Serhii Svyrydenko, a farmer and ATO veteran from Donetsk Oblast, founded a goat farm in 2016 in the village of Ivanopillia, Kostiantynivka community. He produced craft cheese and meat delicacies under the trademark Kozatske Podviria. Svyrydenko received several grants, invested his own money, developed new products, and participated in fairs and festivals organized by USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA). But the full-scale war forced the farmer to seek shelter in a new place.

In April, ERA, together with the Reforms Office team at the Ministry of Economy, began holding dialogue platforms on business relocation to safer regions. Svyrydenko participated in these events, learning about the experience and difficulties of other entrepreneurs, but did not dare leave his home until July.

Sales were falling, some customers left, and when shelling caused power outages, Svyrydenko decided it was finally time to go. Without an electric pump, he would not even be able to provide his goats with water from the well.

Svyrydenko scoured Ukraine for a new location. He wrote posts on social networks about his search for premises, and asked for advice on potential places for his animals and production.

“When I traveled around Ukraine, I saw a lot of half-ruined farms that were not suitable to house animals. They required a lot of investment. Then a farmer from Volyn saw a post about me on social media and wrote, saying he was ready to take me in. I had no other options, so I agreed to come to him with my goats,” says Svyrydenko.

The second challenge was the relocation process itself. The farmer had to transport not only equipment, but 150 Nubian goats. Svyrydenko rented a large vehicle for the move from Donetsk Oblast to Volyn. In addition to his animals, the farmer took a tractor and trailer, cheese dairy equipment, and a refrigerator for meat products.

Now the goats are grazing near the new farm, and adapting to the taste of grass in the village of Didychi, Olytska Community. Grass differs in different regions of Ukraine, affecting animals’ digestion, as farmers know. Svyrydenko needs help to buy winter feed — at home in Donetsk Oblast, his goats ate 30 tons of hay over the winter. After the first snow, they will need to be fed indoors with hay and beets.

Meanwhile, he and his partner Ivan Budem are repairing the farm where the goats will spend the winter. In the neighboring village of Horynivka, Svyrydenko has rented a sausage workshop, where he has already started making his first batch of dried meat and brynza cheese. He has hired a displaced woman from Kostiantynivka, who now lives in the same village, to help in the shop.

“I haven’t lost heart and I am ready to work, although a lot of things were left at home and I need to start again here, in a new place. Now there is grant support – I recently won a grant from the Danish Refugee Council and will receive new modern equipment for the cheese dairy, including a refrigerator and cheese-making machine. With a grant from the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, I will be able to buy a car to transport raw materials and deliver products,” says Svyrydenko.

In Volyn, the farmer is already getting acquainted with the locals, who recently invited him to cook his specialty pilaf over an open fire, as he used to do at fairs and festivals of craft producers.

To become successful again, the entrepreneur is ready to work hard, and to return to his native Donetsk Oblast with new experience after the victory of Ukraine.

Under the Zap.Ravlik trademark, a family of entrepreneurs from Zaporizhzhia grows snails and produces snail fillets and pâtés. With USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) assistance, they are implementing HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) food safety system.

An ERA consultant explained what measures should be introduced in the production facility, and the entrepreneurs set to work.

First, the consultant explained why it is necessary to follow HACCP rules to the team working in the snail fillet kitchen.

“According to Ukrainian legislation, we must comply with certain requirements at work and introduce this safety system. First of all, it concerns our reputation and our partners’ trust in us and our product,” says Victoria Sorokina, co-founder of Zap.Ravlik. “We are talking not just about medical records for the staff and a change of clothing in the workshop, but more about requirements for equipment, distribution of production areas, movement of personnel in the workshop, and the arrangement of equipment. We have already divided the kitchens: in one we work with fresh fillets, which we bring straight from the snail farm; in the other we make snail pâtés and other delicacies. We also need different sinks, refrigerators, and separate containers for storing and processing products, so that the smells do not mix. This is all very important for making a quality product.”

After fulfilling all the requirements, the entrepreneurs plan to invite a company that will check the standards have been met and then issue a certificate.

“Now we deliver our products to stores and restaurants. We attach a quality certificate to every batch ordered from us. We’ll be able to declare to our partners that we also have a HACCP certificate,” says Sorokina.

The Sorokin family also have the idea to develop a franchise. They received offers to sell snails and snail products even before the war, but the entrepreneurs did not know how to organize it at the time. Now they are learning more about franchising (selling products from other entrepreneurs under the owner’s trademark).

“Before the war, we participated in many festivals and fairs, and traveled everywhere with our tiny branded company. People approached us and asked about cooperation. When the war started we had no time for this, as we had to save our business and survive ourselves. But now that our sales point in Zaporizhzhia is becoming more and more popular, the question of franchising has come up again, and entrepreneurs from different cities of Ukraine are contacting us. We are studying this issue in detail, but we need money to prepare the initial agreement for further distribution of the franchise,” says Sorokina.

The family believes that they will implement everything they plan, and after the victory of Ukraine, they will visit festivals again to offer their delicious snail products.

Rekava startup, making a unique biodegradable product from recycled coffee grounds, was founded by two like-minded people in Sumy two years ago. Yurii Tustanovskyi and Dmytro Bidiuk produce coffee cups, candles and pots. Their mission sounds global – using daily habits to save the planet from single-use plastic and other non-degradable waste in landfills. But it is by small daily steps that they make it a reality.

With their savings, the innovators purchased a press and equipment for drying and cleaning coffee grounds, and started to create.

“Dmytro and I love coffee, and we know what amounts of coffee grounds are left in coffee shops every day. A huge number of disposable dishes are thrown away as well. Many coffee shops use paper utensils, but that doesn’t mean they are environmentally friendly. We created our eco-product (coffee cups) from a material that is not harmful but friendly to the environment. Coffee grounds are perfect for this,” says Tustanovskyi.

Helped by Bidyuk’s technical education and Tustanovskyi’s economic background, the entrepreneurs began creating the first product samples in their small laboratory. They tested, developed specifications, worked on the design, and had already found their first customers. But then Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine began.

In April, thanks to a state business relocation program, the entrepreneurs moved their equipment to Lviv where they developed Rekava Candles – scented candles in biodegradable containers.

“We wanted to create a product that would give people a feeling of coziness and be associated with home. We decided to produce decorative candles with aromas of cities and regions of Ukraine. To make them eco-friendly, we decided to use soy wax, to which we add different scents. The containers for these candles are made from coffee grounds,” says Tustanovskyi about the new product, which was born during wartime.

Rekava has created a series of six scented candles with different city scents. Kyiv is the smell of lilacs and chestnuts; Donetsk is scented with rose; Lviv smells of coffee; Crimea of grapes; Kherson of watermelon, and the Carpathians of herbs and honey.

After posting information about the product on social networks the manufacturers received many messages and ideas, including to expand the range of aromas to other cities of Ukraine. Now they are working on creating five new scented candles in their craft laboratory. Recently they sent a test batch to four countries of the European Union. The entrepreneurs hope that Europeans will like their unique eco-candles with the aromas of Ukraine, and that they will be able to enter the EU market.

The Rekava team realized that they need industrial equipment to manufacture products in large volumes, in particular, coffee cups and flowerpots made of coffee grounds. They applied for a consulting support program for relocated small and medium-sized businesses run by NGO GoLocal, which is supported by USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA). The program consultants advised them how to reduce costs, prepare a high-quality business plan and improve business processes.

ERA consultants help to find contractors for the preparation of raw materials, and to enter new sales markets, in particular foreign markets of the EU, as well as with business planning and search for grant opportunities for the purchase of new equipment. The consultants reviewed the sequence of production stages in Rekava’s workshop and helped increase efficiency and productivity. For example, they advised the team not to accumulate products in the warehouse, to avoid unnecessary costs, and thus make tangible savings for the microbusiness.

“We are constantly working to attract financing. We participate in various acceleration programs, as well as competitions to start mass production as soon as possible, because serial production is needed for disposable tableware (coffee cups). Now we supply cups to several coffee shops in Lviv, but the volumes are very small. ERA consultants helped us prepare a presentation for pitching and developed a business model of the enterprise using the Business Model Canvas methodology. This has already helped us: recently we received a UAH 250,000 grant from the state for the purchase of equipment,” says Tustanovskyi.