You're reading: Small businesses show off their products as consumers look for Ukraine-made stuff

In developed, high-income countries, only 50 percent of the economy is dominated by big business, defined as employing at least 500 people. In Ukraine the figure is more like 85 percent.

A business festival called In Search of Made in Ukraine showed off local small businesses who are trying to sell their products to replace imports that retailers depend on. The Oct. 11-12 event took place on Kyiv’s Olympic Stadium.

More than 200 producers presented their goods and more than 15,000 visitors came, according to Yulia Savostina, a blogger and an organizer of the event. One could find here
Ukraine-made 1960s style dresses for women, jewelry, men’s leather purses,
wedding dresses, cell-phone covers, peanut butter, board games and bicycles.

Georgiy Shevchenko, 25, a graduate of Interregional Academy
of Personnel Management and a product developer at Headges menswear, says he’s
been running the project for about a year. “I wanted to create something
practical – something that could be felt,” he told.

His clothing startup makes denim jeans, plaid yarn brushed twill and wool shirts, sweaters, hoodies and
hiker jackets. The average price of a plaid long-sleeve shirt is Hr 550.

Festival’s food section received a lot of
attention. Confiture, a business that specializes
in jam production, was one of the most visited sites. Confiture’s salesman
Ramil Jafarov from Donetsk was giving out samples of all-natural handmade jam.

The main idea is to let the potential buyers taste the
product and understand if they want it or not, explained Jafarov.

Denys Slyvnov from Kirovograd and Evgen Klopotenko from
Kyiv are the founders of Confiture. “It all started with our big love for
food,” said Klopotenko. Two former international economics students
decided to create a food business in 2011 with a concept of producing something
rather cheap that could be given as a gift.

Each 200-gram jar of jam costs about Hr 49. The exotic
kiwi-lime has the highest price of Hr 69. Confiture already has 8 people on
staff and branched out in Kharkiv and Odesa.

Festival visitors are looking at the food products.

Must Have, a women’s clothing firm, has been active since
2010. “Before, people were like “Oh, it’s made in Ukraine?”
assuming it’s not a good quality,” company’s spokesperson Alina
Yelovenkova said. “Right now it’s the opposite – everyone is trying to buy
Ukrainian products and support the country.”

The average price of a skirt is Hr 500, while a dress is Hr
800 although some can go up to Hr 1,400.

Project founders Anastasiya Yankovenko and Hanna Kovalenko
first tried to do business with selling coffee, but ended up making dresses.
“You always draw a dream model but can’t find it,” said spokeswoman
with a smile. “Therefore, they decided to sew what they wanted (to
wear).”

However, Must Have’s classy and pithy style is not just what
two young women would like to wear, since they claim to have first lady Maryna
Poroshenko and her two daughters among their clients, as well as pop-jazz
singer Jamala, television fashion icons Olga Freymut and Katya Osadcha. 

Must Have sees the social media promotion campaigns as a key
to boost the client base. It already has 9,500 subscribers for its Vkontakte
page and more than 5,000 on Facebook.

Kyiv Post
website editor Ilya Timtchenko can be reached at [email protected].