Online casino PIN-UP Ukraine and Forbes Ukraine have agreed to launch a UAH 5m grant programme that will support micro and small businesses operating in the frontline areas of the war-torn country with funding up to UAH 500,000.
The initiative will be open to businesses registered or actually operating in Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson and Chernihiv regions of Ukraine. Applications will go before a jury which will select 15 winners and distribute a cash fund of UAH 5m among them. Participants will be able to receive grants of UAH 200,000, 300,000 or 500,000.
In a statement confirming the move Ihor Zot’ko, owner of PIN-UP Ukraine, said: “Helping each other in difficult times should not only be a slogan, but also a personal position. Realising the complexity of doing business during the war, especially in the regions close to the fighting, we want to show our collective support and united strength in the desire to build an economically successful country,”.
Volodymyr Fedorin, founding editor of Forbes Ukraine, commented: “For the most vulnerable part of Ukrainian business: micro and small enterprises in the frontline regions, the lack of staff, logistical problems, power outages and the risk of Russian shelling are louder than anywhere else in Ukraine.
“They are forced to manoeuvre through the difficulties to simply survive and continue their work. Without support, this is difficult and sometimes impossible. We have to lend a shoulder to the small businesses on the frontline so that after the victory they will be among the businesses that will help Ukraine recover and flourish.”
Details and conditions of the grant programme can be found HERE.