Re:Start UA was a hybrid education program for people who had fled the war in Ukraine to Leipzig. It enabled them to start social businesses in Germany and to help rebuild their home country. Participants gained hands-on knowledge of entrepreneurship, sustainability and funding through a digital learning platform, offline workshops and personal mentoring.
The program focused on business models with high public value: ideas that solve a problem for society or prevent one from emerging. Participants worked on topics such as education, mental health, social integration, art and infrastructure, and left with a toolbox of skills and a concrete plan for creating added value for the public.
From April 3 to June 29, 2023, participants worked through 12 in-depth learning modules on our digital education platform. The modules covered the basics of entrepreneurship, such as prototyping, business modelling and marketing. Three of them went deeper into public value: sustainability, impact and social innovation. Weekly group meetings with international experts accompanied the self-study.
In five full-day workshops at different locations, participants put their knowledge to work. With the support of external mentors, they developed business models, built websites and created pitch decks. The workshops also brought them together with companies, public administrations, research institutions and investors. The program concluded with a public pitch event at Mach'n Festival 2023 in Leipzig.
The program was open to Ukrainian nationals aged 18 or older who lived in Leipzig and had registered there after February 24, 2022. No prior experience in entrepreneurship, no financial resources and no business idea were required. What participants needed was motivation, eight to ten hours a week, a problem they wanted to solve, a laptop and good English.
The project was co-funded by the L-Gruppe and private donations.
On-demand content on a digital education platform, combined with offline events for hands-on training, mentoring and networking.
Tailor-made content from international mentors with experiences in business, academia and public administration.
Content modules could be combined, expanded and adapted to individual learning styles and goals.
The program was designed so that it could be extended to other underrepresented target groups.
