Ukrainian-born Yuri Kozik and Daria Sazonova are the founders of a Finnish technology startup Advicera Oy. The startup develops software for accelerators, incubators, and other innovation mentoring programs and is supported by several local and international investors such as Peter Vesterbacka.
When the Russian invasion of Ukraine started, Yuri and Daria saw the need to help the people fleeing the war to Finland find opportunities for building a new life in a foreign country.
Ukrainian-born Yuri Kozik and Daria Sazonova, the founders of Advicera Oy, joined forces with AVP and Aalto Online Hybrid Lab to help Ukrainian refugees build a new life in Finland.
Being experts in mentoring entrepreneurs, they came up with the idea to develop a course for Ukrainian refugees. They are now joining forces with AVP and Aalto Online Hybrid Lab to bring the project to life.
The ‘Fresh start UA’ course aims to empower people fleeing the war and help them rebuild their lives. Attendees are provided with skills applicable to getting a job or starting a company in Finland. Topics range from the basics of entrepreneurship and understanding the Finnish ecosystem to psychological safety and work-life balance.
AVP will help with the course contents, Online Hybrid Lab will take charge in creating the online course and provide access to Aalto online learning platform, and Advicera will ensure everything is tailor-made to Ukrainians. The course will be in Ukrainian to make sure everyone will be able to understand the contents.
“The collaboration has been extremely fruitful, and all the parties complement each other well. Yuri and Daria are real experts, and Valeria Azovskaya from Online Hybrid Lab has been an invaluable help in creating the course,” says Lidia Borisova, Head of Education at AVP.
Key goals for the course include:
- Understanding how to launch a business in Finland
- Generating and validating ideas for business
- Knowing about the opportunities to launch a business in the digital economy
- Getting familiar with Finnish business culture
- Maintaining mental health and a good work-life balance
- Receiving support from various organizations in the Finnish entrepreneurship ecosystem
The course is currently in production and is to be opened in June.
