Kyiv, 25 June 2025 — Participants in the second season of the Trajectory educational and grant programme presented their ideas during Grand Pitch Day, the final event of the programme, which was attended by veterans and their family members.

Ten finalists worked on their business ideas during two months of training. As a result of the pitching of their business concepts, two received funding from private partners for the development of their own business: UAH 1,000,000 in the “Beginner in Business” category and UAH 2,000,000 in the “Experienced Entrepreneur” category.

Valeria Ionan, Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister on Innovation, Digitalization and Global Partnerships, said: "We at the Ministry of Digital Affairs are actively working on developing the ecosystem of small and medium-sized businesses. In 2020, we created the Diia.Business national project, which provides every entrepreneur with all the necessary information to create, transform, and scale their own business. Within this direction, we’re also developing educational and grant programmes, and Trajectory is one such project. After two seasons of the project, more than 1,470 veterans and their family members have undergone training, and 118 participants received grants totalling UAH 25 million. We’re proud that, thanks to the involvement of the state and international partners, an environment is being formed in which veteran businesses have all the necessary opportunities to start confidently and develop.”

Tadayoshi Hiraki, Commercial Attaché of the Embassy of Japan in Ukraine, stressed: “Since the full-scale invasion began, Japan has been a steadfast supporter of Ukraine. Indeed, Japan is among the largest contributors of assistance, providing over U.S. $12 billion in support across critical areas, including energy, demining, and education. Supporting entrepreneurship and innovation among national businesses is also a key focus of Japan’s cooperation in Ukraine, implemented together with UNDP, the Government of Ukraine and other partners. The newly established office in Kyiv of the Japan External Trade Organization or JETRO, a Japanese government agency promoting trade and investment, can leverage its global and regional network to mobilize Japanese local governments, communities, and businesses, and engage other Asian countries in supporting Ukraine's recovery.”

Christophoros Politis, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Ukraine, emphasized the importance of such initiatives as “Trajectory 2” for socioeconomic progress and community resilience:

“According to the recent damage and needs assessment, there are about 1.3 million veterans in Ukraine. We at UNDP are focused on their empowerment, and their effective reintegration and retraining, as many of them are economically active people of working age. Such initiatives are opening new opportunities for veterans and their families in business, education and life, and ensuring a smooth transition into civilian life. Thanks to the unwavering support of the Government of Japan and our collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Transformation, UNDP is continuing efforts to pave the way to economic recovery and a more sustainable and inclusive future for all.”

The winners of the second season of Trajectory were:

Bohdan Smal, category “Beginner in Business” – UAH 1 million. Bohdan is the founder of the Steel car service station, which specializes in re-equipping cars for people who have lost one or more limbs. His team develops individualized technical solutions for each client, considering their special needs and level of physical capabilities.

“I’m overwhelmed with emotions, first of all, of course, joy,” Bohdan shares. “A very helpful project: we saw a lot of new things. And all the concepts came to our aid.”

And in the “Experienced Entrepreneur” category – UAH 2 million – the winner was Oksana Farenik of Yes Straws, a brand of environmentally friendly reed straws. Oksana’s team creates a product that is a sustainable and aesthetic alternative to single-use plastic – without harming the environment and respecting the principles of sustainable development.

“Trajectory 2” is already producing results. Sixty-five of the participants of the second season registered as new individual entrepreneurs, and one limited liability company was also registered. They also created 106 jobs. In addition, after completing the training supported by UNDP and Japan, 68 entrepreneurs received mentoring support, including with the assistance of UNDP in Ukraine and the Government of Japan. Furthermore, UNDP and Japan will provide 68 award-winners with post-event consulting support to materialize their business ideas.

Background:

A total of 1,052 participants took part in the second season of the programme. Some 442 of them – 179 veterans and 263 family members of military personnel – passed the Intensive Lecture Hall training course hosted at 11 Diia.Business Entrepreneur Support Centres. The course is in the format of practical offline training with mentoring support, which allows you to bring a business idea as close as possible to launch or scale.

Simultaneously, the Joint Lecture Hall was held: It is a course in an online format designed for those who wanted to gain basic knowledge of entrepreneurship at a convenient pace – from financial management to digitalization and marketing.

Based on the results of the training, 66 participants were selected, who also received funding. As part of the programme, 44 novice entrepreneurs received UAH 200,000 each, 20 experienced entrepreneurs received UAH 400,000 each, and two participants of the Joint Lecture Hall received UAH 100,000 each. The awards were funded by private partners.

The “Trajectory 2” educational and grant programme is implemented by the Diia.Business network of entrepreneur support centres with the support of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Entrepreneurship and Export Development Office, with the financial assistance of the Government of Japan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, Mastercard, the UKRSIBBANK BNP Paribas Group, and the Aurora multimarket chain.

Media inquiries:

Yuliia Samus, Head of Communications at UNDP Ukraine, yuliia.samus@undp.org