Program Updates | Ukraine

Speeches Shim

August 14, 2020

When Oksana Drahan saw her first Tilda-style dolls, with their bright eyes and rosy cheeks, she fell in love and soon after began crafting them as a hobby. Tilda dolls are whimsical naive characters that utilize charming fabric designs and interesting ribbons, buttons.

August 13, 2020

In April, at the dawn of the coronavirus pandemic, Vasyl Mazurin, an entrepreneur from Druzhkivka in eastern Ukraine, approached city doctors with an offer to help repair equipment to aid patients with COVID-19. Medical staff took him up on the offer and gave him five old, non-functioning medical ventilators to refurbish.

August 13, 2020

ARDS co-investment assistance expands Ukraine’s agri-market reach and breaks Soviet-era economic tethers  

Dark clouds can have silver linings. This is certainly true in today’s Ukraine. With the end of its heavy reliance on Russia as its largest agricultural market, new business opportunities are opening up in Europe and Asia. Forced to seek alternative markets, Ukraine’s farmers and agri-businesses, many of whom refuse to sell to Russia, undertook the process of improving product quality and obtaining certifications required by Europe and Asia. 

August 11, 2020

Once a prosperous top manager in a local construction company, Kostiantyn* now owns and manages a thriving honey business. Kostiantyn’s journey into the apiary world began when Ukraine lost control over parts of Luhansk Oblast, and Kostiantyn and his sister fled their homes with their families to a small house in Spivakivka village, in the Ukraine-controlled part of the oblast. 

“It was an old house that we had used for summer vacations,” explained Kostiantyn.  The two families settled in the village, refurbished the house, and adapted to rural life.  

August 11, 2020

For five years, Iryna Paruna and her family have nurtured a business that manufactures and sells bedding. They produce their products in the eastern Ukrainian village of Bobrove, eight kilometers from the front line. From there, her finished goods are sent to towns and villages throughout Ukraine. 

Iryna started her business in 2014, when she and her family moved to Bobrove from Severodonetsk, acquired some basic sewing equipment, and began to sew bathrobes, dresses, and linen in one of the rooms of her apartment.

Pages