Success stories

New entrepreneur:
Anna Lobach (Ukraine)
Age: 44
Company name: (Start-up)
Sector of activity: Transport and Logistics services

Host entrepreneur:
Yelizaveta Malimon (Italy)
Age: 34
Company name: Prima Consulting (5 years of experience)
Sector of activity: Legal, fiscal and other consultancy services

Anna is a Ukrainian professional who aims at starting a car repair business in Italy, offering quality service at fair prices: her goal is to create a trusted and customer-friendly workshop where people can fix their cars quickly and safely. She applied to the programme as a new entrepreneur to build strong connections, defining and finding customers and learn the rules and properly register her business in Italy. The host entrepreneur, Yelizaveta, is a specialist consultant with many years of experience in finance and law, and applied to share her experience and knowledge: taking part in the EYE was a chance for her also to find potential clients and partners.

The Anna and Yelizaveta worked closely together, focusing on financial management, taxes and business organisation. The main activities covered several areas essential to starting and running the business. Market research played a key role, involving visits to local car repair workshops, competitor analysis, service price research, and interviews with car owners to better understand their needs and expectations. Alongside this, business and financial planning focused on reviewing and improving the entrepreneur’s original business plan, preparing monthly and annual budgets, and developing skills to manage cash flow and seasonal fluctuations in income. Administration and taxation were also central, with training on keeping accurate records, preparing invoices, and complying with Italian tax regulations. Finally, practical learning brought everything together through time spent in repair shops, observing daily operations, following customer service processes, organizing paperwork, and gaining a clear understanding of how workshops function in practice. The entrepreneurs also focused on networking, establishing contacts with 4 providers of tools and car parts identifying possible clients and employees, and starting collaboration with a local car repair professional as partner.

Anna could gain a clear understanding of the Italian car repair market, customer needs, pricing, and competitor structure. She improved her business plan with updated service list pricing structure, financial forecast timelines, supplier contacts and marketing ideas, and learned how to manage money and taxes in Italy. Anna met 4 potential suppliers of car parts and tools, 1 business partner for future cooperation and 2 possible employees, testing a real cooperation with a local car repair workshop and preparing the ground for immediate entry into the market. She built a trusting relationship with the host entrepreneur, who agreed to continue giving advice after the exchange. Yelizaveta could enter the car repair industry and understand its daily challenges. Thanks to Anna's research and contacts, Yelizaveta met new suppliers, mechanics and possible partners, gathering also new ideas to offer financial advice to car repair shops and related companies: this helped her to think about expanding her services.

For more information, please contact the local contact points involved in the exchange:

New entrepreneur's contact point:
KROK UNIVERSITY (Kiev, Ukraine)

Host entrepreneur's contact point:
MICROFINANZA SRL (Vicenza, Italy)

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