Due to the hostilities and war, Southern municipalities are losing their economies and people. Businesses relocate or shut down, people move abroad or find other safer areas. According to the Ukrainian Institute for the Future, only 29 million people remain in Ukraine as of May 2023. Of these, 9.1-9.5 million are employed, and subtracting state employees, there are approximately 6-7 million people left. In fact, it is their taxes that pay for pensions, social assistance and other expenses.
Such figures should encourage municipalities to consider how to support businesses in their areas. At the event, organised by U-LEAD with Europe, PPV Knowledge Networks experts Volodymyr Vorobey and Olha Melnyk shared how to help local entrepreneurs attract grants, reasons not to be afraid of them, and how to disseminate information about opportunities. They also explained the cases when grants are harmful to business and time-consuming.
The speakers provided the attendees with a list of available grant programmes and outlined their types. They also focused on approaches that local self-government bodies can use to support business and raise grant funding.
According to Olha Melnyk, the municipality-business-grant triangle is interconnected. After all, it is impossible for an entrepreneur to get a grant without the municipality knowing about it. Most often, local self-government, having more experience in grant work, informs and assists with grant applications.
Entrepreneurs are more trusting of lending programmes, according to the attendees. The expert explained that lending is a familiar tool for businesses. Grants, on the other hand, represent a new form of support provided by donors and foundations since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, as they understand that the existence of small and medium-sized businesses is the key to local economic development.
The role of local self-government bodies at this stage is to explain the difference between grants and lending, educate entrepreneurs on grant reporting, and take a responsible approach to project implementation.
At the same time, experts advise to have a clear understanding of the business needs and inform entrepreneurs accordingly. Various businesses need different types of support. For example, some need start-up equipment, while others require assistance in forum organisation or networking, participation in training programmes, consulting support, etc.
"You shouldn't 'spam' all the entrepreneurs with information on every grant. There is no need to 'marinate' (force to spend time) people at seminars, meetings, etc. No need to demand submitting applications only for the sake of application. Every action should answer the questions "what is the purpose?" and "what is the result?". Local self-government along with businesses should outline the ways of developing the municipality and, using grants and other opportunities, move towards the goal," the speakers emphasised.
Representatives of Baranivska Municipality in Zhytomyr Oblast shared their experience of raising grants for business. As a result of implementing three projects involving UAH 2.7 million, entrepreneurs launched a bakery, a café, and a mushroom growing enterprise, and created 22 jobs.
The experience of Synevyrska Municipality in Zakarpattia Oblast was also shared with the attendees. Here, they used the grant funding to set up a business support centre, develop the SynevyrECO brand, and help local entrepreneurs, grouped into a cluster, promote their products and raise funds for business development.
