Free Educational and Consulting Programme “A Successful Start: The Entrepreneur’s Path” for People with Disabilities

Opportunity: Free educational and consulting programme “A Successful Start: The Entrepreneur’s Path” for people with disabilities.

Programme dates: January – February 2024 (first cohort).

Organiser: Enrolment for the educational programme “A Successful Start: The Entrepreneur’s Path” is run by the All-Ukrainian NGO “Syla Krainy” (Strength of the Country) as part of the project “A Successful Start: Supporting Entrepreneurial Initiatives of People with Disabilities in Wartime” with the financial support of the Abilis Foundation. The All-Ukrainian NGO “Syla Krainy” was founded in 2011 to support people in difficult life circumstances. Since 2020 the organisation has shifted its focus to helping people with disabilities, their families and women in need of support. You can learn more about the organisation’s work on its website (https://syla-krayini.com.ua/) and on social media (https://www.facebook.com/ngo.syla.krainy).

Project goal: supporting entrepreneurial initiatives of people with disabilities in wartime” – developing entrepreneurial skills and skills in business planning, designing an effective business model and attracting grant funding for 50 people with disabilities aged 18 and over who wish to start and/or develop their own business in Ukraine.

Specific innovative focus of the project: an educational and consulting programme for people with disabilities, focused on the participants’ practical work on designing an effective business model for their own venture, preparing a business plan and attracting grant funding for their entrepreneurial activity.

Selection criteria

The project invites: people with disabilities aged 18 and over from all over Ukraine who wish to develop an entrepreneurial venture in Ukraine and belong to one of the following categories:

– those who wish to become entrepreneurs and plan to start their own business;

– those who have already started their own business but have not had significant success, and therefore need to improve their skills and receive consulting support on developing the business and attracting financial support for its development;

– those who had/have a business that was seriously affected or shut down because of the war (sole proprietor, legal entity) and who wish to restore the business or start a new entrepreneurial activity.

Participants will be selected on the basis of motivation, readiness to learn and to work in practice on their business idea.

Information about the key speakers:

Liudmyla Huliaieva – an expert in grants and fundraising, author of the programme “A Successful Start: The Entrepreneur’s Path”. An experienced business trainer with over 20 years of experience teaching educational products to representatives of business companies, entrepreneurs and the public sector on the topics of attracting financial resources for business and social projects, business planning, fundraising, designing and managing grant projects, and the financial markets of the EU and Ukraine. Candidate of Economic Sciences, associate professor at the Department of Finance of the Academy of Labour, Social Relations and Tourism, associate researcher of the GMAF programme at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, project manager of the All-Ukrainian NGO “Syla Krainy”. Author of the Telegram channel “Grantovi fishky” (Grant Tips).

Andrii Oliinyk – an expert in international management, entrepreneurship education and business planning. Author of training programmes and courses in management, fundraising and entrepreneurship. Associate professor at the Department of International Management of the State University of Trade and Economics. Candidate of Economic Sciences, certified business analyst and trainer with many years of experience in educational and international projects.

Format of study: online, on the Zoom platform. Sign language interpretation is provided.

Application deadline: 25 December 2024.

Registration link for participants: https://forms.gle/vK729stqjT8SQDou7

Study programme:

• Module 1. The entrepreneurial path amid instability and constant challenges. Introduction to grant funding for entrepreneurship.

Session 1. The entrepreneur and entrepreneurship today: people who change the world.

Session 2. A business idea: generating and testing.

Session 3. Building a business model using the Canvas technique.

Session 4. Introduction to grant funding. A detailed overview of the grant competitions “Own Business” (Vlasna Sprava) and the Grant for Veterans and Their Family Members. Checking the entrepreneur’s compliance with the conditions of the grant competition. Business reputation.

• Module 2. Workshop on preparing a business plan and submitting a project proposal for a business grant (using the “Own Business” grant and the Grant for Veterans and Their Family Members as examples)

Session 5: Preparing the descriptive part of the business plan: the business and the business idea; skills and competencies.

Session 6. Preparing the descriptive part of the business plan: target audience; market and competition; sales and marketing plans.

Session 7. Preparing the financial part of the business plan: structure of the income and expense plan; income planning.

Session 8. Preparing the financial part of the business plan: planning project expenses and project performance indicators.

• Module 3. Consulting support and project pitching.

Session 9. Individual consultation for participants on working on the business plan.

Session 10. Project pitching.

Session 11. Individual consultation for participants on refining the business plans based on the results of the pitching.

Session 12. Final meeting “Virtual Coffee: Sharing Experience, Reflection, Opportunities for the Future”.

Contact person: project manager Olena Kravchenko, +380 6765730 80, vgo.sylakrainy@gmail.com.

Link to the Google folder with high-quality visuals for the release: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cFZvXq75BZjLiz9c0JJRdJP3LEhYSctR?usp=sharing