IT COMPANY FROM DONETSK OBLAST OFFERS TO DEVELOP CHATBOT FOR VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATIONS

Information Technology

02 November 2022

After the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, Solution Mentors IT company left Kramatorsk and evacuated to Mukachevo, Zakarpattia Oblast.

The company, founded 20 years ago, now unites more than 100 developers. Solution Mentors provides 90% of its software development services for the US and European markets. The company’s expertise is related to solutions for document management, multi-channel contact centers, the banking sector, digital security in companies, and protecting information.

“Special thanks to our foreign clients who have not stopped cooperating with us. From the first days of the war, when dozens of our employees were leaving dangerous cities, our clients understood these challenges. Some people could not work, as they were looking for housing and were evacuating their families. We already had experience in 2014, and when we left Kramatorsk and opened offices in Kyiv and Mukachevo this experience came in useful now as well,” says Danylo Tretiakov, Head of Solution Mentors IT company.

Communication support during the company’s relocation was provided by USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA). Despite relocations and other challenges, the IT company did not stop working, and programmers continued to provide services to foreign partners.

Recently, the company, which is one of the founders of Donechchyna IT cluster, took part in the largest IT conference in eastern Europe, which took place in Lviv IT Arena. ERA financed the participation of representatives of ten clusters from different regions of Ukraine.

During the two-day event, Yevhen Chevichalov, head of the marketing and sales department of Solution Mentors, talked to representatives of the IT community from different regions of Ukraine and the world, and found out where colleagues were moving to and what they would work on.

“It was interesting to hear how IT clusters interact; how they communicate internally and externally, and to meet colleagues. I hope that joint projects may arise after this. We already have ideas for cooperation with the Mariupol IT cluster, which currently has a space in Mukachevo to train young people in IT specialties,” says Chevichalov.

During the IT conference, participants talked about training specialists for the IT industry. Before the start of Russia’s full-scale aggression, Donechchyna IT cluster planned to create an educational center in Kramatorsk, which would train specialists for the needs of IT companies. This idea remains relevant, although the location has changed.

“IT companies have a constant need for personnel training. That is why two years ago with ERA assistance we created a cluster. We planned that one of its tasks would be training of IT specialists. Now we have submitted a grant application to open such a center in Mukachevo. If we manage to implement this idea, then later, after the victory of Ukraine, we will be able to scale it in different cities and regions of Ukraine. In order to implement the idea, a grant application was submitted to ERA for the creation of such a center. Now we see that the demand for IT specialists continues to grow. It is possible to prepare a tester in a few months, and then continue to train him or her in the company,” says company head Tretiakov.

Currently, ERA is organizing free business training for the company’s employees and plans to rent office space for the needs of the cluster, which will be able to hold meetings with partners and plan its work.

Solution Mentors specialists are ready to create for free a chatbot for volunteer organizations and public organizations helping temporarily displaced persons and the army, who need constant communication with people and fast information processing.

“We are ready to create such a chatbot for free for those volunteer or public organizations that need automation of communication processes. Volunteers told us that now people fill out a lot of Google forms, and write to foundations or charitable organizations on social networks about their needs. This information needs to be processed and it takes a lot of time. We have experience in this field and are ready to help. Usually, it takes a long time to collect information by phone, and the lines are overloaded. The chatbot will help to process applications automatically. It can speed up the work several times and solve the problem of some requests getting lost,” Tretiakov says.

Those interested in such a chatbot can write to the company at: contact@solutionmentors.com

UKRAINIAN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCERS LOOK FOR PARTNERS AT PARIS EXHIBITION

16 October 2022

Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) supported its partners Famberry, Trade House Kalynivka and Sady Donbasu LLC to expand into western markets through their participation in Salon International de l’alimentation (SIAL), which took place in Paris on October 15–19.

SIAL is one of the largest international events for agricultural producers, attracting about 300,000 visitors from around the world every year.

Famberry owns the largest cornel orchards in eastern Europe, which are located in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Since the beginning of the war the territory has been under occupation, and the owners currently do not have access to the orchards. However, they managed to export frozen berries and have launched production of cornel jams, pastilles, sauces and other delicacies in Dnipro. In western Ukraine, a beverage producer makes cornel liqueurs.

“We lost this year’s harvest, as there is no access to the orchards. We have 40 tons of cornel in stock, which can be processed and sold. At the same time, we are interested in finding partners abroad who are ready to buy our products, so we are taking part in this exhibition. Participation in such events is effective – people abroad learn about our company, and we receive orders. It also contributes to the promotion of cornel. We believe that soon we will be able to return to our orchards, but until then we are doing our best to save our business during the war,” said Yelyzaveta Olshanska, co-owner of Famberry.

Sady Donbasu managed to evacuate the sorting line they received under an ERA grant from Donetsk Oblast to Zakarpattia. At the exhibition in Paris, the company representatives looked for partners interested in cooperation with Ukrainian business.

“We signed an agreement for sorting apples with a local business in Zakarpattia. Today customers want to buy high-quality sorted apples in the supermarket, and we have such sorting experience. We will invite other businesses to cooperate by offering our sorting services. We also have export experience, so we are ready to share it. Processing companies are more widely represented at this exhibition; we will be looking for partners who need raw materials and sorting services,” said Financial Director Serhii Ostapets.

Representatives of Kalynivka trade house attended the exhibition because they are interested in finding new partners and markets, including foreign ones, for their products. The company grows vegetables in greenhouses in Kyiv and Vinnytsia Oblasts and in open ground in Kherson and Mykolaiv Oblasts. The company has temporarily lost part of its capacities due to shelling and occupation.

“European producers and traders from Poland, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Lithuania and Latvia, as well as countries such as Kenya, Peru, and Colombia are interested in our tomatoes, as they don’t know so much about Ukrainian producers who can offer a quality product. It is important to promote Ukraine, because we are a country with high growth dynamics despite the current situation,” says Marketing Director Tetiana Medzhytova.

This year the exhibition in Paris was attended by representatives from more than 100 countries. Participants presented their business potential and held negotiations with potential partners from the United States, the European Union and the Middle East.

Recently, a food exhibition was held in Madrid, which was attended by companies from Ukraine.

GUIDELINES WITH RECOMMENDATIONS DEVELOPED FOR RELOCATED BUSINESSES AND HOST COMMUNITIES

12 October 2022

Two handbooks, “Guidelines on business relocation” and “Guidelines for the host community”, have been developed by experts from the public organization GoLocal with USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) assistance.

The authors of the guidelines worked with host communities and summarized the experience of enterprises that moved their production facilities to safer regions after the beginning of Russia’s aggression. The lessons learned were systematized and published in the form of recommendations.

“Based on practical experience during the program, we have developed and summarized key recommendations for enterprises that have already relocated to other regions, are planning to, or are currently in the process of moving. We cover situation analysis; finding possible locations for business relocation; preparing the company for relocation and the process itself; launching the company’s activities in a new place, and a checklist for resuming company operations. We have also created a guide for host communities, as it is necessary to assess the community’s capacity for receiving new enterprises; create a team for attracting businesses to the community; identify key stakeholders for receiving displaced enterprises; look for business premises, and help with integrating the enterprise into the economic and social life of the community. We hope that these guidelines will be useful for both entrepreneurs and communities, and the recommendations and checklists will have practical application and be able to facilitate processes related to the transportation of business capacities and resumption of work,” says author of the handbooks Lidia Pashchuk, economics Ph.D, associate professor and project expert.

The guidelines in Ukrainian is available at the link – https://golocal-ukraine.com/news-uk/posibnyky/

The Business Advisory Support Initiative for relocated small and medium enterprises is implemented with the assistance of ERA.

ENTREPRENEURS IN LVIV MAKE DISHES FROM COFFEE GROUNDS AND BIODEGRADABLE CANDLES WITH AROMAS OF CITIES

28 September 2022

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.

ERA supports the development of new critical infrastructure

Infrastructure restoration

09 August 2022

USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) facilitated a meeting between ERA contractor Kharhiprotrans LLC and management and leading technical specialists of Ukrainian Railways (UR) subsidiary in Donetsk Oblast.

UR provided plans and diagrams of existing railways in Luhansk Oblast, as well as plans of railway stations in Bilokurakyne, Novoaidar, Rubizhne, Sievierodonetsk, Starobilsk and Svatove, Luhansk Oblast, and other technical information to begin work on the preparation of the feasibility study to connect the Kindrashivska- Nova–Lantrativka line to the national railway system. UR designers and technical specialists discussed possible options and pros and cons for the construction of the new railway branch. UR will hold an on-site meeting in Rubizhne and Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk Oblast to clarify possibilities of building or expanding these railway stations in connection with construction of a new railway line.

Luhansk Oblast State Administration (LOSA) held a meeting in Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk Oblast with Kharhiprotrans LLC, relevant LOSA departments, and the leadership of cities and communities in Luhansk Oblast on the potential allocation or purchase of land for the future railway line, assistance with information and plans of cities, and the public hearings and public awareness aspects of the project. LOSA provided information on protected lands so that designers can minimize the project’s impact on the environment and began to form a list of landowners and tenants for each of the four options.

ERA promoted plans for citizen participation in public discussion of the project before a final option is chosen, in order to take into account the opinion of the population and public organizations and ensure public influence on an important project for the development of the whole area.

CXID:Reload (launch event recap)

28 January 2022