Support for Entrepreneurs

UKRSIBBANK BNP Paribas Group signed the Declaration for Gender Equality and Prevention of Domestic Violence in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals No. 5 Gender Equality and No. 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth.

Following the principles of sustainable development and supporting gender balance in business, UKRSIBBANK has been developing the Women in Business project since 2019. The initiative is focused on women who are engaged in entrepreneurial activities or provide business management.

Figures show that the representation of such women in Ukraine, as well as in other countries, ranges from 25% to 30%. According to the research, increasing the participation of women in business contributes to the improvement of the economic situation not only for them, but also for the entire economy. This corresponds to global indicators. However, international studies claim that this is not enough. After all, gender balance in business helps to better understand the needs of the market, in large organizations it contributes to a higher quality decision-making process, so as a result, women’s professional skills, their psychological characteristics and entrepreneurial skills influence the active development of the country’s economy.

At the same time, women more often emphasize that they lack knowledge, so they are focused on constant learning and raising awareness. According to analysts, 56% of women believe that they lack relevant information in management, taxation, marketing and other specific fields for professional development. 52% of women indicated insufficient confidence in their own abilities, 42% of women lack sources of financing for business development.

Every year we improve our Women in Business program. We receive feedback from the project participants and look for new opportunities that can help them both in professional development and well-being. We are convinced that women are really creative and effective business owners and project managers. They are not afraid of professional challenges, persistent, solve problems creatively. Moreover, women reinvest their earnings in the development of their families and, therefore, society. Therefore, by supporting women in business, we ensure the sustainable development of the Ukrainian economy and our society.

As part of the international financial group BNP Paribas UKRSIBBANK is an active promoter of sustainable development and the idea of gender equality. When developing the Women in Business program, UKRSIBBANK focused on three key areas: information and consultation support – a series of educational and practical seminars and video consultations, psychological support for women – encouragement and motivation for development, as well as assistance in business development and financing.

By supporting various socially important events, the bank strives to help women boldly take the first steps in business, as well as develop their business and bring it to a new level of profit. The bank became a partner of the She Congress event, a series of Her Way of Doing Business meetings of the European Business Association, launched a series of open legal consultations for Ukrainian owners of medium and small businesses on its own YouTube channel, which are interesting and informative for all clients of entrepreneurs, or those who plan to grow their own business.

UKRSIBBANK promotes useful innovations that contribute to digital transformation and positive impact for sustainable development.
We are convinced that talented entrepreneurs and technological solutions deserve to be noticed and appreciated. Giving such start-up entrepreneurs the opportunity to implement their ideas and find investors for further active business development, UKRSIBBANK together with Startup.Network organized the Battle of Startups – «Time to Grow a Horn», a competition for Ukrainian IT and fintech companies.

The next step in supporting start-ups was the UKRSIBBANK corporate accelerator – Popcorp Accelerator, organized together with Radar Tech.

As a result, 6 graduate teams initiated a commercial partnership with the bank. Another 4 teams continued pilot projects with the bank already outside the acceleration program to test their solutions.

In 2021, the bank launched a new corporate accelerator POPCORP 2.0. The key goal of the project is the development of a culture of innovation, which involves the realization of the innovative potential of the bank’s employees and the search for technological solutions that will in the future increase the operational efficiency of the bank and accelerate its digital transformation. The project is implemented in partnership with the open innovation platform Reactor.ua