"When starting a new business, set a high bar"

“We sold everything we had to start a farming business,” recalls Oksana Shcherbliuk, head of the Maks Kom enterprise. In 2005, Oksana and her husband started raising pigs, and later began growing crops for animal feed. “We bought dilapidated Soviet-style facilities and rented 30 hectares of farmland. I managed the finances and taxes, and my husband took charge of the operations on the farm. With every year, we grew.”

Hard work paid off: now the enterprise cultivates about 1,600 hectares of land and raises 1,000 pigs.

Last year, logistical challenges overwhelmed Ukraine’s grain storage and drying facilities, affecting small farms like Maks Kom, which struggled to preserve its grain for fodder production and to maintain product quality for processing. As she was looking for alternatives, Oksana learned about the USAID Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity (AGRO) and its support as part of the Agriculture Resilience Initiative-Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine), namely, the opportunity to load and store grain in plastic grain sleeves. AGRO supplied plastic sleeves and grain loading equipment to 11 partners, including Vilia TM Group, which provided grain storage services to smaller farms.

“I am very satisfied with the services. This storage option was the best alternative,” says Oksana who benefitted from this support as she turned to Vilia TM Group for grain storage services. “The pricing was favorable. Now, since setting up our own grain dryer is not commercially sound, we’ll probably use Vilia’s grain drying services, too.”

Grain storage in sleeves helped Oksana’s enterprise cope with the challenges brought about by the war. She recalls early 2022 when food security was on everyone’s mind. Back then, the enterprise worked around-the-clock to produce spam for the army in cooperation with the Berestechkivsky cannery, as well as pasta in cooperation with TM Vilia milling facilities and the Berestechkivsky pasta factory.

Today, Oksana’s priority is to create jobs and grow her business. “We continue sowing, just like we did before. We bought an industrial refrigerator and a straw pellet production line to make our facilities more energy efficient. We also plan to hire up to 10 more people,” shares Oksana. Her plans include setting up a pig-feeding facility. While looking for funding, the enterprise is working on the regulatory side of things, such as design, permits, and documentation. Faithful to her proactive attitude, Oksana believes that success comes to those who work with zeal. “Do not be afraid to make mistakes, and when starting a new business, set a high bar,” she says.