Success stories

The host entrepreneur, Phil Tulba, has more than 20 years of experience in social entrepreneurship. He set up and developed many social enterprises in the UK and worked with entrepreneurs in South Korea, the Philippines, Belarus, Latvia, and Lithuania. Phil started a new business in Lithuania contributing to the growth of social business in the region and decided to work with a New Entrepreneur interested in social enterprises, social entrepreneurship, and consultancy. Oleksandra Fomin, the new entrepreneur, was a perfect fit for him. She is interested in social entrepreneurship and has a strong desire to change Ukraine by starting her business. Her objective is to create a cross-sectoral network and people-centred regional integration of young and cosmopolitan professionals to help others achieve their professional targets. She wanted to enrich her studies with practical knowledge and international experience. Their goals were similar, so Oleksandra and Phil started their exchange.

The programme exceeded all expectations both entrepreneurs had. Oleksandra managed to understand her inner desires and her motivation thanks to Phil’s mentorship and patience with her mistakes. By his example, he showed that everyone has to keep a work-life balance to be more productive. Under Phil’s mentorship, Oleksandra gained a huge amount of knowledge and skills during a two-month exchange. The entrepreneurs interacted with clients and partners, participated in workshops and training, and discussed the strategic planning of the company. They also discovered Sustainable Development from a completely different angle, which became the basis of Oleksandra’s business project concept. Research conducted during the exchange program showed that her project may become unique in the Ukrainian market. As Oleksandra said, she completely changed her idea and now she has a finalised business plan that would attract clients and a clear vision of how it should work.

The exchange boosted Oleksandra’s motivation to develop her idea and taught her not to be afraid of making mistakes. Her business plan has become clearer, practical, and more adapted to modern realities. She began to believe in the viability of the project after developing maps, models, and workshops with Phil's clients and receiving his recommendations and tips. As a result, the project itself was rebranded. The new entrepreneur first launched a pilot version of the project's Instagram page to test the reaction of the target audience to the company’s content and study its needs. Oleksandra is now running Sustainable Agency, the first consulting agency in Ukraine specialising in educational programs on sustainable business for small and medium-sized enterprises. Phil, on the other hand, has gained a deep understanding of the Ukrainian market and expanded his professional network for further international cooperation.