It’s hard to imagine Ukrainian culture without honey. As a healing product and an element of tradition, it has been mentioned in ancient chronicles. Today, Ukraine is the largest producer of natural honey in Europe, highly valued around the world—and especially at home.
One of the 65 winners of the “CREATE!” grant program, who received funding to scale their business, is Olena Yatsenko—the co-owner of Yourbee_honey, a honey production company. Her family apiary is located in the city of Kryvyi Rih. This small craft business collects natural honey and produces a variety of honey-based products—from creamed honey to beeswax candles and bee pollen.
Thanks to the “CREATE!” grant program, the business owner was able to purchase production equipment that significantly increased the overall production capacity. The grant funds were used to buy a creaming machine, a product filling dispenser, and other equipment that helped expand production capabilities—specifically, it tripled the production of creamed honey.
“With the grant funds, we purchased professional equipment that helped us scale up our production. Now, we produce 300 liters of creamed honey every month, and the company’s revenue has doubled as a result”, shares Olena Yatsenko.
In the video, the entrepreneur explains how her business transformed after participating in the “CREATE!” initiative, implemented by the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, UMAEF, and the KSE Foundation with the support of OschadBusiness and the KSE Graduate Business School.