After being homeless for almost three years, Dmytro Malashchuk never expected to get back to normal life, let alone find a job again.
However, Malashchuk has finally received a chance for a new start in life: the 63-year-old was hired by one of Ukraine`s social enterprises, Papa Carlo, in Chernivtsi, a city of 262,000 people southwest of Kyiv near the Romanian border, in July.
“I was more than glad to be hired by this company, it has really helped me to survive,” Malashchuk says. “Now I again feel myself as a part of the society, I receive salary and have a roof over my head.”
The carpentry unit of Papa Carlo is among the recently established small social enterprises. These businesses hire people with disabilities, war veterans or other socially vulnerable people. Part of the income is also donated to social or ecological causes.
According to Vasyl Nazaruk, the impact investing project manager at Western NIS Enterprise Fund, social entrepreneurship is gaining momentum in Ukraine.
“Social entrepreneurship is a jackpot for the community, since on the one hand it operates as a business and pays taxes to the state budget, and on the other hand it does not ask for budget funds to solve problems, but solves these problems taking money from its own income,” Nazaruk says.
Although there is no official data on the number of social entrepreneurs in Ukraine, Nazaruk`s directory published in 2017, includes 150 social enterprises all over Ukraine.
Nowadays, Nazaruk estimates it to be up to 1,500 units.
“It is difficult to calculate the exact number as there is no such legal norm as social entrepreneurship in Ukraine. Moreover, some of the enterprises do not even count how much they give to support the community and often it might be a half of their income,” says Nazaruk.
Support for homeless
Established in Chernivtsi in 2017, Papa Carlo aims to support homeless people, as well as older people with limited sources of income, by employing them as wood workers.
The social enterprise currently has four employees – three of whom used to be homeless and one professional carpenter.
According to Ivan Kovalyshyn, the founder of Papa Carlo, the enterprise was initially funded by donations from public organizations, but currently it does not need additional funding due to self-financing and reinvestment of funds.
“We aimed to give (homeless people) an opportunity to earn money in order to be able to support themselves, to live their lives, to buy goods, therefore we provided them with temporary or long-term jobs,” Kovalyshyn says.
Each of Papa Carlo`s employees now receive up to Hr 5,000 in monthly salary, depending on the workload.
Before hiring, Papa Carlo arranges free training on woodwork and teaches how to manufacture wooden doors, chairs and tables – the main assortment of the company`s products.
Kovalyshyn believes that for homeless people and retirees such employment is more than just a way to earn money. It is also a great opportunity to socialize and be useful for society.
“There is a need for social enterprises and it is especially relevant for people who have no money to exist. Moreover, it is useful in terms of the restoration of labor skills, as people need new skills after living on the streets for years,” Kovalyshyn says.
People with disabilities
Olena Polozok, the founder of Kyiv-based confectionery Dobra Tsukernia, arranges workshops that teaches people how to make sweets and establish their own enterprises.
Polozok established Dobra Tsukernia in January 2016 to employ people who have suffered loss of hearing. Nowadays, Dobra Tsukernia`s staff includes only four people – two with total hearing loss. It also donates about 14 percent of its income to charities.
“People with disabilities face many problems with employment, socialization and the use of their abilities,” Polozok says.
Tsukernia`s employees work mainly from home, producing sweets and cookies for sale. But it is willing to expand its activities in order to hire more people and make more goods.
Social enterprises must donate at least 20 percent of their income for social causes or have 50 percent of its workforce consisting of people with disabilities, war veterans or other socially unprotected parts of the population.
A textile manufacture, Vesna, located in Bila Tserkva, a city of 200,000 people 80 kilometers south of Kyiv, employs people with disabilities and helps them socialize.
One of Ukraine`s oldest social enterprises, the textile manufacture is located near the Ukrainian Association of the Deaf that has been operating since 1935. Vesna now employs 81 people, 50 of which are people with varying disabilities, mainly with hearing loss.
Vesna manufactures female clothes for export, spending 60 percent of its income for monyhly salaries that vary between Hr 5,000 and Hr 9,000, depending on the employee’s qualification and workload. It also supports people with total or partial hearing loss. Vesna head Liudmyla Tiukhta said the enterprise was established at a time when people with disabilities had extremely limited opportunities for education or employment. Now the situation is better, but there’s still room for improvement.
“It seems to me that all companies should try hiring people with disabilities. Of course, they can donate a percentage from their profit to the development of some social projects, but it is more about corporate social responsibility,” Polozok says.
“And regarding social entrepreneurship, enterprises should be responsible not only for themselves, but also for their employees, as well as give them financial independence, development and new opportunities. I believe that this is exactly what we need to do, and this is how I see the future of social entrepreneurship.”
