Big Stories of Small Businesses: Winners of the video contest announced

January 5, 2019

The results of online voting for the best short video about sustainable and innovative businesses from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts are made public. The voting was organised under the special project launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine and delo.ua, business news website. The protagonists of the motivation project ‘Big Stories of Small Businesses’ are the entrepreneurs who, in the face of grave challenges, demonstrated willpower and resourcefulness to develop their businesses in the conflict-affected areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The short film that received the highest vote was the video directed by Yuriy Yudin about Kramatorsk-based Kramtchetsentr engineering company. This story is not only about an exceptional company that succeeded to achieve a four-fold revenue increase in the last four years but also about the unique management style.

«After the filming we’ve been talking with Serhiy (the protagonist) for several more hours about how the things function at his enterprise. The idea of a “smart enterprise” is implemented everywhere on the territory of the plant. We were walking around, and he asked me: “What is this?” “Apple trees”, I replied. And then he started: “Well, this is not just apple trees, we use this area to optimize free space and have additional benefits – delicious apples.” That’s how it works there, and I really like this business approach,” said the director of the winning movie. 

Second place went to the video by director Orest Smilianets about the company Donbasceramics. Back in 2014, it was displaced from Donetsk. Now the company works in Volnovakha and sells a lion’s share of its products to Turkey, Italy, Spain, and Egypt.

The video about Severodonetsk-based Water Treatment Technologies Research and Design Institute came third. It was filmed by Dmytro Kaminsky and DJ Vovking (Volodymyr Beichaka).

The author of the winning video will get a cash prize, and three video that got the highest rate during the online voting will be broadcasted under a large-scale promotion campaign on television, in Intercity trains and cinemas in eastern Ukraine.

Background information

The ‘Big Stories of Small Businesses’ campaign was initiated by UNDP in Ukraine and Molodiya Social Advertisement Festival several years ago. The main objective is to tell the stories of successful businesses in the conflict-affected oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts to motivate people to engage in entrepreneurial activities. The project is supported by the governments of Poland and Japan.

Since 2015, UNDP in Ukraine, with the support of its international partners, has been providing grants for entrepreneurs to start and develop their businesses, mostly in eastern Ukraine. Over this time, about 650 businesses received support, and over 3,200 jobs were created in the conflict-affected Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, and in other regions of Ukraine.