Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast hosted a Youth Business Forum: Prospects for the development of youth entrepreneurship in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Earlier, about 90 girls and boys from Mariupol, Berdiansk and Melitopol participated in the online training in the development of entrepreneurial skills under the SkillsLab program ‘Self-employment’. The most active participants of the program had the opportunity to attend the Zaporizhzhia Oblast Forum on Youth Entrepreneurship, held in Melitopol. The young people got acquainted, worked in teams with mentors and visited three industrial enterprises, where they had the opportunity to put questions directly to the owners and managers of local businesses.

“Initially, I was a participant in a career development program, but during the training I also got interested in the opportunity to start my own business. Between you and me, my parents took the modules with me, because they were also interested in learning so much new and useful information about the development of own business. Now I know more about public and private support for businesses and plan to develop further, reach my goal. The main thing is not to be afraid. After all, the development of local enterprises is important both for our city and for us, the young people of Melitopol”, said one of the Forum participants.

The United Nations Population Fund works with young people from the Luhansk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts, assisting them to acquire modern knowledge and skills.

SkillsLab training is provided under the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, which is implemented by four UN Agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The Programme is supported by twelve international partners: the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB) as well as the Governments of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden and Japan.

Organizer of the training - Donetsk Women’s Council; Partners of the training: Mariupol Youth Union, Mariupol Development Foundation, Center for Corporate Social Responsibility Development, Melitopol Development Agency, NGO New Hope.