The business of recovery: how entrepreneurship is helping Ukrainian veterans reintegrate into civilian life
While some veterans decide to return to the front line after rotation, others are building a different kind of defence: Ukraine's economic future. Since 2022, the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation has invested over UAH 690 million (approx. US$16 million) in more than 500 veteran-led businesses. The initiative tackles a challenge most nations delay until peace arrives: helping those who've served transition back to civilian life. For Ukraine, waiting means losing both talent and time this country cannot afford to waste.
Dmytro adjusts his phone as he navigates the morning traffic: "I came back to Ukraine on the last flight on 23 February 2022. I landed in Lviv – it was the last flight before the airport closed." Twenty years in London, a successful logistics business – all left behind.
The next morning, on 24 February, he arrived at the military enlistment office at 08:00. It was empty. "They didn't want to take me. They said, 'Go away, you don't even have local registration.'"
Dmytro bought the workers some sweets and coffee – they laughed and told him to get medical clearance. They didn't think he'd actually come back the next day. But he did. Nine months later, after serving on the Kharkiv front and the Donbas borderlands, he returned – not to rest, but to provide children with tasty, balanced school meals through his catering company.
For hundreds of Ukrainian service members like Dmytro, entrepreneurship offers a pathway to civilian reintegration – something that requires significant resilience and determination. An increasing number of veterans are choosing it as a pathway to a new life, and the public is starting to support them on their journey.
From front lines to school canteens
When Dmytro Konstantinov returned from the front line in late 2022, he discovered that expensive equipment – refrigerators, ovens, steam convection ovens worth millions – was sitting around covered up and unused in district schools while elderly canteen workers ladled food from old-fashioned pots and children ate it in their winter coats.
"I don't think of my work as just a business. Yes, I want to earn money, but I also truly feel sorry for those children. I want them to eat proper food."
Dmytro's mother, who had been in the school food business for years, pointed him towards a school in the Zboriv district that needed help. He won the grant from the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation and started with two facilities – a school and a lyceum.
Today, his company provides food for eleven schools across the Ternopil region, navigating the bureaucracy of state menu approvals and managing delicate relationships with Soviet-era education officials. Dmytro meets with parents and teachers, adjusts menus based on what the children would actually enjoy eating, sends staff on professional training courses, and maintains the modern equipment others ignore.
"For me, it's very important that the children actually eat what we serve them, not just that the dishes look good," Dmytro says. His ambition extends beyond full plates: "I want Ukraine to set the standard, so that other countries will look to us as the benchmark, not the other way around."
Diverse ventures, shared determination
Veteran-led businesses span diverse sectors. Andrii Salamakha, who served on the Sumy border and in Bakhmut, now runs an agricultural drone business. Starting with a small computer shop in 2012, he took his first steps into the world of drones in 2021, importing them directly from Chinese marketplaces.
"I had absolutely no idea how the technology worked. The equipment would often crash-land and break while I was figuring it out, and the repairs were quite expensive," he recalls.
Today, with 300,000 hectares processed in 2025 and projections reaching 1 million hectares in the near future, the sector offers immense opportunities.
Working days in the fields. Video: Andrii's personal archive
"A lot of military personnel can do this, especially young ones. It's quite feasible to learn all the intricacies of the work in a day or two," Salamakha notes.
Volodymyr Voloshchuk from Kharkiv, a career soldier for eleven years, has taken an unexpected path – from military service to preserving Ukrainian cultural heritage through traditional embroidery.
After graduating from Kharkiv Tank Military School and completing his first service in 1993, Volodymyr and his wife Natalia built a small hat-making business. When the war began in 2014, he joined the Armed Forces without hesitation – his eldest son, now a captain, served alongside him.
"My wife didn't want to let me go, but I couldn't stand aside. When the enemy comes into your home, there's no other choice."
After Volodymyr's service ended in November 2022 for health reasons, a fellow veteran encouraged him to apply for a grant from the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation.
"I had been trying to defend the country since 2014 and had no time to earn money. To start a business requires serious capital," Volodymyr explains. He won one of the merit-based grant competitions and purchased some embroidery machines.
Though he initially planned to make headwear, Volodymyr discovered a deeper calling. "I wanted to create something to leave behind – a message for posterity," he says. His vision: a collection of rushnyks (traditional embroidered cloths) from all Ukrainian regions, spanning the 17th to 19th centuries, inspired by Kyiv's Ivan Honchar Museum.
Volodymyr has recreated patterns from Kyiv, Sumy, Poltava, and above all Slobozhanshchyna, a historical region in northeastern Ukraine. The commercial reality is challenging – authentic rushnyks have limited market demand. But there has been a steady stream of orders since social media posts by his daughter Kateryna have raised awareness.
Beyond commerce, the Voloshchuk family has sewn nearly 1,500 thermal mitts for drone operators, delivering them to the Armed Forces free of charge.
Investment in veteran-led businesses
Since 2022, the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation has invested over UAH 690 million (approx. US$ 16 million) in veteran business development through VARTO grant programmes. In three years, 545 enterprises have received support – from small workshops to ambitious startups. These businesses have created over 1,450 jobs.
The foundation runs two complementary programmes: large VARTO grants for established ventures, and microfinancing providing up to UAH 20,000 for equipment and goods. Nearly 1,000 veterans and members of their families have received this direct support, totalling UAH 19.5 million (approx. US$460,000).
"Quality projects must have a clear goal, a realistic plan based on market analysis, and a transparent budget," explains Karina Doroshenko, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation.
An expert board evaluates each submission against criteria that include project concept, expected results, social impact and implementation risks.
The foundation monitors the businesses it funds closely, releasing subsequent funding only after reports from previous stages have been approved. Through a collaboration with the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), grant winners receive free consultations from experts on how to run their businesses.
Wartime challenges and strategic support
"The grant is an important impetus to get started, but further growth requires additional investments, deeper business knowledge, and establishing new connections," Doroshenko explains. "But if an entrepreneur wants to develop, they will definitely look for any possible opportunities."
The foundation addresses these challenges through multiple channels. The Veteran Career platform, created with the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, offers courses on applying military experience to civilian professions and business. Through partnerships with LUN and Uklon, the Veterans' Business Map connects entrepreneurs with customers nationwide. The weekly "Veteranobusiness" radio programme on Army FM amplifies success stories every Friday.
"We constantly work to create better conditions for veteran entrepreneurship, as this simultaneously supports our defenders' return to civilian life and contributes to Ukraine's economy," says Doroshenko.
The foundation also partners with Kernel and the MHP-Hromadi Charitable Foundation to co-finance programmes.
"For 2026, we expect an even larger budget for programme implementation. The number of winners will definitely increase progressively as well."
Entrepreneurship as mission
For many veterans, running a business is more than about earning an income – it's a way to regain control, find new purpose, and adapt to life beyond camouflage.
Dmytro's message to other veterans is: "First of all, I advise you not to be afraid. You have to try, then you'll know 100% whether it will work out for you. You've been through the full-scale war – there's nothing left to be afraid of."
Even as the full-scale war continues, Ukraine is building infrastructure for its defenders' futures. Returning from the front line doesn't mean the end of purpose. For hundreds of veterans, it's the beginning of a new mission – building not just businesses, but the country they fought to defend.
Author: Olesia Yankiv
Editing: Teresa Pearce