In December 2025, the third Winter Business School “Youth and Business: EU and Ukrainian Experience” was held in an online format. The aim of the event was to disseminate knowledge about the core values of doing business in the European Union and Ukraine.
Approximately 40 participants took part in the Business School, including students of universities and colleges, as well as senior secondary school pupils from the city of Sumy and the Sumy region.
Invited speakers of the Business School were Ukrainian entrepreneurs with experience in business development both in Ukraine and abroad, including EU countries. The synchronous part of the event consisted of two panel discussions. The first panel brought together early-stage entrepreneurs who inspired participants through their personal examples to take their first steps in entrepreneurship. The second panel featured experienced entrepreneurs who shared their entrepreneurial journeys, insights into overcoming challenges, scaling businesses, and launching new projects in Ukraine and abroad.
Throughout December, participants had the opportunity to join a specially designed online course “Startup: First Steps in Business: EU and Ukrainian Experience”, continuing their participation in the asynchronous mode. The course aimed to provide knowledge on identifying business niches and analysing competitors, developing a one-page business plan, creating an MVP and a prototype, attracting investment, as well as understanding the ethics and values of doing business in the EU and Ukraine. In addition, participants worked individually and in teams on developing their own business projects. Optionally, the participants had an opportunity to receive feedback and comments from entrepreneurs in a format of mentorship.
The event was organised and moderated by the Jean Monnet Module team – Bohdan Kovalov, Oleksandr Kubatko, and Vladyslav Piven, lecturers and researchers of the Department of Economics, Entrepreneurship and Business Administration at Sumy State University.
The Business School was held within the framework of a European Commission project – the Jean Monnet Module “Youth and Business: EU Practices for Cooperation” (101126538-YouthBEU-ERASMUS-JMO-2023-HEI-TCH-RSCH).
