Oschadbank and the European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE DF) signed a grant agreement at URC 2026 in Gdańsk (Poland) signed a EUR 2 million grant agreement aimed at supporting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in Ukraine, under which individual grants can reach up to EUR 100,000.
As the bank announced on Friday, the agreement was signed on June 25 with financial support from the European Union.
"As part of this initiative, a grant fund of up to EUR 2 million is being established, which will be combined with loan financing from Oschadbank to support Ukrainian enterprises in resuming their operations, implementing investment projects, creating jobs, and to strengthen the resilience of the Ukrainian economy amid the war," Oschadbank said.
It clarified that funding will be available to enterprises in three main categories: agribusiness, companies significantly affected by the war, and enterprises implementing projects for recovery, production modernization, logistics development, and improving energy resilience.
Within the program, special attention will be given to enterprises from regions most affected by hostilities, as well as businesses founded or led by women, veterans, internally displaced persons, young entrepreneurs, and people with disabilities.
"Individual grants may reach up to EUR 100,000, depending on the project category and program terms," Oschadbank said.
As noted, this grant program is part of a broader partnership under which the EFSE Sub-Fund for Ukraine provided Oschadbank with EUR 20 million in funding in local currency, enabling the bank to expand lending to Ukrainian businesses.
"Thanks to the new program with EFSE, Ukrainian entrepreneurs will receive additional resources for development, production modernization, restoration of damaged assets, and implementation of energy-independent solutions (…). For Oschadbank, supporting businesses remains one of the key priorities, as it is entrepreneurs who create jobs, ensure the resilience of communities, and bring Ukraine closer to economic recovery," Oschadbank Board Member Natalia Butkova-Vitvitska said.
In addition, Oschadbank announced the signing of a memorandum of cooperation with the Deutsche Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation (German Savings Banks Foundation for International Cooperation). As noted, the new partnership is a logical continuation of a project launched by the parties in 2023 to implement sustainable development standards (ESG).
This time, the financial institutions will focus on implementing large-scale internal transformations. In particular, the partnership will involve cooperation in modernizing management systems to improve the Ukrainian bank's operational efficiency, with a strong emphasis on technology and risk management.
As previously reported, Oschadbank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed an agreement at URC 2026 to launch a credit risk-sharing program with an initial tranche of EUR 150 million and the option to gradually increase the total limit to EUR 510 million. According to the state-owned bank, the first tranche will be directed toward lending to the corporate sector and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and any further increase in the limit will be subject to the EBRD's decision.
