The best business projects were selected on September 30 in the village of Kamarova, Miadziel district. The students of the School of Rural Business gathered for the Startup Weekend and presented their ideas and implementation plans .
12 business plans prepared during the training at the School of Rural Business were submitted to the jury. Entrepreneurs are interested in various fields, including agriculture, ecotourism, design and clothing repair. Each of the participants had only a few minutes to present their business plans to the jury members and demonstrate the prospects of their business development. The jury consisted of representatives of business, public organizations and government bodies.
During the presentations, the participants lit candles made of natural wax, showed products with authentic embroidery, treated themselves with homemade cheese and played on Tibetan musical bowls.
According to the results of the jury's vote at the first Startup Weekend, 4 beginning entrepreneurs will get financial support from 2 to 10 thousand euros from the EU-funded project.
Aleksandra Chyzheuskaya from Zaliessie village, Smarhoń district, plans to open a production of wooden windows that will be more environmentally friendly than PVC and will outperform competitors in quality. Alexandra is going to spend money to purchase the necessary equipment and hire employees. She will be supported by the relatives who already produce doors.
Sviatlana Senkavets from the village of Paŭlugі, Pastavy district, will spend the money to the development of processing of organic buckwheat grains in cereals. Now she and her husband already grow buckwheat and sell it in raw form to Poland. Sviatlana plans to sell buckwheat in Belarus. Now on the shelves in the country you can find only imported green buckwheat at high prices. According to Sviatlana, the product, grown and processed in Paŭlugі will be 3 times cheaper. Green buckwheat is already in demand among vegetarians.
Lyudmila Struchko from the Trakieli village of Astraviec district, is already sewing clothes for the order for her fellow villagers. In the School of Rural Business, she came up with an idea to open her own workshop. The premises and the client base for the start of business for the villager are already there. With the support of the project, she will be able to purchase the missing equipment to expand the business, and later to hire other seamstresses.
Veranika Shchurouskaya from the village of Zaliessie, Smarhoń district plans to focus on the production of items with elements of combined embroidery. Already now she successfully sells fabric bags with embroidery with Belarusian and Lithuanian motifs, as well as sets for the baptism of children. Veranica hopes with the help of the project to open an online store and get certified, so that her products can be sold in stores.
In the School of Rural Business in Kamarova, the students of the second and third set have already started their studies, and the nearest Startup Weekend will be held in December. The residents of four districts – Miadziel, Smargoń, Pastavy and Astraviec – can go through training and participate in the competition for financial support.
The School of Rural Business in Kamarova works within the framework of the project "BY RURAL BOOST: Boosting rural entrepreneurship in Belarus via establishment and running of Kamarova Rural Business Incubator". The project is funded by the European Union and co-financed by the US Embassy in Minsk, its budget is 588 thousand euros, where the EU contribution is 556.5 thousand euros.
The project is being implemented by the IPO "Ecopartnership" (Minsk) and the NGO "Women for the revival of the Narač region" (Kamarova).
