Women from the Odesa region can receive grants to start their own businesses

The "Start 2" educational and grant program has launched in Ukraine for women who are developing or planning to start a business in the agricultural sector and food processing. Female entrepreneurs from the Odesa region are also invited to participate.

This was announced on the “Pochatok 2” program website.

Participants will be able to receive free training, including at the local Diya.Business center in Odesa, and compete for grants of up to 270,000 hryvnias.

The project was created to support women from the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, and Kharkiv regions, as well as internally displaced persons from the Donetsk region. The training is designed for both current business owners and those who have only a business idea in the fields of agriculture, food processing, and related sectors.

In the first stage, all participants will complete an introductory online course. Based on the results, 200 women will be selected for in-depth training, including practical boot camps, work on their own business projects, mentoring, and psychosocial support. The practical component will take place in person at Diya.Business centers, specifically in Odesa, as well as virtually.

The program’s total grant fund is 4.2 million hryvnias. Based on the results of the training, 40 finalists will receive financial support:

• 39 participants will each receive 100,000 hryvnias to develop their businesses;
• one winner will receive the project’s top prize of 270,000 hryvnias.

Applications are being accepted until November 8, 2026 (until 11:59 p.m.). You can register and find out more details on the program’s official website.

The initiative is being implemented as part of the UN Women Strategic Note in Ukraine with financial support from the governments of Austria, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Finland, France, and Sweden, in partnership with the Diya.Business, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, and the Office for Entrepreneurship and Export Development.

Юлія Калабайда