“I registered as an individual entrepreneur to change my life for the better,” says Tetyana Myronenko, winner of the WIWAT (Women's Initiatives Work Adamant and Thoughtfully) project.
The woman and her husband Volodymyr started out as freelancers, and have now scaled their business to the House of Printing and Design. Its opening was made possible, in part, thanks to Tetyana's participation in the WIWAT project.
The path to "MYRONENKO printing house&design" began in 2017, when Tetyana officially became an entrepreneur:
"Because there are no guarantees in design work. Maybe they'll like your layout and hire you. Or maybe they'll just steal your work and not pay you anything."
Registering as an entrepreneur was scary, admits Tetyana. But the couple has a rule - there is no turning back. This is how they relate to life situations and try to move only forward and develop. It was this position that helped them cope with the hardships that befell them due to the war and the forced move to Poltava.
”We didn’t know what it was like to be entrepreneurs. But we planned to survive. After moving to Poltava, there were very difficult periods. There was nothing to buy food, there was nowhere to live and what to wear. We decided that we didn’t want to do this anymore,” the woman recalls.
The couple promoted their official design services in various ways, gradually building a client base.
" We only did the design. Others printed. But I wanted to control the quality, because often the image turned out not as it was conceived and created. I understand that the layout is not like that. That's why I set conditions: reprint, because I won't pay for it. I checked everything," says Tetyana.
Therefore, the couple's next step is to provide clients with a comprehensive service: from design to finished products. Continuous training, improving skills, and participating in grant competitions helped them overcome this step.
Currently, MYRONENKO printing house&design has several separate art projects. One of them concerns the creation of souvenir products that will popularize Poltava. It was this idea that Tetyana presented at the project to support internally displaced women NIZHNA and became the winner.
Thanks to financial assistance, the woman purchased a cutter for trimming materials and a heat press with attachments:
”Thanks to the heat press, you can brand different types of products: clothes, dishes, bags. The set includes the necessary attachments. Today, this adds speed to the task. So, you can take on more different orders.”
The printing and design house is ready to provide high-quality execution of orders with an individual and creative approach.
This project produced by "Light of Hope" NGO, funded by The United Nations Women’s Peace andHumanitarian Fund (WPHF) with technical support of UN Women Ukraine.The United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) mobilizes critical support for local and grassroots civil society organizations working on women, peace and security and humanitarian action. WPHF is a flexible and rapid financing mechanism supporting quality interventions designed to enhance the capacity of women to prevent conflict, respond to crises and emergencies, and seize key peacebuilding opportunities.
This publication is produced with funding from the United Nations Women’s Peace andHumanitarian Fund (WPHF), however, the views expressed and content included does not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
Photo: Light of Hope NGO/Stanislav Pantelei
