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29.01.2020

Business trainings for women in association with USAID have begun in Kramatorsk and Mariupol. 33 participants from villages and towns of Donetsk region were chosen to participate, who wished to create a better life with their own hands.

Olena Korneva came to training from Toretsk. In fact, she is from Zalizne village, which is on the demarcation line. But having survived shelling and hiding in the loess, in the summer of 2018, Olena and her children have moved to a safer city.

– It was dangerous to live in Zalizne, and it was difficult for my children to get to school and for me to work. Many people have left this city. We have a great psychological experience. A shell hit our yard in 2016. Then I heard that the shelling began, I just wanted to go out into the yard to listen to it. For a wonder, my husband stopped me in the house, at that moment a shell exploded the garage and destroyed part of the house. At some point, we realized that we could no longer live near the war, and we had to go from here, – Olena Korneva says with tears in her eyes. They did not dare to leave for a long time; there was no extra money for rent. Olena has a job in the city – she is a teacher of engineering and computer graphics at the Donbass State College of Technology and Management. Olena’s husband is a miner, who lost his job and went to work in Poland, where he also works at a mine.

– I feel that I do not want to go to work to the college anymore; I want more self-sustainability and financial independence. I want to do what I like, so that it will bring pleasure and money. My family loves sweets, so I started to study confectionary on my own. My husband is a pastry chef by education, but he has not had the opportunity to work in the specialty, now I am doing this. I make different cakes, marshmallows, zephyr, “pigeon milk”, and other delicious. I already have the first orders and sales, I want to develop it, – Olena shares.

She applied for the modular entrepreneurship training for women because she felt that she lacked knowledge to develop her business. She wants to learn more about how to create a business plan, how to keep records, how to check whether the business is in demand and will bring income in the future.

In fact, Olena has two business ideas. She also wants to grow mushrooms. According to her, this is in demand in Toretsk, and the sales outlet have become far fewer since the beginning of the war.

– I do not know which of these two ideas is the best, so I will try. Like many training participants, I have stereotypes about setting up my own business, but I hope, I will get rid of fears and be more confident during the training. The main thing that I have is a desire – our interviewee says.

During January-February, participants of the business training will have 10 modules on entrepreneurship training. In the future, the graduates will receive counseling support from mentors on setting up and running their own business.

Natalia DONETSKA/Gromada No. 1 (10), 2020