The project became a space for informal communication, search for ideas, and self-development for those who want to start their own business.
“The main goal of this project is to join the efforts of the country, the science and the business in the development of green rural tourism in Poltava region,” the Department of Culture and Tourism of Poltava RSA mentioned.
The representatives of our university became mentors for this project, as the university had long been working to combine science, business and state priorities. The university was represented by Director of ERIFEM of National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”, Doctor of Economics Iryna Chernysh, Associate Professor of the Department of International Economic Relations and Tourism Viktoriia Makhovka, Teachers of the Department of Public Administration and Law Alla Hliebova, Olena Skrylnyk, and of the Department of Economics, Business and Marketing - Andrii Skrylnyk.
In their reports, the speakers presented the peculiarities of organizing touristic business, explained the principles of planning the activity of homesteads of ‘green’ rural tourism with examples, shared the organizational and legal aspects of doing business in the green tourism.
The Director of ERIFEM of National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”, Doctor of Economics Iryna Chernysh emphasized the practical component of the project, “We are not only scientists, we also want to realize our ideas in the real life, and the cooperation with the Department of Culture and Tourism helps us advance in this. Travelling around Ukraine and abroad helps you understand that Ukrainian are a happy nation, because we have a lot of resources. The participation in the business incubator will help participants to learn how to use them properly.”
According to the Deputy Head of the Office of Tourism and Museum Development of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Poltava RSA Liliia Fedorchenko, this project is a continuation of the theoretic course of the Online School of Rural Green Tourism. The participants of the business incubator are active people, who have already shown themselves at the defense of business ideas at the online school. For the organizers, the key moment was the realism of the offered ideas which would help create a unique interesting aspect of Poltava region.”
“Back in April we understood that it is necessary to support the internal tourism, to continue creating conditions for its development. We came up with an idea of creating an online school of green rural tourism, which has now been already realized. Even during the pandemics, we decided to not stop at that and move on. Our goal is to make the rural green tourism in Poltava region relevant. I want it to be a startup for the new projects,” mentioned Liliia Fedorchenko.
The course consisted of three parts as follows:
1 - 30.06-01.07 - learning in the form of generating creative ideas;
2 - 02.07-03.07 - presenting the best cases of green rural tourism in Poltava region (during two days the participants learned about the ethnic homesteads “Staryi Khutir” in Opishnia, “Country House” and “Kucheriava Khata” in Kremenchuk district);
3 - 06.07 - defending the corrected startups and business projects in green rural tourism in certain procedure every participant received beforehand.
Iryna Chernysh shared her experience of promoting startups in her case “The Formation of a Business Model and Definition of Key Working Blocks”, spoke about the only Startup School of Poltava region operating at National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”. Many business projects of the school graduates became successful and were realized in the cities and communities of Poltava region.
“Business model is a combination of parameters describing the principle scheme of building business. Among the successful preconditions of a business project are the understanding of touristic business value and knowledge of the consumers’ segment. ‘Whom do we work for? Which consumer is the most important? Who buys our services?’ - the answers of these and other relevant questions provide the insight into the peculiarities of doing business,” commented Iryna Chernysh.
The speaker told the participants how to present their ideas, with what should they begin promoting it, and commented on the 10 brightest Ukrainian startups of last years in the case “Marketing of Startup Projects”.
Within the project, the participants learned to generate creative ideas, build partnerships, hold business negotiations, and learned business insights.
“Our participants of the business incubator communicated with the owners of the homesteads about what difficulties they faced in tourism, what should be considered when planning their own business. This practical experience will add to the theoretic knowledge they received earlier and be useful for young business owners,” Liliia Fedorchenko said.
Olena Zahora, a participant of the project, shared her thoughts, “It is impressive how our Poltava citizens, owners of the homesteads love this business, want to develop it in Ukraine and in Poltava region. During the lockdown, when many establishments got closed, the green rural tourism becomes especially popular.”
According to the results of the course, every participant received a certificate.
The second wave of Covid-19 pandemics is expected in fall, so Poltava region plans to develop tourism in the online form.
The touristic logo of Poltava region is now being developed and prepared for public discussion.
Media Center of
National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
