As part of Made in UA Support Project, domestic craft producers receive $100,000 in support
The USAID Competitive Economy Program in Ukraine, Ukrposhta and TECHBUREAU have announced the results of the Made in UA Support Project initiative, within which 100 Ukrainian manufacturers received grant support of $1,000, the press service of the project told Interfax-Ukraine.
"Made in UA Support Project aroused great interest among Ukrainian entrepreneurs. We were guided by 500-700 applications, but received 3,397! This figure shows the demand for financial support and the outstanding entrepreneurial activity of Ukrainian manufacturers in the conditions of a full-scale war," Hannah Zenn, the director of TECHBUREAU, said.
According to her, it was a very difficult choice, they had to extend the deadline for considering applications by a week, until May 31, in order to select 100 brands.
"If it were possible, we would have chosen many more companies," adds Zenn.
More than 25% of the brands that applied to participate in the project are from Kyiv, more than 10% are from Kharkiv region. Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Lviv regions actively responded. At the same time, enterprises from the regions that suffer the most from hostilities - Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia regions - joined the project.
More than 75% of the applicant enterprises have about ten people in the team. The most common types of products are clothing or footwear, home decor, furniture, toys, cosmetics, etc.
About 40% of enterprises are engaged in export. Moreover, many of them began to export already during the war, having discovered such sites as eBay, Etsy, etc.
Applications for participation were collected through a specially created platform UAmadesupport.com. The enterprises that received the most votes from all experts were selected to provide assistance. In the event that the number of votes was equal, preference was given to the one who applied earlier.
The release contains several examples of companies that were among the winners of the project. Anzy Home (Kharkiv region) creates handmade carpets, baskets, furniture, etc., plans to create a stock in fulfillment centers in the United States so that customers are not afraid to order because of uncertainty about the situation in Ukraine.
She Flowers (Odesa region) produces home decor from stabilized flowers, and despite the martial law, it is carrying out a brand transformation and wants to resume offline work in the showroom.
NOELED (Zhytomyr region), which produces ecological packaging, after the loss of the majority of wholesale customers and the transfer of production, promotes goods for export through eBay.
Winning businesses will receive $1,000 in financial aid (tax not included). They will be able to direct these funds to the most urgent production costs: materials, equipment for creating products, advertising, salaries, improving the presentation of goods, etc. Each of the winners will receive detailed instructions and a list of data that must be provided in order to sign a contract. Within a month, the money will go to the balance of producers.
