The second Ukrainian Business Bootcamp is taking place in Dublin today.
The two-day bootcamp. which is being hosted by law firm DLA Piper, aims to help Ukrainian entrepreneurs living in Ireland to develop their ideas into viable businesses.
They will be given access to workshops and advice around the practicalities of launching a business, with representatives of Enterprise Ireland, Ibec, Deloitte and Tech Ireland also involved.
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“We have a very diverse group, all of them displaced Ukrainians who came here in the last two years and all of them want to rebuild their lives,” said Pavlo Bogachenko, senior associate at DLA Piper and co-organiser of the event.
“They come from different regions of Ireland and the industries which their projects [are focused] are different.”
This year’s event has 35 entrepreneurs taking part, who were chosen from the 100 applications for the scheme.
Some of the participants ran businesses in Ukraine before the war, while others hope to start companies here as a way of better integrating into Ireland.
“During two days they will receive workshops on legal aspects, financial accounting,” said Mr Bogachenko. “They would be mentored by business professionals from Enterprise Ireland and different consultancy agencies on how to start businesses and what is the best practices.”
Beyond what is on offer ove the two days, five of the participants will also win six months of mentoring advice and pro bono legal advice from DLA Piper.
“At the end of the second day all of these participants will pitch their projects in front of a panel of five jurists and, based on this, we will select finalists who will receive six months of ongoing support,” he said. “But we would also keep in touch with the rest.”
More than 10 of the applicants from last year’s have gone on to establish their businesses here, including family-run food delivery business Lucy and B2B collaboration platform Co-Swipe.
“We wanted at least five to start [a business] but we got over half of the participants starting after two days of intensive workshops, mentoring and pitching their projects,” he said. “They got all the necessary knowledge and started.”
