«There are many driven individuals around us, and giving them a chance to grow is our main priority», – Vlada Nedak, founder of the Womenʼs Opportunities in Ukraine Charitable Foundation

In 2022, the fund was founded by Vlada Nedak, who has been advocating for womenʼs rights, development, and self-realization for over 25 years. Despite being located in Kryvyi Rih, the fund supports women across Ukraine, especially in frontline cities. Over three years, the total amount of support provided by the fund has exceeded 50 million hryvnias. In an interview with Forbes BrandVoice, Vlada Nedak covered the fundʼs main areas of assistance and its key achievements.

Supporting Womenʼs Entrepreneurship

Could you say the war acted as a catalyst for the creation of the Womenʼs Opportunities in Ukraine Charitable Foundation?

On the one hand, it was a quick response to get humanitarian projects going after the full-scale invasion hit. But on the flip side, Iʼd been mulling over the idea for the foundation for a few years; it was something I came up with while I was at the Lviv Business School. We started out handing food kits and organizing evacuation buses from the Kharkiv region, but it became clear that wasnʼt cutting it. We needed a more lasting solution – something that would give a woman a leg to stand on for more than just the immediate future, like six months or longer. Furthermore, we finally landed on a pilot project: helping a displaced woman from Donbas build a laundry business right there in the dorm – we bought her a washing machine. Her business really took off, and thatʼs when we knew the idea had legs. Once we got the foundation off the ground, we decided right away to provide the actual equipment instead of just giving money. By November 2022, we held our first nationwide grant competition for women entrepreneurs and got over a hundred applications.

How did you choose the winners?

Just going by the application form, it was tough to get a feel for whether an idea was worth investing in. But when I opened up the motivation letters, I was just overwhelmed by the emotion. Iʼd read them and be so impressed by how these women, who had lost absolutely everything, were finding the strength to rebuild their lives. We initially thought weʼd support maybe five to seven projects, but after the first competition, we ended up selecting a whopping 37 applications. There were all sorts of dreams: someone wanted to open a massage studio, someone else was sewing branded hoodies, and another person was setting up childrenʼs play areas. One woman from Mykolaiv really stuck with me – she was 63. She does technical engineering surveys of buildings and structures, assessing homes that have been damaged by Russian strikes. Right now, her work is more in demand than ever, and she travels all over Ukraine for assignments. We provided grant funding for her to buy a computer that supports AutoCAD, Revit, 3dsMax, and the necessary calculation software.

What are the grant amounts the foundation provides?

Initially, the grant amount started at 25,000 hryvnias, but now the maximum size goes up to 150,000 hryvnias. In just two years, weʼve held six grant competitions in different regions of Ukraine. Weʼre currently processing the seventh one, which covers the Zhytomyr and Chernihiv regions. For that one, we received 60 applications, and our immediate plans include launching a mini-grant competition in the Lviv region.

Humanitarian and Educational Projects

What kind of humanitarian projects does the foundation support?

During the blackouts, we bought and donated over 160 generators to schools and medical facilities. Separately, we ran three rounds of the «Powering Business» competition, where we awarded grants for small women-owned businesses to purchase generators and EcoFlow power stations.

While we initially took applications through social media – Instagram and Facebook – word of mouth took over after a while. People would just email us out of the blue, asking things like whether we help pregnant women. One time, we got an email from a pregnant woman with a tough situation who said sheʼd be grateful for any help at all. Thatʼs how our baby boxes came about, mostly filled with products from Ukrainian manufacturers, worth almost three thousand hryvnias each. And then another time, a woman from Zaporizhzhia wrote to us whose mother had severe dementia. She couldnʼt leave her to go out and work. But this woman was an artist, so with a laptop, she could look for clients online. Even though her situation didnʼt really fit any of our existing programs, we bought her a laptop – we wanted her to feel like thereʼs still good in the world.

We also provide travel grants, meaning we cover travel and accommodation costs for women to attend educational programs or courses. For example, we paid for a woman from Lviv to travel to Dubai, where she led a masterclass – performing a unique eye surgery on a woman who had been injured in Russian shelling. In 2024, the foundation enabled 14 Ukrainian women to attend international events in 9 different countries.

This year, you launched the FemAgro educational grant project. What do the women learn?

We teach them the ins and outs of farming, specifically how to set up greenhouses and grow vegetables or flowers in them. We also work on their mindset – helping them develop an entrepreneurial vision, teaching them to think in business terms, how to plan, scale up, build marketing strategies, and find partners. Right now, we have 86 women from three regions – Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, and Poltava – enrolled in the course. After the training, these aspiring entrepreneurs will present their projects, and 15 of them will receive a 150,000 hryvnia grant to set up their greenhouses. But giving a grant to buy a greenhouse is one thing, and actually assembling it is another. That also takes money. There are big companies in Ukraine that do this kind of work, and weʼre already in talks with them about assembling the greenhouses for our winners.

As for the course content, we try to give practical advice so that itʼs easier for the women to sell their products later on. For example, weʼve included a lecture on the principle of traceability. This is about tracking the history of a product at every stage of its creation – from growing or production right through to when it reaches the consumer. By scanning a QR code on the label, you can get detailed information about the productʼs region of origin, growing methods, and even the people involved in making it. This approach aligns with European standards, ensures transparency, and boosts consumer trust.

What values does the Womenʼs Opportunities Foundation stand for?

My grandpa instilled the right values in me. I saw how he treated everyone with the same warmth, no matter their rank or status. There are many driven individuals around us, and giving them a chance to grow is our main priority. Another principle we follow at the foundation is called «Ripples on the Water». Itʼs a Jewish concept where, after receiving help, a person should continue the good deed, either with money or attention. In the last two competitions, we asked the women if theyʼd be willing to donate 10% of their products or services to charity, and we havenʼt had a single refusal. For example, one of our grant recipients supports graduates from low-income families who often canʼt afford formal wear for their school graduation. She gives them not just a dress, but also a sense of self-confidence, which is crucial for personal development. Another grant recipient, together with the mamaplantatree platform, planted 50 trees, which became a symbol of demining Ukrainian lands.

About Project Kesher in Ukraine

Whatʼs the mission of the nationwide organization Project Kesher in Ukraine? What social initiatives have you implemented?

This project supports the modern Jewish community through womenʼs leadership – we have a network of 500 women in Ukraine and beyond. We aim to preserve Jewish traditions and build a contemporary Jewish community where both women and men can thrive. Project Kesher operates in three main areas: informal Jewish education, womenʼs support, and community development. We bring many initiatives for women to life. For instance, «Mum for Mum» is a project where a mentor mother supports a new mom during the first year of her childʼs life. Itʼs not about «I know best» advice, but more about open, heartfelt conversations about anything and everything. This project has been running in Ukraine for nine years now. I have to mention that recently, during a hostile attack in Dnipro, one of our mentors, Olha Semirenko, tragically died when a drone hit her building. It was a devastating shock for all of us.

We bring women together at different stages of life – from very young girls to older women. For example, a key goal of our «Not on Pause» project is to remove the social stigma around menopause and help women navigate these changes comfortably. Our society is still full of prejudice and stereotypes surrounding this topic. We felt it was time for women to stop going through this period alone, so we involved experts and provided women with emotional and psychological support.

The organization also has an educational goal – we translate primary Jewish texts into Ukrainian. A year ago, for Passover, we published the Haggadah «For Our Freedom», which was created with respect for the traditions of Ukrainian Jews. It includes many facts about Passover celebrations in our country during different periods and how Jewish tradition returned to Ukraine after decades of Soviet oppression. The collection also features quotes from prominent Ukrainian Jews of the past and contemporary Ukrainian public figures, artists, and poets.

What other projects are you planning to bring to life shortly?

I believe our targeted projects, the ones that address really specific needs, deserve a special shout-out, like the «Childrenʼs Mental First Aid Kit». This cool little kit was the brainchild of an American woman who worked with kids who had cancer. Even though itʼs called a first aid kit, itʼs not medicine at all. Itʼs just a few simple things to help kids deal with fear, anger, and anxiety. Inside, youʼll find animal finger puppets, a bottle of bubbles, a squishy ball, colored pencils, that kind of thing. When kids use these kits with an adult, they learn how to work through their negative feelings and process them more easily. Iʼm a real believer in this project, and even though weʼve already rolled it out in some communities in the Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions, I think it should be in every school, especially the ones closest to the front lines.

My growth as a leader took root in the basic framework of Project Kesher in Ukraine. It wasnʼt an instant transformation; Iʼm on this journey alongside women and for women. «The power of womenʼs unity» isnʼt just our motto, itʼs something we live by every single day.