Last month, the Ukrainian Society of the Blind (UTOS) completed installation of a corrugated cardboard production line worth $367,000 provided by USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) in their Yahotyn facility. The new facility will produce various cardboard products such as boxes and corrugated rolls and employ 24 people, including individuals with disabilities and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
UTOS first started producing cardboard packaging more than 20 years ago for local consumers in their Kramatorsk facility in Donetsk Oblast. They also produced items such as metal chains, engines, and Christmas lights. In 2022, UTOS received a grant from USAID ERA to modernize their facility, but the procurement process was halted due to Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine in February.
UTOS’s old production line had been sent to Krasnohorivka, Donetsk Oblast for repairs in January 2022, but UTOS was unable to retrieve the equipment due to heavy shelling. Later that year, the company managed to save a small portion of their equipment and relocate 23 employees to Dnipro.
In September 2022, heavy shelling in Kramatorsk completely destroyed UTOS’ premises and adjacent buildings. Unable to find a suitable production site in Dnipro, they moved to Yahotyn, Kyiv Oblast, where demand for corrugated cardboard products is higher.
“We chose to relocate to Yahotyn in Kyiv Oblast, because it’s a convenient location,” said Yurii Shuharov, Director of the Kramatorsk UTOS training and production facility. “We rented a building and prepared to install the equipment. It’s difficult to start everything from scratch, but we have experience and partners, and we hope for new business contacts.”
USAID ERA delivered the new production line to UTOS in June 2024, but installation was delayed due to almost daily power outages. The new, modern equipment includes an electromechanical rolling machine, preheating device, corrugator, gluing module, drying table, longitudinal cutting module, and other components.
UTOS is now fulfilling its first order and negotiating with potential customers. The facility will employ 24 people, including 12 equipment operators. Through the grant from USAID ERA, employees also received training in accounting and sales to attract new clients, which they are putting to use.
“We have 12 people who came with us from Kramatorsk, all of whom are displaced persons in need of housing and work,” said Director Shuharov. “This new line will help us hire another 12 people and increase our employees’ salaries by 30% thanks to new orders. Despite all the challenges of the war, we continue to live and work, seeking opportunities for our people to have jobs and decent salaries, integrating into the communities they find themselves in because of the war.”