In October-December 2019, on the initiative of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, the European SME Week will take place in Ukraine for the second time. A series of events will be held in 16 cities across Ukraine where small and medium-sized enterprises will learn how to enter international markets, find financial resources, strengthen entrepreneurial skills and how to improve business climate in Ukraine. It will expand and complement similar entrepreneurship promotion events taking place in the EU countries, thus bringing Ukrainian businesses into the European family.
“We expand this pan-European campaign to Ukraine and will promote it for over two months from today to let each of the Ukrainian entrepreneurs discover our support opportunities. The European Union is committed to enhancing private sector development and growth in Ukraine. Our EU4Business initiatives can equip you with more knowledge and better skills, easier access to European and other markets, and more affordable financing opportunities. They also aim to contribute to creating a better business environment for you to operate in,” Ambassador Matti Maasikas, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, commented.
The European SME Week is a joint effort of many of the EU's partners and projects in Ukraine who contribute to the campaign programme. It started today with the annual press conference on the results of the SME Investment Support Programme of the German-Ukrainian Fund which is funded by the German Government through KfW and supported by the European Union initiative EU4Business in form of financial contribution for compensation of currency risk losses.
Further agenda includes different types of activities in Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Kryvyi Rih, Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Slovyansk, Kherson, Lviv, Sumy, Rivne, Zaporizhia, Kropyvnytskyi, Dnipro, Odesa, Lutsk and Mariupol. Ukrainian entrepreneurs will learn about new ideas and opportunities for cooperation and support offered by the European Union for local businesses through a series of trainings, seminars, conferences and forums.
The European SME Week will culminate in III Annual National SME Development Forum in Kyiv on December 11, 2019. The programme includes workshops on instruments and opportunities which will be presented for SMEs.
This year's campaign is also marked by the launch of the new SME Information Portal sme.gov.ua(link is external) which will host the full events calendar for the European SME Week and will gradually become the main depository of valuable information for Ukrainian SMEs. The SME information portal will be maintained by the SME Development Office under the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine. During the 2019 European SME Week the website is operating in the test mode.
For additional information, please contact Olha Vergeles, overgeles@smedo.gov.ua(link sends e-mail).
Background information:
The European SME week in Ukraine is part of a pan-European campaign for developing small and medium businesses, promoting entrepreneurship and informing about EU support for private sector development. EU4Business(link is external) is an EU initiative that provides support to the private sector in the Eastern Partnership countries, including in Ukraine.
EU4Business developed The Map of Opportunities for SME (http://smemap.eu4business.eu/)(link is external). It is a systematised and comprehensive collection of all possible tools offered to Ukrainian small and medium businesses by the EU programmes: EU4Business, COSME and Horizon 2020. Here you can find out how to get to international markets, where to find funding and how to develop business skills and improve business climate in Ukraine.