incubation and acceleration programmes, while providing investment funding, mentoring and technical support through the Ukrainian Social Venture Fund. Check out the SILab Ukraine website and Facebook page for news and opportunities. Visit the Collaborate for Impact website for success stories and podcasts from Ukraine.

Responding to the Russian military aggression against Ukraine, EU4Youth has launched a project aimed at addressing the war-related needs of Ukraine with support for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and youth entrepreneurs. The project offers career counselling and grants for business recovery, as well as retraining programmes for IDPs. The project is implemented by the SpivDiia Fund. Follow SpivDiia on Facebook ort he latest opportunities.

In addition, the EU4Youth programme is launching a series of projects aimed at enhancing youth employment and entrepreneurship, including mentoring, training programmes and apprenticeships. Under the previous wave of EU4Youth projects, nearly 300 job seekers received training to improve their career opportunities, of whom almost 85% were women, while 36 start-ups were launched with support from EU4Youth projects and 323 young people – mostly from disadvantaged communities – received funding to advance their entrepreneurial projects. Thousands of young people benefited from competence development activities to gain new skills, and over 500 received mentorships.