Women Entrepreneurs Prevent Dangerous Migration

In August and September, six HERA France and US Board Members and one guest travelled to Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and/or Ukraine to visit 120 ventures that included evaluations of 41 grantees from previous years. The team members came from Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and the US.  We awarded 50 grants out of a total of 170 applications received this year, including some second grants to women entrepreneurs from 2019 and 20.  The number of assessments and evaluations was higher than ever as we could not visit the ventures directly last year. Our teams also met up with three NGO partners and a new partner in Georgia.  All HERA team members and the local coordinators, who travelled with us, were fully vaccinated. We wore masks and to the extent possible, held interviews outside.  Although vaccination rates, ranging from an estimated 2% in Armenia to 20% in Ukraine, are quite low in all four countries, all Board members and coordinators returned home safely.  

The local economies, communities, and businesses in all four countries have been severely affected by COVID, lockdowns, trade restrictions, and supply chain shortages.  The impact of climate change is also evidenced in unprecedented heat waves and earlier droughts, lack of snowfall, and flash flooding.  There is increased conflict in the region.  Armenia is the hardest hit with its recent war and on-going conflicts with Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh).  Labor strife and protests were reported in Georgia. Periodic fighting continues in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine. The Russian Government is playing an increased role in the region by providing vaccines, keeping trade open during the lockdowns, engaging politically (Georgia), supporting peacekeeping forces (Armenia), and continuing military battles (Ukraine).

Despite the clear hardships and economic downturns in all four countries, we met former HERA grantees who were keeping businesses going and even growing their operations. From the evaluations, we learned that most continued to employ other young women and had survived by going online, expanding markets, and/or providing needed services and supplies.  As in past years, we funded a good number of manufacturing, agriculture, and food production ventures. However, the kinds of women-led ventures are increasingly diverse. This year's grantees included digital marketing, accounting, IT, data analytics, business training, and video production firms. What follows is a brief synopsis of the outcome of our travels with some in-depth profiles of the HERA entrepreneurs in the four countries.

Armenia was still suffering the effects of its 44-day war with Azerbaijan that began in September 2020. The war led to the deaths of over 5,000 Armenians and created over 100,000 refugees, many who left for Russia.  As several Armenians observed, “All know someone and/or had close family and friends killed in action. Every single family was affected.”   Russian peacekeepers had established new military encampments along the borders. Despite ground patrols and helicopters overhead, border skirmishes continue; and everyone is worried about the potential for further all-out war.   

To assess and/or evaluate 50 entrepreneurs, the team divided in two. Of the 40 applicants considered for a grant, we awarded 19 grants (45%) to the following firms: seven manufacturing enterprises, three pre- and after- school programs, three agriculture/food processing ventures, two accountancies, and one each to a digital marketing firm, cosmetic venture, guesthouse, and videographer.  We also visited Tereza Gharabaghtsyan, a 2016 Armenian grantee.1 Tereza’s sewing venture in Yerevan had grown from one employee to over ten young women working in an atelier in a central city mall.  Tereza produces and sells clothing to several major brands and with a new designer on board, she is continuing to develop her own brand.  From Tereza’s team, we ordered a new shipment of HERA monogrammed scarves, which arrived in London by early October.

The Georgia team, visited a total of 27 ventures, including a new local partner, seven former grantees for evaluation, and 19 grantee applicants. Of the 19 applicant assessments, the team awarded nine (47%).  Of the seven old and some second grantees evaluated, all but one entrepreneur was still fully operating and five had significantly grown their businesses.  The nine grants this year provided needed equipment to firms producing: children’s furniture and accessories (two), handmade shoes (two), cloth story books for infants and children, medical uniforms, IT training services, cafe/bakery, and data analytics/infographics.  

The Georgian data analytics/infographics entrepreneur, Alexandra Shalibashvili and her two friends, gained their expertise during the first lockdown and subsequently started their consultancy services.  Their first clients included AmCham/Georgia, the Georgian Government, and an international NGO.  Alexandra explained how her team had analyzed Israel’s "Vaccination Success Story” to inform and spur on Georgia’s vaccine rollout that had progressed slowly. Their “Takeaway Message” was: “To achieve herd immunity, you need to approve vaccinating children.” In another data analytics project, entitled “It’s Okay Not to Be Okay,” they had researched and addressed coping with anxiety and stress during the pandemic. Their infographic advised people to “Pause, Breath and Reflect.” Alexandra received a new, upgraded computer, for their upcoming assignments, which has allowed her to train and hire a new young woman employee.

The Moldova team made 25 visits and awarded nine (69%) out of 13 assessments.  Both Moldovan team members, who had visited other countries, observed that HERA’s work often seems the most urgent in Moldova.  The nine grantees included a candlemaker, beekeeper, marketing expert, hairdresser, baker, greenhouse farmer, and producers of plastic handbags and greeting cards.   

Nadejda Cudobetchi, a Moldovan entrepreneur, founded Apricot Marketing to serve the Cahul region.  She has two full-time female employees -- a photographer and a videographer -- and three part-time staff.  Nadejda’s clients are the Cahul Mayor’s Office (her former employer) and local firms that cannot afford their own marketing teams.  She had 30 active clients and 150 separate clients over the past year.  During COVID she was able to expand her business as many ventures shifted to online sales. We helped her fund a specialised computer and software, which allowed her to increase sales and hire one of her part-time employees, full time.  

The Ukraine team made 23 visits and awarded grants to 13 (68%) out of 19 applicants for this year.  We evaluated nine former grantees and awarded several second grants to those who had grown their operations. One young woman, who received a second grant, had started her business during COVID, hired new employees, and was selling sweaters and dresses in the Middle East, the US, and Europe. Our main local partner, Creative Women, had pivoted from their “Creative Space” to “Creative Publishing” and had produced two best-selling anthologies by Ukrainian women.  All were continuing their ventures although an earlier grantee with high rental costs and in-person sales, had to shut two of her three stores. Many women had started to make products to sell online (Etsy and Amazon) to gain access to a bigger marketplace.  

The lockdown and ongoing conflict were particularly challenging for the Donetsk applicants, who reported increased wife abuse from the conflict. Their main safe house was closed but a local organization (which one of the HERA grantees supports) works with trafficked women. Two of this year’s HERA grantees live in Donetsk, while several had migrated from that region to other parts of Ukraine. Ukrainians continue to go abroad to work, especially to Poland given its proximity. With borders shut during COVID, irregular migration most likely increased. 

Maryana Syniushko, a Ukrainian entrepreneur, provides private education courses and services for over 70 students and their families in Kiev. She employs 11 women under the age of 32.  Her team offers English, German, and Mathematics classes, a homeschoolers’ program, and pre-K courses for young children.  The biggest challenge she currently faces is finding a new space to host the in-person courses. There are many bureaucratic hoops to signing a contract and their current space is far from a Metro. Motivated by the pandemic and in response to parents’ requests, they now offer both in-person and online courses and added additional services, including the Mathematics and Pre-Kindergarten programs. We gave Maryana a grant to purchase mathematics equipment.  Maryana went out of her way to help us meet with other grantees and was so impressed by them that she offered to serve as our Ukraine coordinator in the future. 

Although travelling internationally, given PCR and other requirements, was challenging at times, our local coordinators, NGO partners, and grantees made the effort all worthwhile.  Meeting the women directly to hear about their lives and ventures and working with very committed local partners was inspiring. Despite some of the impressive challenges they face, everyone went out of her way to meet with, welcome, and share her stories and experiences with us.  

During our "GivingTuesday" and “End-of-Year” fundraising campaigns, please consider giving to HERA to support these and other HERA women entrepreneurs ahead.  Thank you!

1. All the women whose names and photos are used in this report have given their signed permission and indicated that they would like their ventures and work known.

Four women entrepreneurs, who received HERA grants at different times in the past, kindly share their experiences about how our support has affected their lives and work over the long term.[1]  Each year the HERA volunteer assessors follow up with our grantees within two or three years later to see how they are faring. Over time we have managed to follow up directly with 75%.  However, we often wonder whether our international grants program, which first began in 2010, has any long-term impact?  To begin to explore this issue, we contacted four women entrepreneurs from different time periods and countries about whether and if so, how the grants have affected their lives and work. We also asked for their advice on how our work could have a bigger impact and where they would like to see HERA go in the future. 

In Armenia, Gayane Simonyan, who received her first grant in 2016 and a second, in 2017, writes that she had a number of financial and resource issues when she was starting her business.  She says that “HERA is the first organization which helped our fledgling business to thrive, and I dare to say that HERA organization is the cornerstone of our venture.”   Gayane organizes and manages BeeLife, which produces apitherapy products (honey, beeswax, beeswax candles, royal jelly, skin creams based on beeswax and propolis) in “ecologically clean packages”.  As BeeLife grew, Gayane developed and trained a network of local women beekeepers, whose members are the main suppliers for the company’s beekeeping products. After receiving her first grant, Gayane also offered to help HERA as a local organizer, recruiter, and translator.  She now believes that HERA could have a bigger impact if we had an office in Armenia, where “we could organize business seminars and have business mentors, networking, exchange of experience and other important courses for the business sector.”  Gayane would also like to see HERA expand to more countries and to have branch offices in all countries as well.  As far as the lasting impact of HERA on her work, Gayane observes that:

With the help of HERA organization, I started to involve women in my venture and discovered the great potential in women, which they can use for business.  Working with HERA I also started to think not only about me and my business but also started to be responsible for the women of my community as well.  

In Georgia, Eka Verulashvili and her partner, Marika Bibileishvili, founded “Teamania”, a boutique tea and coffee retail chain.  They learned about HERA from a German professor, who knew Dr. Nico Nissen, one of the program founders.  They began directly communicating with Nico and applied for and received grants in 2010 and 2011.  Eka notes: “At that time, it was almost impossible to get a loan from a bank and we really needed some equipment to expand our business.” The first grant helped Teamania with a coffee machine for their shop in Tbilisi.  The second helped with equipment to open another shop and employ three young women. Currently the Temania team has eight shops in Tbilisi, employs 20 women (including two Abkhazian refugees), and plans to expandi to Kutaisi.  Eka would like to see HERA increase our impact by engaging former grantees to mentor other young women entrepreneurs starting out in similar businesses.  She observes, “If we had had such advice, it would have saved us some time, effort, money and energy not to make mistakes when developing our business.”  She observes that HERA’s support helped keep one of the Teamania shops going during a difficult period so they could continue employing three women.  For the future, Eka would also like to see HERA profile grant recipient companies on the web and social media; and more actively work on encouraging women to work with and inspire other women.

In Moldova, Ludmila Griu first began translating for the HERA assessment teams in 2015.  She observes:

I was drawn to the concept of providing financial support to women that have great ideas and growth aspirations. Moreover, reaching out to women in rural areas, that do not know English and don’t have access to information on funding opportunities. It was really inspiring to see their happiness when receiving support from HERA and how this opportunity is shared with the community, encouraging other women to apply.

In 2018, Ludmila decided to pursue her own passion of baking deserts for family and friends to become a Pastry Chef.  In 2020, she opened her own atelier.  With a HERA grant she bought a professional mixer, which allows her to produce 250-400 macarons daily.  She writes, 

Being part of HERA and receiving the support with purchasing the mixer has helped grow my business and also had a positive effect on the quality of produced goods. I proudly share my experience with the program and encourage other female entrepreneurs to apply. This support was not only of financial nature; it also gave me the confidence and inspiration to continue striving for greater results.  

She, too, would like HERA to have dedicated, in-country staff, who could reach more rural women to help with their applications, capacity building, and training; and would like us to provide more financial aid and sustained support to achieve positive changes in these communities.  Ludmila writes, “I definitely think that HERA is on the right track with their activities in supporting female empowerment and growth.”

In Ukraine, Svetlana Goncharova, the organizer of “Flymama”, an online, education portal providing advice for women entrepreneurs in Ukraine and Russia, received a first grant for her printing business in 2012 and a second, in 2013.  Sveta, mother of two young sons at the time, writes:

I launched my first website Flymama.info and started doing online training for moms. I started my business with $300, which I got as a birthday gift, as I didn't have any extra money to invest in my company. And I was very surprised and even thrilled that HERA believed in me and my ideas. I got a grant to publish my very first calendar for moms! To get the money was great. But to find someone who believes in you was even better! I'm so grateful for your support guys! 

Sveta also volunteered as an organizer in HERA’s early days in Ukraine and helped in recruiting, training, and mentoring other young women entrepreneurs.  When she and her family eventually migrated to New Brunswick (through official channels), she continued helping to recruit and advise women online.  Not surprisingly, Sveta recommends that HERA be more visible on social media and says, “This way many more people will get to know what you do and help you to find the women who need your support.”  Given that she also continues to work with women throughout Ukraine and Russia, Sveta recommends HERA expand to Russia as well.  In Canada, Flymama helps parents with raising “children through love not fear” and Sveta continues to help women entrepreneurs in myriad ways.  She concludes, “I’m so happy that through knowing HERA, I could help other women to find help and support.”

These four women have given back so much to others. Their stories and advice will help inform this year’s competition selection and our planning ahead.  HERA already supports former grantees and collaborates with local NGO partners to provide some ongoing support for applications, training, recruitment, and mentoring in all four countries.  However, this support should be formalized as part of our program.  HERA also needs a systematic online presence and given more resources, we would definitely consider expanding our remit to other countries where supporting women entrepreneurs and employment could make a difference to prevent dangerous migration and trafficking.

This year’s online competition closed on June 30^th.  Already, we have received approximately 150 applications, of which we hope to fund a third.  We could not meet the demand of many great applicants last year. Thus, we are pleased to announce that through GlobalGiving, HERA recently received a very generous grant from Airbnb to help support more grantees this year.  Many, many thanks to Airbnb and GlobalGiving, and to our many unstinting individual supporters.  Your support will make a difference in the lives of many young women in these four countries. The collaboration of HERA France Association and HERA USA also allows us to raise additional funds to support “Science, Technology, Education and Mathematics” (STEM) ventures.  Finally, many thanks to all the HERA women entrepreneurs, who continue to support young women’s employment and mentor other women entrepreneurs.  You are role models.  As we learned during this pandemic, your work not only helps your communities provide sound economic alternatives to dangerous migration and trafficking but also, vital goods and services.

[1] We have received permission to use all names and photos, the four women entrepreneurs provided the information and direct quotes through an online questionnaire and reviewed these profiles.