On May 31, the Skills Lab: Your Own Business 2.0 training program for youth skills development was completed in Kramatorsk and Mariupol. At the final session of the program, 20 participants presented complete business plans for their own projects aimed at solving environmental and social problems in Donetsk region. The program is implemented by CSR Ukraine, CSR Development Center expert organization and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) with the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the Mariupol Youth Union and the Mariupol Development Fund.
Skills Lab: Your Own Business 2.0 is designed by experts and professionals to develop and refine the skills necessary for successful entrepreneurship. 60 young people from Mariupol and Kramatorsk took part in the programs and successfully completed training in one month.
For 8 training modules, participants have listened to lectures from business coaches and local entrepreneurs, formulated their business ideas, studied legal and financial issues about starting their own businesses, and learned how to develop effective marketing strategies. For each class, motivational speakers were invited to inspire future entrepreneurs and advise on starting their own businesses.
The final session was attended by 20 participants who presented their business plans and received advice from their mentors on how to improve them. Among the projects of participants: creation of archeological safari tours, opening of a cleaning company, photo studio, mini-golf club, O2 oxygen bar, confectionery, cheese factory, kiosk for sale of cotton candy and kvass, bird farm, and smokehouse.
Upon completion of the program, three participants applied for a grant to start their own business.
Taras Derkach, Career Hub Coordinator summed up the results of two programs in Donetsk Oblast and noted: “Skills Lab is a great opportunity for young people to express themselves, create a real project and contribute to the development of Donetsk. We are pleased that so many of the initiatives presented have a social focus and are aiming at environmental solutions. All ideas are realistic”.
Thus, Mariya Melnykova, a representative of the Mariupol Development Fund, said: “The implementation and support of such projects gives us impetus and inspiration to work for young people. We made every effort to make the training unique for the participants: we invited the best lecturers, gave practical assignments, attracted representatives of big business. This progressive youth is driving the development of our city”.
All participants who successfully defended their projects and passed the training program emphasized that such initiatives are extremely important for the youth of Donetsk oblast, because they supplement academic education with practical skills that are important for the development of their careers and creation of their own businesses. According to them, the announced business plans of the projects were rooted in the problems that exist in their city.
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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.
