December 19, 2023
In March 2023, the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine partnered with the U.S. Department of Commerce to organize a Webinar Series, Empowering Ukrainian Women Entrepreneurs Through Trade, in the framework of the Empower Her and Women's Executives Leadership Development Initiative (WELDI).
The goal of these webinars was to empower Ukrainian women entrepreneurs with the knowledge and information to assist their business expansion efforts. After joining the webinars, the participants have gained practical knowledge on how to strengthen their business plans, utilize freely available tools to diversify their financing, grant writing, and marketing skills, as well as discover new opportunities and develop partnerships in the United States and succeed in sustaining and growing their businesses.
AmCham Ukraine and the U.S. Commerce Department successfully held two webinars in March and April. Around 200 female leaders who wanted to scale their business globally, learn new tools, and gain knowledge on how to find financial resources to grow joined this initiative.
Following this webinar series, the U.S. Department of Commerce, AmCham Ukraine, and WMarketplace partnered to develop a Practical Business Development Program, providing these entrepreneurs with access to the resources and support needed to expand their businesses in the United States.
Ukrainian women-owned business Anzy Home was selected to pilot this Program. We are grateful to Philip Morris Ukraine for becoming the Program's first corporate partner and Nova Global for providing logistics support along with discounted and expedited services to this inaugural Program.
"The U.S. Department of Commerce is delighted to see such a productive outcome of our collaboration with AmCham Ukraine emerging from our joint EMPOWER HER webinar series. We are looking forward to following Anzy Home's partnership with WMarketplace and supporting more Ukrainian women entrepreneurs," David De Falco, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia, U.S. Department of Commerce.
"When partnerships strengthen, opportunities arise. For ten years, AmCham Ukraine Women's Executives Leadership Development Initiative (WELDI) has been serving, supporting, and inspiring women leaders in Ukraine, and we were delighted to partner with the U.S. Department of Commerce within Empower Her initiative resulted in this pilot. We look forward to seeing successful results of WMarketplace and Anzy's business partnership and will continue to support Ukrainian women leaders, creating a favorable environment for businesses to succeed till the victory and beyond and strengthening US-Ukraine business ties", commented Tetyana Prokopchuk, AmCham Ukraine Vice President.
"Partnering with the U.S. Department of Commerce and AmCham Ukraine allowed us to take pledged support for Ukrainian women and develop a program that delivers tangible results. Combining a comprehensive training program, direct investment, and ongoing support to drive sales, The WMarketplace also completed our first services export. This is a win-win for small, women-owned businesses and fulfills our mission of supporting the growth of women entrepreneurs wherever they are. We are excited to expand this Program in 2024 in Ukraine and beyond", said Kate Iser, WMarketplace CEO.
Anzy Home's CEO, Anna Zmiievska, and Marketing Director, Olena Horchakova, joined the Program and WMarketplace Ecommerce Accelerator at the beginning of November. Within days, Anzy Home created a storefront and launched their beautiful, traditional home décor items on WMarketplace's U.S.-based online marketplace for women entrepreneurs while learning how to optimize their online presence. WMarketplace's promotions for Anzy focused on the need to support Ukrainian women entrepreneurs who are working hard to maintain and grow their businesses in the most difficult of circumstances.
Anna Zmiievska, CEO of Anzy Home, commented: "Thank you so much, your Program is an enormous support for our business! The funding opportunity is undoubtedly fantastic, and the knowledge you share is also precious. We have participated in numerous trainings, webinars, and courses in Ukraine. But they did not offer as much specific, concrete, and targeted information that is tailored to what we need as The WMarketplace Accelerator. The opportunity to ask questions during the sessions and get feedback from the professionals on our specific issues is worth a lot! We have gotten so many insights and already are implementing some of them in our marketing activities."
IMPORTANT: If you're a large multinational company and want to support Ukrainian women entrepreneurs through this Program, please contact Susan Gates, Cofounder of WMarketplace at susan@wmarketplace.com.
About U.S. Department of Commerce:
The Department of Commerce’s mission is to create the conditions for economic growth and opportunity for all communities. Through its 13 bureaus, the Department works to drive U.S. economic competitiveness, strengthen domestic industry, and spur the growth of quality jobs in all communities across the country. The mission of the International Trade Administration (ITA), one of the Department’s bureaus, is to create prosperity by strengthening the international competitiveness of U.S. industry, promoting trade and investment, and ensuring fair trade and compliance with trade laws and agreements.
About AmCham Ukraine:
The American Chamber of Commerce is Ukraine's leading international business association that has been serving 600+ members in Ukraine since 1992, delivering the shared voice of best-in-class U.S., international, and Ukrainian companies, who invested over $50 billion in Ukraine and remain committed to the country.
AmCham’s contact person: Yuliana Chyzhova, Chief Communications Officer, ychyzhova@chamber.ua.
About WMarketplace:
The WMarketplace is an e-commerce marketplace and accelerator owned by women entrepreneurs, for women entrepreneurs. Their mission is to close the economic gender gap by empowering women entrepreneurs to grow and thrive while providing a destination for consumers to shop their values.
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