Ukraine is a leading agricultural country where small farms and family-owned enterprises play a critical role not only in ensuring food security, but also in creating jobs and fostering the development of local communities. The ARISE Project provides agricultural producers with access to concessional financing through partner banks, enabling them to invest in modern machinery, infrastructure, processing capacity, and the implementation of ESG standards. The video features the stories of the farms “Flora,” “Lan,” “Mostyske Moloko,” and “Yukhymivske,” which, with ARISE support, were able to sustain production, strengthen business resilience, and strategically plan their future development.

What typically takes years to learn, both the employees of PE “Yukhymivske” and its director had to master within the first 2–3 months of the full-scale war. How to shift from narrow to broader operational tracks, preserve jobs, and overcome technologically outdated capacities — most of these challenges were addressed with the support of the ARISE project.

Despite the full-scale invasion, Ukraine continues to pursue a sustainable development agenda, ensuring that economic growth is aligned with social responsibility, environmental protection, and long-term resilience.

From the outset, Flora has been a family-run business. Founded in 1991 by Andrii Arseniiovych, the farm entered a new phase of development two decades later, when leadership was taken over by his grandson, Andrii.

While a robotic system pushes feed towards the cows, their condition is monitored by specialised sensors. One might assume this is a farm of the future. In fact, it is already a reality at “Mostyske Moloko”, an agricultural enterprise based in the Lviv region.

FrontMeD, based in Shepetivka, has been producing honey and fruit-and-berry desserts since 2017. It’s more than just a business — it’s a place where work itself becomes a source of support, both for the team and the local community.

In the first days of the full-scale invasion, information was not just important – it was critical. When the first explosions sounded, when communication was lost, when panic became the background of daily life – someone had to speak with a calm voice. To tell people where to get water. How the evacuation was going. What to do when the air raid siren sounded, and when it was safe to leave the shelter. In Kryvyi Rih, that voice was Radio Kryvbas.

Out of 270 hectares of land, nearly half are unsafe to cultivate – with daily risks of encountering unexploded ordnance. Yet the work continues, undeterred even by combat. Mykhailo Kudliuk, a farmer from the village of Velyka Dolyna on the border of Dnipro and Kherson regions, keeps cultivating the land, growing grains, and supporting the community.

Ukrainian micro and small enterprises received 63 million hryvnias in grant support for energy independence as part of the project ‘SUPPORTING THE ENERGY RESILIENCE OF MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES IN UKRAINE.’

The #FinancEast program was launched in 2019 as part of the #EU4Business initiative and the EU-Ukraine Agreement on European Union Support for Eastern Ukraine.

In the spring of 2022, after the beginning of a full-scale military invasion and armed attack by Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine, the whole world faced the results of Russia's blockade of ports and the “shot fields” of Ukraine. Previously, Ukrainian farmers accounted for almost 10% of the world's wheat exports, 15% of corn exports, 15% of barley exports, and almost 50% of sunflower oil exports.

The SME Investment Project Financing Support Program, implemented by the Business Development Fund with the support of the German Government through KfW and the European Union under the EU4Business initiative, continues to help businesses.