Success stories

New entrepreneur:
Ruslan Rudenko (Ukraine)
Age: 34
Company name: Agrarian company - Rudenko R. Y. (Start-up)
Sector of activity: Food, beverages, tobacco and related products

Host entrepreneur:
Iryna Gavrylova (Bulgaria)
Age: 41
Company name: CMYK Ingredients | www.cmykingredients.com (16 years of experience)
Sector of activity: Food, beverages, tobacco and related products

Ruslan Rudenko is a young entrepreneur from Ukraine who started his agricultural business in 2019. His goal was to revive the production of mustard and horseradish according to the traditional recipes that were popular in eastern Ukraine in Soviet times. On the other hand, he wanted to adopt the experience and standards of European partners and establish mutually beneficial international cooperation that would give his company a competitive edge. Iryna Gavrylova is an established entrepreneur based in Bulgaria. She runs "CMYK Ingredients", a company operating in the field of food technology research and development. Iryna has developed a new organic line of liquid spices and was in the process of launching the new product. Ruslan and Iryna decided to exchange ideas and share their passions and ideas through the EYE programme.

From the first day of the experience, the entrepreneurs set goals and plans for the entire duration of the exchange. Every week of the experience was an incentive for them to keep going. Ruslan learned about the EU market for organic products in the niche of organic species in Bulgaria, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He visited Bulgarian events and the Anuga fair to promote the new product and make new contacts. Ruslan and Iryna created new flavours of mustard sauces based on the technology of fermentation grain and mustard powder. Through experimentation and feedback from a focus group from Ukraine, the entrepreneurs obtained two preferred flavours of sauce and three flavours of honey. Ruslan represented CMYK blend of honey and liquid spices and tested samples in a focus group in Ukraine. Later, he focused on organising the representation of liquid spices, honey and mustard sauces on the Ukrainian market under his brand. The entrepreneurs held regular meetings to discuss strengths and weaknesses of the project.

Ruslan worked closely with Iryna on all aspects of running the business, from EU legislation to marketing. They discussed operating in the EU market and supplying raw materials from Ukraine. This allowed Ruslan to discover organic markets and participate in exhibitions with Iryna's company. Iryna was a great mentor for Ruslan and together they built a European business network. Ruslan developed new mustard flavours and a new business idea for franchising; he also registered a company for international trade in Ukrainian organic cereals and Bulgarian organic flavours in Slovakia in February 2022. Iryna has expanded her business and found new partners in Ukraine. Ruslan prepares Ukrainian products for trade fairs and looks for new distribution channels. Thanks to the cooperation, both have up-to-date information about the food market and have agreed to continue their business cooperation under the agreement on the use of recipes and trade of Lecar products in the markets of Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

For more information, please contact the local contact points involved in the exchange:

New entrepreneur's contact point:
LLC "CIVITTA UKRAINE" (Kyiv, Ukraine)

Host entrepreneur's contact point:
Foundation Cluster Information and Communication Technologies (Sofia, Bulgaria)

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