Empowering Women Entrepreneurs: Successful Completion of “The Way to Business” Program

The Way to Business program, launched in February 2023, has successfully enabled female refugees from Ukraine to establish their businesses or re-start their careers in Poland. Spearheaded by the Microfinance Center (MFC) and funded by JPMorganChase, the program was focused on inclusive finance, sharing expertise, and promoting interventions aimed at reducing vulnerability, increasing self-sufficiency, and improving the livelihood outcomes for the beneficiaries.

MFC’s project was aimed at supporting Ukrainian refugee women, who arrived in Poland after the breakout of the Russian war of aggression in February 2022, aspiring to or wondering about starting a business in Poland. They were given the necessary information and advice to help them decide whether to start the business, how to register and in what form, and how to run it successfully in a new environment.

We are proud to report impressive results.  211 women received basic consultation from 10 trained consultants from six NGOs operating in Warsaw and Wroclaw who were involved in the program, providing a total of 302 hours of consultations.  Additionally, 51 women participated in a mentoring program that included 191 hours of in-depth sessions. As part of the project, a Ukrainian-language information hub was created, which contains the necessary information on different types of businesses, registration instructions, useful links, motivational videos, etc. The site was visited by over 3000 people.

The project results are impressive: 32 participants successfully registered their businesses and at least 10 more declared to register their business by the end of the year.

Most consultations (94,3%) were focused on opening a JDG (self-employment). The program attracted highly educated individuals: with 91% of participants holding a university degree. Prior to joining the program, 66% were unemployed in Poland and 34% were working below their qualifications. On average, each participant received 1.4 hours of counseling and 3.7 hours of mentoring. The high rate of business registration – 63% of mentored participants – underscores the program’s effectiveness in supporting women to take concrete steps toward entrepreneurship.

These results highlight the program’s success in empowering Ukrainian refugee women to establish their own businesses in Poland, equipping them with valuable skills, knowledge, and support to foster economic independence and integration into the Polish business landscape.

Throughout the The Way to Business program participants shared their thoughts on the main barriers and motivation in series of videos that are publicly available at MFC YouTube channel (https://shorturl.at/wmyUg). The interviewees confirmed that decisions to start their own business in Poland were well-designed but not fast and easy, they all faced various obstacles starting from lack of starting capital, need to adapt to the Polish mentality and necessity to apply for dozens of consultations on legal, tax, business issues.