Today, 19 veterans and 11 wives of veterans from Lviv received business vouchers from the Lviv City Council. This is financial assistance of up to 300,000 hryvnias for the development of one’s own business. Today, the relevant certificates were handed over at the Lviv City Hall.
“This year, we launched an initiative to support local businesses, which are actually built by people who have gone through the war – they are either military personnel or relatives of military personnel. This is extremely important because it gives you confidence in your future. And, I think it would be right for you and I to meet in six months and see how your business works and develops,” said Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy.
The reception of applications for business vouchers from the Lviv City Council lasted about 2 months. The winners were 30 participants with such business initiatives as: volunteer service station, atelier, photography studio, coffee shop, pizzeria, beauty salon, pet store, pig farm, veterinary clinic, eco-initiatives, medical services and even a rehabilitation center for veterans. Among them, in particular, is war veteran Nazar Oleksyuk, who after returning to civilian life started his own business – he opened the pet store “Crazy Pugs”.
“Before the war, I was engaged in a completely different activity – I was a lawyer. In the first days of the war, he was drafted into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He fought for a year, received a number of injuries and was discharged from military service due to his health. Returning to civilian life, he decided to radically change his activities and engage in pet business, in particular, trade in pet products. In June, he found premises and opened a shop in Lviv on Antonovycha Street. I started to develop the business, a lot of ideas came up, so I applied with the documents to receive the voucher that the Lviv City Council gave me, for which I am very grateful.
In general, it takes 10 days from the moment of submission of documents to the moment of receipt of the voucher. This is great, considering the bureaucratic red tape we have in Ukraine.
Why a pet store? This was greatly influenced by what I saw in the war. A lot of people left their dogs there. I have never seen before how strongly domestic animals, especially dogs, react to war and shelling. It is even more difficult for them than for a person. We protected these dogs, took care of them, we took them out of there. That is, it had a great impact. And let’s not forget that there is canotherapy – treatment of people who have received injuries in the combat zone, especially contusions, with the help of dogs. I, in particular, received such contusions, and my dog helps me. Therefore, I decided that more attention should be paid to this, it is very relevant, there are a lot of domestic animals in Lviv,” said veteran Nazar Oleksyuk.
We remind you that a business voucher can be used to purchase equipment, raw materials, materials, components; rent of premises and means of transport necessary for the implementation of one’s business project; purchase of licensed software; training and consulting on starting and running a business.
In September, the Lviv City Council supported the first 6 business projects of veterans and their spouses. And in general, the Lviv City Council offers 12 vouchers to help entrepreneurs. You can find out more about voucher assistance for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, which the city provides during martial law, at the link.