Beneficiary stories
From starting a bakery in Ukraine to being a tourist guide in Bosnia and Herzegovina: ILO beneficiaries turn dreams into reality
Discover the inspiring stories of five individuals from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, and Ukraine. Through the transformative support of ILO programmes, these beneficiaries not only found a lifeline but also unlocked the doors to their dreams and ambitions. Their testimonials shine a light on the impact of ILO's assistance.
3 February 2025
Tetiana Kovalenko is from the village of Novi Petrivtsi in the Kyiv region of Ukraine. She bakes healthy bread using live homemade sourdough. The "Start Your Business" training of the ILO implemented with Danish funding was the impetus for starting her enterprise.
"The war in Ukraine gave me time to think about what I would enjoy waking up early in the morning for. And the answer was bread.
I found information about the ILO "Start Your Business" training in a local Facebook group. It was very timely – I wanted to expand my knowledge. I knew how to bake bread, but what should I do next with this product? How to develop it? To start a business, you need a lot – from a well-thought-out business plan to understanding how to work with clients.
In my experience, this was the first training (and it was free!) that I found really inspiring. It gave me so many new impressions that I can't stop applying, and I am still processing the knowledge I've gained. It was my motivation from indecision to action."
Ana Axenti established a home-based daycare for children under three in her hometown Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldova.
“My professional aspirations can only align gracefully with the needs of my children. And here, I believe the universe conspired, and my searches brought me to the right place at the right time." As of 2022, alternative child-care services for children under three years old are legislatively regulated in Moldova, and the ILO, along with other partners, provides training and guidance to individuals who want to offer these services legally. Ana was one of the beneficiaries of the programme.
"The home atmosphere will create a friendly and safe environment for our future citizens, and parents will have confidence that their child will be well taken care of. Last but not least, on a personal level, it will solve the problem of my employment. By helping myself, I will provide support to families working full time, especially mothers in vulnerable situations."
Licensing the child caregiver profession will allow Ana, as well as many other women, to re-enter the workforce. "Formalizing this profession will offer me flexibility in managing various daily tasks, as well as clarity regarding remuneration, working hours, and any other aspects that will contribute to a strong family-child-caregiver relationship."
Marina Jovanovic is Advisor for marketing and education at the Montenegrin Employers Federation. Along with four professionals from Employer and Business Membership Organizations (EBMOs) in the sub-region, she completed the Master Training in EBMO Management offered by the International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO), the only postgraduate course of its kind.
“In my organization, I’m responsible for communication, marketing and education, and this training provided the exact tools I needed. The sessions on strategic advocacy, member engagement, and effective communication offered valuable insights on how to connect more effectively with our members and stakeholders and amplify our voice. I now feel equipped with deeper knowledge and practical strategies to enhance the clarity and impact of our communications. I’m very grateful to the ILO for this opportunity.”
Matej Bartulica now works as a tourist guide in the scenic region of Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He completed a vocational training offered by the ILO-implemented Local Employment Partnership, a coalition of local stakeholders working to contribute to better employability in local communities, with EU funding.
“I am a nature-lover and my wish has always been to work in tourism and to be a tourist guide in the area of Livno. I saw an opportunity for this in the training programme of the ILO so I decided to join. Thanks to the training, I got the opportunity to further improve my skills and obtain an official tourist guide certification. I plan to continue working as a tourist guide in the future too, because tourism is constantly developing in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the world. I would tell young people who want to do this is that this is a high-quality career.”
Due to the war, Olga Ushakova, commercial director of Rubizhne Hosiery Manufactory LLC, lost production in the Luhansk region of Ukraine.
"We were among the top five leaders in Ukraine. On February 22, 2022, my co-owner and I went to the Lviv region to find a place for production in case a war starts. We never returned to Rubizhne. We immediately stopped production to avoid risking people's lives.
We lost everything. We were left with a credit debt of 11 million hryvnias and three containers of raw materials, which got stuck somewhere in the port. That's where the recovery started. A grant of $10,000 from the Local Employment Partnership implemented by the ILO with funding from Denmark was used to purchase Italian sewing equipment to expand knitting production."