Kryvyi Rih, July 4 - Local youth for the first time joined the Skills Lab: Your Own Business program to start their own business. Within one month, 30 participants aged 16-35 will work on the implementation of business plans and start-ups in their village or city. The program is organized by CSR Ukraine, CSR Development Center expert organization, United Nations Population Fund with the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and Kryvyi Rih City Council.
According to the Kryvyi Rih Resource Center data on the situation with youth entrepreneurship in Kryvyi Rih, more than 78,000 enterprises are registered in the city. Of these, only 19% of businesses were started by young people aged 18-35. The purpose of the Skills Lab: Your Own Business training program is to provide all the necessary knowledge and skills to increase the number of young entrepreneurs not only in Kryvyi Rih but across the region.
Yuliya Bolhak, Project Manager of the CSR Development Center, familiarized the participants to last year's experience in implementing the program in other cities of Ukraine and noted: "Kryvyi Rih is the third city where we launch the "Skills Lab: Your Own Business" program, about 40% of participants have started their own businesses, and they are already successfully running them. We believe that all the selected participants will be able to implement their ideas and become a success story proving that business start-up in 1 month is attainable”.
This year, the key ideas for starting a business among the youth of Kryvyi Rih are coffee shops, beauty salons, consulting services in the field of advertising and public relations, selling hand-made products. In addition, a significant number of the proposed projects are aimed at socially-oriented businesses, opening eco-shops and recycling stations.
Ilya Lysokon, Regional Coordinator of Skills Lab: Your Own Business, reaffirms the importance of the program in Kryvyi Rih and emphasizes: “Energizing Kryvyi Rih youth and stimulating their entrepreneurship initiatives is one of the most important steps to motivate young people stay in Ukraine. Today, this is one of the biggest problems plaguing not only our region but also other regions of Ukraine. Therefore, such initiatives are extremely important to us”.
Successful local entrepreneurs and start-ups have been invited to the program opening ceremony and have shared with their participants their own experience of starting a business in banking and IT. After that, the girls and boys participated in a coaching session “Letter to themselves after one month”, in which they wrote what they want to achieve in 1 month and what they can do right now to make this plan come true. For a better understanding of all business processes, the organizers have developed notebooks for participants, which contain a lot of useful information and practical tips for creating your own business.
"I have been looking forward for such programs in Kryvyi Rih, because for a long time I have been contemplating the idea of opening my own business in the hotel and restaurant area. I think that Skills Lab: Your Own Business will help me to properly consider all the pitfalls which may happen at the start of my own business, and provide a sound theoretical and practical basis. I was impressed by the meeting with Oschadbank representatives who told about their business platform. It is quite possible that they are my first partners", said Yehor Linnyk, a participant of the program.
Over the next three weeks, participants will study business analysis, legal aspects and financial literacy, marketing and finances with their coaches. They are expected to present complete business plans as the result of the training.
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CSR Ukraine, CSR Development Center - an expert organization in Ukraine that brings together more than 40 large companies, jointly with which it has been promoting the principles of sustainable business and social responsibility, implementing its own social projects, providing consultations, holding seminars and trainings on CSR issues and reporting for both private companies and public authorities for more than ten years. It is a national partner of CSREurope (Brussels, Belgium) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (Geneva, Switzerland). www.csr-ukraine.org
The UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is a leading UN agency focusing on gender equality, reproductive health and capacity building for young people. We work with partners in 150 countries and territories around the world, and since 1997 we operate in Ukraine to promote equality, overcome gender stereotypes, enhance women's opportunities, support equal distribution of household chores, and involve men in raising children. Since 2015, together with the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the campaign "4 Hands Happiness" has been launched. More information about UNFPA and our work in Ukraine: www.ukraine.unfpa.org. Follow UNFPA's Twitter and Facebook activities.
