The USAID Competitive Economy of Ukraine program announced a grant program to create and support associations of businesses into export alliances with a total funding of $1.5 million, the Economy Ministry press service said Friday.
“Grant support for export alliances will strengthen the potential of Ukrainian enterprises and encourage them to unite for common goals of conquering new markets,” USAID project manager Natalya Petrova said in a statement.
The program offers about 15 grants, ranging from $35,000 to $150,000. Applications will be accepted till September 30, 2023. Given the considerable interest, reception and consideration of applications will be held in stages on June 30 and September 30, 2023.
The Ministry of Economy added that the goal of the grant program is to support businesses seeking to jointly promote their products in international markets. The initiative is implemented in partnership with the Office for Entrepreneurship and Export Development and the national project “Dia.Biznes”.
As the press service specified, the priority sectors for grant support are information technology, engineering, manufacturing, and creative industries and services. However, this USAID program is open to applications to support other sectors that meet the selection criteria.
The USAID Competitive Economy of Ukraine (CEU) program supports start-ups and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to increase their competitiveness in Ukraine’s domestic market and in international markets, assists in the development of a simplified and transparent business climate, and provides opportunities for Ukrainian companies to take advantage of international trade. A key instrument for implementing the USAID QEU program is the $12.5 million grant program at the national scale for 2018-2023.
