USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) supported a study tour to the city of Chernivtsi on social entrepreneurship, for 15 representatives from Donetsk, Luhansk and south Zaporizhzhia Oblasts.
Participants visited social entrepreneurs working in Chernivtsi to learn about their history, the challenges they face and their achievements. This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of People’s Aid public organization. The organization unites several social enterprises providing work to people who find themselves in difficult life circumstances (including homelessness), a social shop and Papa Carlo carpentry workshop.
At Caritas’ Chernivtsi base, the group visited the Social Café. Here there are no price tags, and people leave an amount at their own discretion. The founders say this is an existing business model that not only covers expenses, but also generates money for the development of young people with disabilities, helping the needy.
ERA partner NGO SiLab also held several training sessions on social entrepreneurship for participants of the tour, focusing on building a social enterprise business model, determining the target audience, primary sales channels, financial modeling and legal aspects. Business communication has been established between the tour participants. The beneficiaries received new information and experience that they can use in their own communities.