Unique Project For Belarusian Women Entrepreneurs Launches In Warsaw
3- 14.01.2025, 14:35
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Prominent Polish volunteer heads it.
Many Belarusians who went through repression and came to Poland know the family of Piotr and Katarzyna Skopiec, who run the Humanosh Foundation. Their Peace House project, which has been operating since 2020, has welcomed dozens of our compatriots who fled repression in their homeland.
Since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the Humanosh Foundation has been actively involved in humanitarian assistance to this country.
Today, Katarzyna Skopiec runs another project, the business incubator, called Together for the Future ("Razem dla przyszłości"). It is aimed at helping Belarusians who want to open their own business in Poland.
Charter97.org spoke with Katarzyna about the unique nature of this initiative:
— I conduct mentoring for women and help personal development. I help them to find their calling and remove obstacles in their professional careers. There are seven such meetings with different topics.
I want to share what I have achieved in my professional career. I am a mother of four children, and I head the Humanosh Foundation. In addition, I manage two firms, worked both in the corporation and ran my own business. I would like to share my mission — to help unlock the potential — with the Belarusian women who came here in different situations. I do not focus here on political refugees, although our foundation helps them. Here I would just like to help women.
What is the difference between what I do for Polish women and what I do for Belarusian women? The Belarusian women need more help. To open a new company, to start a business, to get some kind of business education. Individual approach is all over here.
This is not a free program, but the price depends on the woman's situation. If she is in a difficult situation, we can help, because we manage the fund.
The main target group are women, but we also help men. There were cases. We helped electrician Andrei to strat business, he came to Poland as a political refugee. By the way, he's doing quite well in business. We also help with practical advice. For example, if a person does not have enough money to rent an apartment in Warsaw, you can find a house outside the city to register a company and live there. I'm just giving an example of what our advice might be.
There are seven of these meetings. At the first meeting, I try to find out what help, what changes a particular person needs in order to achieve the goal by the end of these classes. The first woman who came to my courses was Belarusian Anastasia, who came to Poland in 2019. She works, she has a husband, a stable situation, but she does not feel fully realized. For example, because of her accent. She speaks fluent Polish, but does not always feel support and acceptance from the Poles.
First, we define values and priorities, then we define the goal, develop a strategy. Maybe someone wants to stop being a cleaner and want to start a cleaning company. I think that sometimes a person just needs to say: "Look, you know how to do it, you will succeed. If you want to start a business, we will help you."
I try to give them real life examples of how we can help. Recently, a woman from the Netherlands came to us. “I can take out a loan to buy a housing,” she said. I offered her not to live in this house, but to rent it out. She was able to rent a smaller home, and after a while take out a new loan.
In each case, a five-year, longer-term plan is needed.
Many Belarusian women today work at the cash desks in shops, cleaners, in warehouses. They need help.
I would like to say to the Belarusian women, that even though you are in Poland, feel at home and do not think that someone once oppressed you. Let them abstract from the place in which they are and do not feel worse than someone else.
Those wishing to enroll in the "Razem dla przyszłości" program can contact Katarzyna Skopiec at +48 661 331 800
Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL97116022020000000216711123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims
You can contact us by the e-mail charter97@gmail.com
