Success stories

New entrepreneur:
Reshetova Daria (Ukraine)
Age: 26
Company name: Splash SMM Agency (Start-up)
Sector of activity: Advertising,Promotion, Media

Host entrepreneur:
Smiltėja Žlabienė (Lithuania)
Age: 42
Company name: Moteru Vakarones | https://moteruvakarones.lt/ (13 years of experience)
Sector of activity: Community, social and personal services

Daria Reshetova, a 26-year-old aspiring entrepreneur from Ukraine, has worked as a subscription manager for several clothing and shoe brands. She had to flee her hometown because of the Ukrainian-Russian war. Daria always wanted to start her own consulting business and learned that the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme offers Ukrainian would-be entrepreneurs the opportunity to learn how to run a business from experienced business people. Together with Smiltėja Žlabienė, the owner of Moteru Vakarones, Daria set out to conquer the Lithuanian advertising market. Moteru Vakarones is a social enterprise that focuses on creating counselling services for a self-contained and self-help women groups. Thanks to Smiltėja's 13 years of experience, she and Daria were a good fit.

The aim of the exchange was to build a strong team with mutual teaching and learning. During the exchange, Daria set herself the task of gaining knowledge about the characteristics of the business environment in Lithuania and the business culture of Moteru Vakarones, developing a deeper understanding of Lithuanian culture and the advertising market in order to start her own micro-enterprise in Lithuania, learning business strategies and creating a business plan for a future activity in the consultancy sector that would be useful for Smiltėja and Daria. Smiltėja aimed to gain more knowledge about the Ukrainian counselling market in order to expand her counselling sales, get advice about the business and its strategy from Daria's point of view, learn more and try new promotional tools and strategies.

After completing the exchange, Daria intends to set up her marketing agency in Lithuania. As a Ukrainian citizen, it should not be a problem to obtain the necessary permission to set up a business in Lithuania. However, the legal registration in a foreign country is still to be mastered. Nevertheless, Daria firmly hopes that by 2023 her company will be actively working with clients and have a full staff. Thanks to the EYE programme, she has gained valuable experience in dealing with various organisational matters that will help her build her business from the ground up. Daria has already started using the information she has learned to improve her business plan and plan the budget and deadlines. This gives Daria an incredible incentive to pursue her goals, with a focus on applying her knowledge as soon as possible. Even after the exchange, she stays in touch with Smilteja and wants to push her business further.

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

New entrepreneur's contact point:
Alfred Nobel University (Dnipro, Ukraine)

Host entrepreneur's contact point:
European social entrepreneurship and innovative studies institute (Kaunas, Lithuania)

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