Recent testimonies of successful business networking - Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme
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Tutnich Larysa (Ukraine)
Age: 51
Company name: Ukrainian beauty house (Start-up)
Sector of activity: Health, beauty and social services
Lejla Begičević (Bosnia And Herzogovina)
Age: 44
Company name: cosmo_zenica_ (20 years of experience)
Sector of activity: Health, beauty and social services
Period of exchange: 05/2022 until 11/2022
Duration of exchange: 6
Results and benefits
Larysa Tutnich (51) from Ukraine worked as a hairdresser in Severodonetsk for over 15 years. With the beginning of the war in Ukraine and the shelling of her city, Larysa lost everything and had to say goodbye to her previous life. She decided to come to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Back then, the media interviewed people from Ukraine who came to Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was accompanied by representatives of the organization Zene za Zene International, as they were already implementing the projects with refugees in Ukraine.
After hearing Larysa’s story, Zene za Zene reached out to Larysa and visited her in Žepče, where she was staying, to introduce her the EYE programme. Larysa happily took up the opportunity to take part in the programme. Shortly after, Zene za Zene and Larysa set out to come across a suitable Host entrepreneur.
It was the beauty salon Cosmo in Zenica, whose owner, Lejla Begičević, has extensive experience in the hairdressing industry. Also having went through the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina Lejla well understood Larysa’s situation. She immediately offered Larysa an exchange at her beauty salon.
The relationship started and during this time Larysa received a lot of theoretical practical and legal knowledge in the ability to professionally grow a team and build her own business with various types of marketing and advertising in the beauty industry. Leyla also helped her to conduct a market analysis of the beauty industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since there are cultural differences between Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Larysa had the opportunity to acquire new knowledge about the trends and needs of BiH clients.
Throughout the exchange, both entrepreneurs attended training seminars and beauty exhibitions and met with representatives of product supplier companies and owners of beauty salons. This was highly valuable for Larysa, as she made new contacts for future business.
The acquired new contacts and experience gave Larysa confidence in building her own business. After 6 months of exchange she plans to open a beauty salon "Ukraine beauty house” upon her return to Ukraine. Having done market research for start-ups and knowing from experience how difficult it is to start over, she would prioritise women employees. Larysa found out that sustainability is of high importance when creating a successful business story in the long run, so only high-quality and environmentally friendly products from reliable manufacturers will be used. All this will help the confident promotion of business in the face of fierce competition and economic instability.
Larysa and Lejla are happy about their collaboration opportunity. Now they are considering the possibility of creating a joint website, which would promote their story, but at the same time serve them as a way to get new potential clients.
This experience was life-changing for both Larysa and Lejla, and we wish them both the best of luck in their business endeavors.
For more information, please contact the local contact points involved in the exchange:
New entrepreneur's contact point:
Alfred Nobel University (Dnipro, Ukraine)
Host entrepreneur's contact point:
Udruzenje Zene za Zene International (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzogovina)
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