Ukrainian Women in Business | 3-months mentoring program for EU market integration [Video]

“I would say there are limited theories available for small companies how to enter in different markets. And it’s always a struggle. It’s trial and error process. So it’s just good to be together so that you can learn from each other, learn from other mistakes, so that you don’t have to make all the mistakes on your own account.” – Zanda Vipule, Mentor and International Business Professor, on why mentoring matters.

The International Mentoring: Ukrainian Women in Business program brought together 10 women entrepreneurs from Ukraine with 10 EU-based experts. The goal? Support the women-led Ukrainian businesses with exporting their products and services to the EU market and expanding their business and impact.

Over the course of 3 months, they took part in regular training workshops and 1-on-1 mentoring sessions, which culminated with a week-long intensive landing pad program in Berlin. During the week, they had the chance to meet with different stakeholders in the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Berlin which support international businesses in expanding their work into the city and the German market.

The program officially concluded in March 2024, with some of the participants already in the process of finalizing deals to start officially offering their work in Berlin.

This video provides a quick recap and highlight of the experience, with the perspectives of the program participants, mentors and organizing team.

Thank you to:

– Anna Varava, Fashion and Media Business Consultant, Ukrainian Startup Fund.
– Hanna Boichuk, Director of the Export Department, Tikpack LLC
– Nataliia Masliuk, Head of Export Development, MOVA Brewing Co.
– Liubov Apilat, Co-Founder & CEO, Apilat Lingerie
– Zanda Vipule, International Business Lecturer, Riga Business School
– Chiara Kadelka, Project Associate, enpact
– Claire Miller, Project Assistant, enpact

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About the program:

The International Mentoring: Ukrainian Women in Business support activity is organized within the international cooperation programme “EU4Business: SME Recovery, Competitiveness and Internationalisation”, that is co-financed by the European Union and the German Government.

The programme aims to support Ukraine’s economic resilience, recovery and growth, create better conditions for the development of Ukrainian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as support innovation and exports. Read more: www.eu4business.org.ua

The strategic implementer of the EU4Business: SME Recovery, Competitives and Internationalisation project is the German federal company “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH”. The International Mentoring: Ukrainian Women in Business support activities are implemented by enpact e.V.

The contents are the sole responsibility of enpact e.V. and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union and the German Government.

Visit the enpact website to learn more: https://enpact.org/international-mentoring-program-ukrainian-women-in-business/

If you would like to learn more or become a mentor with enpact, check out our website for more information: https://enpact.org/become-an-enpact-mentor/