Last year, current and future entrepreneurs received more than 50,000 consultations in the offices of the "Made in Ukraine". This was announced by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister of Economy of Ukraine, during the event "Entrepreneurship without Barriers: Made in Ukraine Offices as Drivers of Change".

The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Economy Tetiana Berezhna, Director of the State Employment Centre Yuliia Zhovtyak, Counsellor, Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of Japan in Ukraine Yuji Tokita, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Ukraine Christoforos Politis, and Head of the Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility Development Maryna Saprykina.

"Regional offices are actively involved in the implementation of the Made in Ukraine policy, helping small and micro businesses learn about state support opportunities and apply for them. Currently, there are 81 Made in Ukraine offices in Ukraine. Last year alone, these centres provided 50,000 consultations to entrepreneurs. We are analysing the office network and where we can scale it up. The most effective way to scale it is in cooperation with partners. We have already seen this in practice when, with the support of UNDP and the Government of Japan, we managed to open a number of offices in the regions," said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

The Government plans to scale up the network of regional offices and attract even more partners for cooperation. The experience of cooperation with UNDP has shown that this approach provides businesses with a wider range of opportunities, as it introduces entrepreneurs not only to government programmes but also to donor proposals.

"Made in Ukraine offices work effectively in synergy with government and non-government initiatives. For example, through cooperation with the UNDP, entrepreneurs have access not only to government programmes but also to grants from international partners. The offices should become centres of interaction between business, Government and potential investors," said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

The most popular programmes among entrepreneurs are Affordable Loans at 5-7-9%, eOselia, and Grants for the Development of Processing Enterprises.

"Among the programmes with the greatest multiplier effect are Compensation of 25% for the purchase of domestic agricultural machinery, Affordable Loans at 5-7-9% and eOselia. In other words, these are the programmes that activate other sectors of the economy and attract the most subcontractors. UAH 1 invested by the state in the programme of compensation for the production of agricultural machinery returns to the economy in the form of UAH 4.5," said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

Background information

The conference was organised with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the State Employment Centre and the CSR Development Centre within the framework of the project "Transformational Recovery for Human Security in Ukraine" with financial support from the Government of Japan.