support of the city A veteran opened his own pet shop in Lviv

With the support of the city, the veteran managed to expand the business and buy a vending machine, which was converted to sell food – this is how the first “pug machine” appeared.
Until 2022, Nazar Oleksiuk worked as a lawyer and volunteered for the army at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. The man was assigned to the newly formed 115th Separate Mechanised Brigade. He was standing on the defence of Sievierodonetsk, and while leaving Lysychansk, the car Nazar was in hit a mine. The man suffered concussion. Later he fought in the Avdiivka sector.

After returning to civilian life, Nazar gave up his legal practice. His wife opened the first pet store, Shaleni Pugs, back in 2021, so the man decided to scale up the business: he registered as a sole proprietor and opened another store in June 2023. “During the war, I had to stay in different conditions in settlements under heavy shelling. There we rescued dogs and took them out. I watched all this and was very impressed. So I decided that this would also be one of my motivations – to be a little closer to helping animals,” says Nazar.

In the autumn of 2023, the entrepreneur learned about the first competition for voucher support for veterans from the Lviv City Council. He applied in the last days of the competition and received almost UAH 150,000 for business development.

“I received compensation for the purchase of a large gel-type battery with an inverter converter. I am now using it for power outages. It’s not a generator, it makes no noise and has no emissions, and it’s also gel-based, which means it’s safe. It allows the store to operate during power outages: there is communication, there is a terminal, the scales work, people can see the goods. Thank you very much for this. I believe it was the right move on my part and on the part of the city council, which supported this proposal,” said Nazar Oleksiuk.

The voucher support also included compensation for renting the premises and shop shelves. In addition, the veteran purchased a snack vending machine and converted it to sell food. The machine was called a “pug machine”. It was installed in one of Lviv’s residential complexes on Karla Miklosz Street. “The Pugmat operates autonomously and allows people to buy food or other pet supplies there at any convenient time 24/7.

“It’s about accessibility. This device brings the service much closer to the consumer. I have a remote tracking programme and I can see if someone bought cat food at 1am or 12am, for example. Of course, it still needs to be improved, now there is a problem with switching off the light, on which the device is very dependent. But in general, it works and it’s a novelty, as far as I know, no one in Ukraine has done anything like it,” says the entrepreneur.

Based on his previous experience, in April this year, Nazar applied for another grant competition from the Ukrainian Veterans’ Fund “It’s worth starting your own business”. His project took 7th place among 300 applications and received a grant of one and a half million hryvnias. As a result, the veteran will be able to open another store, create jobs, and install three more pug machines.

“The voucher support from the Lviv City Council was a small but very effective injection for me, which helped me take the next steps forward in the development of my veteran business.

Thank you very much that there are such programmes and places to apply. There is also a grant from ERobot, so there are many opportunities for veterans to move forward. I believe that you should always strive to expand your business, because the market is very saturated, the concentration and competition is fierce, and the bigger the better,” says Nazar.

Currently, the Mad Pugs pet stores operate in Lviv at 81 Antonovycha Street and 7 Kleparivska Street. And the first pug-mate is located at 25 Karla Miklosz Street.

In the assortment of pet shops, 70% of goods are for cats, the rest are for dogs, parrots and rodents. Sometimes there are even snakes. The stores also offer a 10% discount on all goods for defenders, veterans and their families.

As a reminder, the Lviv City Council has a voucher support programme to help veterans or their families start or develop their own businesses. Last year, 30 veterans and their wives received up to UAH 300,000 of voucher support for their businesses, and this year, another 53 veterans and their relatives received certificates. In total, Lviv City Council offers 13 types of vouchers to help entrepreneurs.