From the beginning of next year, unemployed members of low-income families who are registered as unemployed will have a unique opportunity to start a new life. The state offers them financial assistance to start their own business. The aid is interest-free and repayable — it will have to be repaid after three years of business. But the amount refunded will be reduced by the amount of taxes paid over three years and the single social contribution.
According to the minister, the launch of such a program is the result of scaling up a pilot project called the Helping Hand. It was implemented in 2016-2019 by the Ministry of social policy of Ukraine with the support of the World Bank. As a result of the project, the state received taxpayers instead of the low-income unemployed, who were paid social assistance on a monthly basis, who also created new jobs.
"Territorial communities have received economic recovery, new jobs and wealthier residents. Finally, the project participants themselves took their destiny into their own hands and came out of poverty. The monthly income of most project participants after a year of work ranged from ₴30 to ₴120 thousand ($1,200 — $ 4000)," said Maryna Lazebna.
Public investment in the employment incentive program in the first year can give about 2-3 thousand new small entrepreneurs.
