The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched an appeal inviting businesses of all sizes from micro to medium to join the Crowdfunding Academy 2022 – a unique programme for entrepreneurs and startups to learn how to attract financing for developing their businesses using innovative methods and specialized platforms.  Representatives of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises who live in the government-controlled areas of Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts can join the Academy under the following requirements:

• have an implemented case, project or enterprise that is functioning or has presented a business idea together with a plan for its implementation;
• offer a business idea with a social component or value for society, for example, support for internally displaced persons, transfer of interest from sales to the construction of a children's centre, etc. (optional);
• have a team consisting of at least two people; preference is given to people with experience in communications or marketing;
• are adults with Ukrainian citizenship, registered as an individual entrepreneur or legal entity (or are in the process of registration); and
• ready and motivated to study at the Academy of Crowdfunding and practical implementation of the acquired skills.

The crowdfunding academy will run from October 2022 to April 2023. The Academy's lecturers include experts in crowdfunding, social media, design, copywriting and other modern areas. The programme involvers six days of online training, regular online counselling sessions, thematic tasks to prepare a crowdfunding campaign, and mentoring support through an online learning platform.

More information and entry rules: cfacademy.startbusiness.com.ua/

The deadline to apply is 23:59 on 20 October 2022.

The initiative is implemented by UNDP within the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UNRPP) with the financial support of the European Union.

Media enquiries

Yuliia Samus, UNDP Ukraine Communications Leader; e-mail: yuliia.samus@undp.org