EU4Youth: EUnlocking project empowers young people in Moldova and Ukraine with the essence of social entrepreneurship

The EUnlocking project, funded by the European Union, has empowered young people in Moldova and Ukraine with the essence of social entrepreneurship during an intensive 4-day training course in Chisinau and Kyiv with daily online discussions of participants from the two countries

From 4 to 7 November 2021, the “EU4Youth – Unlocking the potential of young social entrepreneurs in Moldova and Ukraine” project (the EUnlocking project, in short) successfully organized an intensive training course on essential knowledge and practical skills of social entrepreneurship for young social entrepreneurs and potential social entrepreneurs in the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. The training covered various crucial topics for young people to run their social start-ups, such as business planning, business management, sales & marketing, human resources, financial stability and fundraising, etc.

To cope with the pandemic’s travel restrictions and still promote cross-border collaboration, the training course was organized offline in Chisinau (Moldova) and Kyiv (Ukraine) with daily virtual interactions and discussions between 44 participants of the two countries. Among them, 22 participants are young social entrepreneurs who were shortlisted in the project’s sub-grant competition. This training has equipped them with vital knowledge and skills so that they can prepare their full proposals properly.

Cristina Tocari, a participant from Moldova, shared “I needed a self-confidence booster to continue working in social entrepreneurship. I needed more confidence and knowledge about the technical and theoretical aspects of social entrepreneurship. Moreover, it is important to know that I am not alone in this journey to create an impact for my community. This training did meet all my expectations.”

“We knew that social entrepreneurship in Moldova has been gaining momentum for a long time, but we have not thought before that we have so many points in common and can start cooperation right now!”, said Irina Kadkalenko, the owner of the social enterprise Ira Beauty in Ukraine.

In addition, during the training, participants had the opportunity to pitch their ideas, expand their knowledge about investors and opportunities for scaling social startups in the pandemic.

The EUnlocking project helps to foster the social entrepreneurial potential of young people in Moldova and Ukraine by establishing a favorable ecosystem for social enterprises, as well as by inspiring and supporting more young social entrepreneurs to develop and sustain their innovative solutions to the promotion of social inclusion and environmental sustainability across both countries.