From September to December 2025, Professor Oleksandr Kubatko, a member of the team implementing the Jean Monnet Module “Youth & Business: EU Practices for Cooperation” (101126538-YouthBEU-ERASMUS-JMO-2023-HEI-TCH-RSCH), delivered the course “Startup: First Steps in Entrepreneurship” to 52 Sumy State University students from a wide range of disciplines, including social sciences and business programmes as well as engineering and IT.
The course combined the fundamentals of entrepreneurship with practical aspects of starting and running a business in the EU and Ukraine. Students explored the implementation of entrepreneurial ideas, organisational forms of business, startup creation and registration, taxation, franchising, business ethics, business planning, crowdfunding and fundraising. Particular attention was paid to opportunities for supporting young entrepreneurs and to comparing business practices in the EU and Ukraine.
A traditional element of the course was a student debate organised in the Karl Popper format. This year, the debate focused on the role of young people and small and medium-sized enterprises in post-war recovery in the context of the city of Sumy and the Sumy region. The activity enabled students to apply their knowledge to current economic and societal challenges and to discuss how youth and entrepreneurship can contribute to future regional recovery.
