UNIC received the Business Recognition Awards-2023 from the EU Delegation to Ukraine

On 29 February 2024, UNIC received the Business Recognition Awards-2023 in the category ‘National Finalists of the European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2023’ during the networking event ‘EU for Ukrainian SMEs: Together we will stand!’, organised by the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

The event was the culmination of the communication campaign ‘Together we will stand. Together we are Europe’, which ran from October 2023 to the present day and informed Ukrainians about the support provided by the European Union to small and medium-sized enterprises in times of war.

In recognition of the resilience and achievements of Ukrainian SMEs involved in EU4Business programmes, Iryna Hubarets, Project Coordinator for Competition and Economic Cooperation at the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, presented the Business Recognition Awards -2023 to projects and initiatives in a number of categories. In particular, UNIC, together with the LadyFest project, received the Business Recognition Awards-2023 in the category ‘National Finalists of the European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2023’. In November 2023, UNIC received a special mention during the European stage of the Business Recognition Awards-2023.

‘We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the organisers for inviting us to the event and for the much-needed discussion of scenarios for the future of Ukraine and small and medium-sized enterprises. We are grateful for this important networking and for the recognition of the UNIC's achievements. For us, such awards confirm that UNIC's initiatives and projects, our persistence and commitment to promoting the culture of integrity and compliance, as well as supporting SMEs in this area, are relevant and receive attention from the national and European communities. We are constantly looking for new approaches and tools, we do not stand still, and I am sure that this award will inspire our team to new achievements,’ commented Antonina Prudko, Head of the UNIC Secretariat.

Background: Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, the European Union's support for Ukraine's economy has focused on helping SMEs overcome fundamentally new challenges: from maintaining or reorienting production to military needs to relocating businesses, adapting to work in conditions of limited technological capabilities, labour shortages, loss of markets and partnerships. Thanks to the support of the EU and international partners, 68% of Ukrainian SMEs continued to operate during the war, adapted to work in the relocation and de-occupied territories, restored broken partnerships, and entered EU markets. Many SMEs are run by women and young entrepreneurs, and the EU pays special attention to them, as well as to veteran businesses.Under the EU4Business: SME Resilience, Competitiveness and Internationalisation programme, more than 1,100 grants totalling €5.5 million were awarded from February 2022 to December 2023 to provide comprehensive support to SMEs, with a total of €7 million in direct grant assistance.