‘Just Transition through Entrepreneurship’ helped to support Ukraine’s green recovery and just transition in the face of structural changes, economic challenges, and war-induced disruptions by providing holistic support for aspiring entrepreneurs, existing entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurial support organizations.
Supporting Ukraine’s green recovery and just transition through SMEs
Key stats
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Duration
01.03.2024 to 31.01.2025
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Supporting
150 small businesses and up to 6 organizations
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500 Euros/month
direct financial support for businesses
Objectives
Supporting green recovery and just transition of Ukraine's economy through providing direct support for SMEs and entrepreneurial organizations.
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Locations
Lviv Oblast and Volyn Oblast, Ukraine
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Targeted SDGs
Micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up a large majority of businesses in Ukraine. At the moment, they face several challenges that put their survival at risk. This has a significant impact on the country’s economy as a whole, given that SMEs are responsible for over 63% of employment in Ukraine.
Coal regions, such as Volyn and Lviv oblasts, face increased uncertainty due to the transition from coal and plant closures. Therefore, providing access to direct financial support, training and upskilling is crucial so the necessary changes to limit global warming do not negatively impact local employees.
On the other hand, the Russian war of aggression has had immediate and longer-term consequences on human health, ecosystems, and the economy. It also created setbacks in terms of Ukraine’s green transformation and the country’s plans to align itself with green economy principles. Supporting local businesses would be highly beneficial in meeting the challenges faced by SMEs in the regions and would give them much-needed financial relief.
In order to support the SMEs, the objectives of the project were to:
- lay the groundwork for a more inclusive, resilient, and environmentally conscious Ukrainian economy;
- ensure that existing small and medium enterprises in Lviv and Volyn regions can maintain their operations and create resilient businesses;
- empower potential entrepreneurs in formalizing their business ideas and transforming them into commercial and marketable products;
- build capacities and knowledge base for business support organizations to adapt to structural changes and provide long-term, sustainable support for businesses
Supporting SMEs within the affected sectors to adapt to structural challenges and maintain their operations contributes to the well-being of the Ukrainian economy and ensuring a fair transition where no one is left behind.
Project tracks
The project helped to support Ukraine’s green recovery and just transition in the face of structural changes, economic challenges, and war-induced disruptions by providing holistic support for aspiring entrepreneurs, existing entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurial support organizations. The project consisted of four tracks.
Businesses Track
This track supported existing enterprises directly and indirectly related to the coal mining sector in their recovery and just transition through direct financial support, mentoring, training, and network development over a period of six months.
Learn moreIdeas Track
This track focused on introducing entrepreneurship as a viable career path within the target regions by supporting aspiring entrepreneurs in developing their business ideas through three months of training, mentoring, network development, and access to resources.
Learn moreEcosystem Builders Track
This track worked with business support organizations to develop services and programs for entrepreneurs in the region geared toward recovery and growth through creating avenues for sustainable, long-term support that extends beyond the duration of the program.
Learn morePartnerships Track
This track brought together stakeholders across different sectors in an all-day summit, including government representatives, policy-makers, business leaders from German, European and local companies, entrepreneurs, civil society organizations, industry experts and investors.
How did the Just Transition through Entrepreneurship project support Ukraine's Economy?
Through its different tracks, the project provided holistic support for the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Lviv and Volyn Oblasts with a particular focus on those who are affected by the structural changes of the energy transition and the war-induced disruptions.
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For entrepreneurs:
Target businesses in Lviv and Volyn received direct financial support, access to training and workshops, opportunities to develop networks and connect with experts in Ukraine and the EU market, and dedicated mentoring to support adapting to structural changes.
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For aspiring entrepreneurs:
Business ideas from Lviv and Volyn took part in a pre-incubator where there was access to workshops, resources and budget for expert services to turn ideas into a product or service that then entered the market.
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For organizations:
Business support organizations in Ukraine took part in the partnerships or the ecosystem builders track to help strengthen Ukraine’s just recovery.
Get involved
Although the program has come to a close, if you are interested in learning more about the implementation and outcome of this project, please contact us at info@enpact.org.
If you would like to learn more about enpact’s future projects, please use the form below.
Project Partners
The ‘Just Transition through Entrepreneurship’ Project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The project is implemented by the non-profit organization enpact.
