Coaching for Veterans

SPECIAL PROJECT

“Coaching for Veterans�

Stories about personal and professional development tools proving useful to ex-servicepersons

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The Special Project “Coaching for Veterans” consists of five stories about personal and professional development tools proving useful to former Ukrainian servicepersons and their family members.

Only yesterday, the veterans did not know how to go back to peaceful life, discover a new meaning for it and pull themselves together. But today they already find possibilities for self-fulfillment in peaceful professions, start their own businesses, rally around like-minded people and join hands to work out plans for the future. Isn’t it a miracle?

All of that became possible due to the Project “All4One: Comprehensive Program of Psychological and Mentoring Support for Veterans” implemented by the East Europe Foundation with financial support of the British Embassy in Ukraine.

Within the All4One framework, the coaching component was realized in just a few months. More than 20 veterans who had become coaches worked with more than 300 comrades-in-arms and their close people.

The five stories of this Special Project highlight the results of those activities.

Texts written by Yulia Hudoshnyk

The materials have been prepared under the Project “All4One: Comprehensive Program of Psychological and Mentoring Support for Veterans” implemented by the East Europe Foundation with financial support of the British Embassy in Ukraine. The opinions and statements presented herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the United Kingdom Government

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Contents:

First story.

Second story.

Third story.

Coaching for Families of ATO Veterans: Unexpected Results

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How a Spy Became a Candied Fruit Expert

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ATO Veteran Serhii Otchych: “Veterans Lack Motivation.

It is Provided by Coaching”

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Fourth story.

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Fifth story.

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ATO Veteran Andrii Balan: “Previously, All the Thoughts Were Only about the War; Now, about the Community”

ATO Veteran Nazar Fomin: “Ukrainians Are Afraid of Responsibility”

FIRST STORY

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Anatolii Lipskyi past experience includes several years of service and “Ilovaisk entrapment.”

Coaching for Families of ATO Veterans: Unexpected Results Everyone returning from the war zone benefits from rehabilitation in an own special way. Those who waited for them at home also need support. This story is about the change that occurred in the life of a couple as a result of the All4One Coaching Program.

Anatolii Lipskyi is a disabled war veteran. His past experience includes several years of service and “the Ilovaisk entrapment.” He survived it.

Several years later, death tried to catch him again. In 2017 Anatolii tripped an antitank mine. Luckily, he was promptly taken to a hospital, where his body, in his own words, “was pieced together.”

After that, Anatolii could no longer be in the war. But he could not get accustomed to civilian life either. Work with ATO soldiers was the purpose of weekly visits of a psychologist to the town where the veteran lived.

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However, the ex-serviceman tried to stay as far away as he could from the visitor. He had no trust in such rehabilitation process and did not want to share any of his problems with others. This went on until he accidentally got acquainted with Liudmyla Hlyniana, coachess of the East Europe Foundations Project “All4One.” “It is a great miracle that he wished to work with me. I think it was of benefit that I also was at the war for a while, as a doctor at the frontline.

This helped him confide in me. Anatolii began to expose himself, to talk about things he had not mentioned before,” the coachess said.

The two met during a joint trip to Odesa, to a ceremony inaugurating a space for veterans. Liudmyla jokingly remarks that she was so eager to provide help as fast as possible that she conducted her first coaching session while “on secondment.” After the trip, she continued to communicate with Anatolii via telephone.

One evening he gave the receiver to his partner Natalia. “My husband recommended coaching to me so strongly that I also got interested in trying it. And after the first conversation with Liudmyla I got really excited and wanted to have some more,” Natalia acknowledges.

Changes at all the fronts It is quite hard for veterans to adapt to civilian reality. Some feel unwanted and underestimated; some are vexed with the indifference of the people around; some are haunted by war memories. “Anatolii had a very negative reaction to various stresses, was highly sensitive to conflicts in society,” the coachess says.

His wife adds, “Veterans have a lot of aggression; they feel that they are not taken seriously and not accepted. Coaching was of great help to my husband. I know that work with the mind requires more time; but there are already certain improvements,” Natalia says. She sees some improvements in their relations as well: “My husband had some concussions. At times I didn’t know how to communicate with him. Those are things to which you are not prepared and you don’t understand what to do with them. Therefore, the recommendation from the specialist was very useful for me.”

In the past, the woman already communicated with psychologists; but although they were also working with veterans, the communication failed over and over again. “I found a common language with Liudmyla because she herself is a participant in military actions. She knows it all from the inside and feels it better. She managed to provide a practical explanation for the questions that had been worrying me. And as to what psychologists say ‘from the books’ – how it should be – well, I can read it myself.”

For Natalia, coaching became an opportunity for self-development.

She frankly says that it was probably the first time ever that she began thinking about who she was. “We had a session about searching for one’s self deep inside. For the first time, I began to ponder on who I am for myself and for my family. You cannot conduct such a session for yourself,” the woman smiles.

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Work with the coachess also inspired her to restore and strengthen friendly relations. Previously, Natalia did not see it as her goal to actively stay in touch with friends. A few phone calls on holidays throughout the year seemed to be enough. “Once I asked her: Why don’t you take a piece of paper, write down your friends’ telephone numbers and start dialing them periodically?” Liudmyla recalls.

Natalia herself notes that her family has always been the most important thing for her; but external communication was not among her priorities.

In this case, however, she started thinking for the first time about the need to expand the circle of communication. Nowadays, with a plan on her hands, she doesn’t get in touch with friends only once in a blue moon.

Communication with them is now ranking high on her list of priorities.

Planning and setting objectives Another positive aspect of the coaching sessions: Natalia is going to enter a college. She works as a librarian, but has no specialized education. “She has read a lot; it is extremely interesting to communicate with her. But all her previous education is self-education,” the coachess says. Owing to the All4One Project, Natalia became focused, began planning, and learned how to set goals. She says that she used to act spontaneously in the past, but now she acts in accordance with a clear-cut plan and this yields results in all spheres of life: health, work, and relations.

However, both are of the opinion that the greatest achievement of coaching is … her marriage. The couple had been cohabiting for 15 years.

Then the sessions with the coachess prompted Anatolii to propose marriage to Natalia. “I knew it in advance, but did not reveal the secret to Natalia. The registration of the marriage was scheduled for April 4. So I was very anxious that it might be postponed because of the quarantine.

I kept my fingers crossed for it to happen in spite of everything. Well, Natalia has been waiting for that for so many years!” Liudmyla says.

The marriage was registered and now the couple are officially married.

Both note that communication with the coachess played an important role in it. Liudmyla is pleased that the two began to turn into reality everything that had been discussed during the sessions.

The couple have been helping our warriors in every way they can, caring for them and sending aid to the frontline. Natalia works with children from families in crisis. What is she dreaming of? Natalia says that her dream does not concern her alone: “I have such a strong dream that the war will be over and that all will stay healthy. Our soldiers want to be back home.”

How a Spy Became a Candied Fruit Expert

SECOND STORY

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Lilia Sova had a successful business but she lost it in the war. Likewise, she lost her house and everything she had been creating for years. After the bitter experience at the frontline, the decision to start all over again was a very difficult one. This is a story of how the coaching program under the All4One Project helped her.

With the war, Lilia Sova became a spy behind enemy lines

“I was happy before the war. And at that time I already knew it for sure – it wasn’t something I realized only when I lost everything. I remember going out on the terrace of my house in Donetsk and thinking, ‘Oh Lord, what a happy person I am! I got everything I wanted in life,’ Lilia Sova recalls. She had an impeccable reputation, a successful property valuation business, and a wide range of acquaintances. In her life there was everything that she needed – her family, her own house, a work that she loved, and wealth. But the war changed everything.

Lilia did not leave Donetsk immediately. Many people whom she knew personally became the military leadership of the self-proclaimed republic.

And instead of appraising property, Lilia took up a different line of work: she became a spy behind enemy lines.

“They couldn’t determine for a long time who was informing on them.

I recall how once, at the table, their head told me: ‘A certain Lily Sova has been around here; when I find her, I’ll cut her into stripes with my knife!’

And he was talking about me! I was sitting there by his side,” Lilia tells her story. The tension was growing because the spy could be exposed any moment. She says she became terribly paranoid then, for she could expect danger from anywhere.

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When they finally exposed her and were about to catch her, Lily miraculously managed to escape. For three years, she was in service with our military at the frontline. With them, she felt much safer than in Donetsk. However, the fear of someone coming to get her did not disappear.

Even after returning to peaceful life that feeling did not leave her for a long time: “For about a year my state of mind was such that I feared I would be caught any minute and taken to occupied territory. I was scared not so much of death, but of being tormented to death. It was those tortures that I was really afraid of,” the veteran recalls.

She says that after everything she has been through she became very cautious of people: “If the occupants could not track me down for such a long time, this does not mean that someone drinking coffee next to me is not spying on me.” From her “horrible paranoia” in Donetsk she switched to a “milder” condition at the frontline; and after returning to civilian life, “to a more or less normal one.”

“But this will probably stay with me for the rest of my life,” the veteran acknowledges.

Home Until recently, all of Lilia’s thoughts were about being at the frontline and she could not focus on anything else: “I stayed at war for four years without leaving for a second. This radically changes you and your worldview. It was very hard to switch myself from the war, from survival to peaceful life and to start doing something here. Therefore, I attend different courses so as to direct my brain into a civilian channel.”

One of such courses is the East Europe Foundation’s Project “All4One.” It features coaching support for ATO veterans which is conducive to their rehabilitation. Viktoria Solodukhina, Lilia’s coachess, says that she was pleasantly impressed by the changes in the veteran’s life: “The war did not let Lilia go. When we first met and discussed her values, she put her comrades-in-arms in second place. A few more values were also related to the military subject. But at the end of our collaborative effort the situation changed drastically.”

In the opinion of the coachess, one of the merits of their collaboration was that Lilia began to believe in “the impossible.” She had lost her home in Donetsk and was dreaming of having a place of her own again. That was the number one item in her list of values.

“I love the land very much. I don’t need hectares – four or five ares would be enough. Just to walk there, to talk to my plants – that would make me furiously happy, I would catch my nirvana. Therefore, when I lost everything in the war, it was worse than any crisis. I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t do anything at all,” the veteran says.

The coaching sessions helped to discuss in detail everything Lilia was concerned about, to review all possible and impossible options and to start believing again that she could have a space of her own. Now she is slowly recreating what she lost in the war.

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“Just a hobby” Lilia could not make up her mind to restart business either. Once she brought to the session something she had been making with her own hands. Viktoria reacted enthusiastically: “Wow, this is something to enter the market with!” After hearing this, Lilia just shrugged her shoulders: “It’s just a hobby!”

The coachess convinced her that this talent should be shared in the network. And it was not long before the veteran herself saw that what she thought was “just a hobby” could be valuable for others. Lilia made candied fruit at home, became engrossed in the process and prepared too much. What remained had to be distributed somehow. Then she published some photos of her sweets online. And she could not believe her eyes: requests started pouring in from everywhere. It was all bought in an hour or so. After a while, people began asking her whether she had some more, because Lilia’s candied fruit products were found to be very tasty.

“I had never sold anything made with my own hands. And I was sure that I was not good at selling things. I was always giving everything away as presents and made no money on anything. Viktoria cleared up the mess in my head and I realized that this could become a basis for a business,” Lilia laughs.

The last time the coachess met the veteran, she asked her trainee to once again write down the most important things in her life. Then she presented the sheet from their first meeting. “Lilia, look, your values have changed.

Not a word about the war remaining. Now the focus is on the future.”

Viktoria showed both sheets to the woman, so that she could see for herself that it was true. Lilia was impressed: “The first time we did this, I was still entirely preoccupied with the war. Now the war is off the list of priorities. Had we not performed the repeat analysis, I would not have even taken note of that change.”

The coachess emphasizes that Lilia is a rather unordinary person: “She is a powerful spy with an excellent memory who grasps everything in a single flash. I have clients whom I see every week, because they need crutches to motivate and support them. Lilia doesn’t need any crutches.

The few sessions that we had – they provided her with an impetus and then she went ahead on her own.”

At present, the veteran is setting up home production of candied fruit and getting ready for the hot summer season. She says she will be making her tasty treats all day long.

THIRD STORY

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Serhii Otchych makes money by exposing lies

ATO Veteran Serhii Otchych: “Veterans Lack Motivation.

It is Provided by Coaching” Can you tell truth from lies? Serhii Otchych does it easily and even makes money by using this skill. Serhii’s story is about how to become an expert in identifying lies and starting an own business with the help of a coach.

“I had several business ideas. This may be good for some people, but it became a problem for me,” the ATO veteran begins the story about starting his own business. Those ideas gave him no rest for several years.

He just had to choose one particular sphere of work, take a decision and start implementing it.

After finishing service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine in November 2019, he decided to try himself out in business: “I was so lucky that the All4One Project for veterans had just started; I saw it [the announcement], sent an application and chose a coach for myself.”

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The East Europe Foundation’s All4One Project involves four months of coaching support for ATO veterans in developing their own businesses.

For Serhii, this became an opportunity to combine his knowledge and experience with his interests and launch an own business.

The lie detector and the first earnings “Serhii is one of those people who will have no motivation to act when dealing with an idea outside their system of values. So we identified the areas that are the most important and interesting ones to him personally.

Then we analyzed his strengths and weaknesses, the opportunities and threats on the market. Eventually, we selected several ideas. And then only one from among them – which was closest to him,” says Serhii’s coachess Olena Trehubenko.

That idea was work with the lie detector. Before that, Serhii had no such experience, but he says that now he has a good opportunity to use previously acquired knowledge: “In the past, I already had some practice in psychological assessment and analysis. During military service, I used to work with the troops; I was an officer in charge of moral and psychological support. Therefore, although work with the polygraph seems to be a new direction, I have taken some interest in it before. I simply needed an additional impetus.”

Coaching as an additional impetus made it clearer to Serhii in which direction he should move to succeed with his business project – where the best place was for getting trained, for gaining experience. During the sessions, he and Olena Trehubenko reviewed and analyzed in detail all possible options. In the end, they opted for a course for polygraphologists in Odesa, where Serhii not only received a certificate but also earned his first money.

He talks about practical training during the last week of the courses, when the trainees tested one another. The exercise was as follows: someone was to hide a memory stick in the classroom and the group had to find it with the help of the lie detector. That is, they were to ask questions of their coursemate and watch the reaction, so as to determine whether or not he or she told the truth or a lie.

To make the playing more interesting, all participants donated one hundred hryvnias to form a prize fund. When you do the testing and find the memory stick, you take the whole amount. “On the very first day they tested me and did not find the stick; I got 500 hryvnias. The next day I did the testing and determined where it was. So I got another 500 hryvnias,” Serhii smiles.

Resources for making the dream come true The course is over, the certificate and the pleasant bonus have been received, so what next? The dilemma was: Should he first work as an employee, or would it be better to start an own business right away?

Serhii chose the second option: “I passed several interviews. But the proposals from those companies were not as attractive as the option of my own business.”

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The coachess confesses that she was concerned about Serhii’s decision, realizing all the risks. It would be much safer to work for somebody than to spend money on a polygraph and an own office. Yet she supported his choice: “Coaching is partnership and great confidence in the customer.

Personally, I would choose an option not requiring such considerable financial investment. As a coach, however, I cannot push anyone towards a particular decision or recommend what I would do if I were in someone else’s place. The client knows what is better and makes his or her own choice.”

To safeguard Serhii and his newly created business, Olena went over the possible risks with him; together they reviewed various financial support options for the launching. Eventually, Serhii participated in a mini-grant project and received funds to buy a polygraph. At present, Serhii’s laboratory “PSYlab” has three areas of work: testing on a lie detector, psychological assessment, and psychological analysis.

Training at the course for polygraphologists, elaborating the business idea of starting an own business – all of that happened in just four months. The entrepreneur is certain that support from the East Europe Foundation’s coach was an essential factor in achieving such a high speed.

“Veterans lack motivation and purposefulness, which can be provided by coaching. This is a part of rehabilitation that helps to elaborate goals in life, your own motivation, and find resources to make your dream come true,” Serhii says. He adds that during those four months he was given a motivational boost that will last for a long time to come: “When you already have experience in identifying and achieving goals, it is easier to move forward. You do it better yourself because everything has already been streamlined.”

However, Serhii would be pleased to continue work with the tutor and hopes that the All4One Project will be extended. He says he made certain that work with a coach is required for professional growth. This helps to follow the dynamics and see more ways out of difficult situations.

Serhii was so much inspired by the project that he encouraged his wife Tetiana to join him. When All4One was expanded and became accessible to ATO veterans’ relatives and close people, he realized that it was “a sign from above.” Tetiana’s maternity leave was expiring. Before it, she had worked as a family physician, but was looking for changes in her career.

Work with the coachess helped her to understand what kind of changes she needed.

“We had to understand what motivates her to develop. We considered various directions – related as well as unrelated to healthcare,” Olena Trehubenko comments. Ultimately, they decided on psychiatry, which can become an excellent supplement to Serhii’s business. Then it will be possible to combine the knowledge and skills of the two in one family enterprise.

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FOURTH STORY

ATO Veteran Andrii Balan: “Previously, All the Thoughts Were Only about the War; Now, about the Community” Each ATO veteran wants to feel needed after returning from the battlefield. That is why Andrii Balan founded the NGO “Haidamatskyi Prostir.” This is a story of how the idea emerged and what ex-combatants are lacking in.

Andrii is a fireman by profession. Before the war he worked in Donetsk, but after the self-proclamation of a pseudo-­republic he decided not to stay there. He refused to take the oath of allegiance to the terrorists and, together with his friends, moved to Kostiantynivka – a town controlled by Ukraine.

“Almost at once we began to ask the people there where their military commissariat was located. We wanted to join a volunteer battalion. But we were stopped. They told us that we would be needed in the town itself,” Andrii recalls.

That was the start of the story of the public formation “Haidamaky” which was made up of 17 ex-combatants. The veterans help the police to protect public order; and if necessary, they, in Andrii’s words, “put things right.”

Andrii Balan has been active in public life after he returned from the war

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Creating a space Andrii takes an interest in the history of the Ukrainian Cossacks and is dreaming of “raising the Cossack spirit.” He is certain that this is particularly important for the Eastern region, so as not to give a chance to separatism. A public formation alone is not enough for such work.

Something else is needed. And Andrii devised that “something” during the East Europe Foundation’s All4One Project. Three months of work with a coach helped him form a concrete action plan. “I decided to set up a nongovernmental organization which will be in charge of rehabilitation of veterans and will unite them with the community during joint sessions,” Andrii says.

“Haidamaky” had only one function, while the newly created “Haidamatskyi Prostir” will have several. “They will now be able to address more problems of the community,” coach Oleksandr Lomov comments. Andrii adds, “The public formation remains with us; but the organization will take a wider direction. We want to provide legal, psychological, rehabilitation assistance. Until now, there has been nothing of that sort here for ex-combatants. And it is necessary to show them that they are not alone.”

The organization already has premises where they have set up a training hall. At present, they are planning to make a separate sports hall for people with disability. Moreover, they are looking for a plot of land for joint events: “Will you show me where here in Kostiantynivka there is such a place in which people can get together and relax? There isn’t any!

Therefore we will create it. Among other things, we will light a bonfire there and prepare Cossack yushka [soup].”

Andrii knows only too well how hard it is for veterans to get back to the usual life and feel being part of the community. He tells us about a combatant who did not know what kind of work to take up and eventually took up alcohol abuse: “He didn’t know what to do with himself. We started slowly bringing him back to life again – involving him in this and that. Now he is fishing with children and he likes it. This makes him feel that he is part of something bigger.”

Stronger together In the opinion of coach Oleksandr Lomov, the hardest thing in the work with veterans is to evoke confidence in the process itself. “It was necessary for Andrii to understand that it was to his own benefit. As soon as he felt it, at once he began to form his plans better.” In his turn, Andrii says that coaching was a “magic kick in the butt” for him: “If you want something, this doesn’t mean that you will do it. But when there is support, you gain self-control and organize yourself faster. This communication helps a lot. Previously, all our thoughts were about the war only – that it was necessary to impose order and fight separatism. But now our thoughts are mostly about the community.” More than that, experience inspired him to get a degree in psychology.

During the coaching sessions under the All4One Project, Andrii drafted not only an NGO but also an environmentally friendly house. The latter was for his comrade, a retired ATO veteran. Andrii helped his friend to implement the ideas that he had worked out during his sessions with the coach.

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“I told him: start doing it and I will be at your side. Me and the boys came and helped him with everything – the piles and the foundation and the reed plates. We are together, we are a community,” Andrii says. He tries to pay attention to everyone coming back from the frontline. He phones them, asks what the call recipient needs and how he feels. Andrii invites them to get together and go to the sports hall for veterans, to discuss things: “Well, it is pleasant – to know that people think about you, remember you. A soldier feels that he is needed. He knows that there are people he can turn to.”

Veterans team up, create associations, but that is still not enough. In Andrii’s opinion, ex-combatants feel unneeded and neglected. It is necessary to unite them with the community. “You know, a soldier without work is worse than a criminal. He only lives on memories of the frontline.

And there is no one to motivate him to lead a civil life in the community.

The man must understand that he is not at war any longer, that he is living in a town, that he is part of the community. He himself is involved in creating that community,” Andrii says.

“Haidamatskyi Prostir” will be the place that will unite the community of Kostiantynivka. Andrii has a dream that all – from adults to kids – will regularly meet there and spend time together. He vividly describes how veterans will be preparing the Cossack kulish [millet soup] and telling stories by the bonfire. He is certain that both ex-combatants and the other residents of the town need such togetherness.

“We are not just ex-combatants. We are many-sided people and so we want to show this. I can see that the attitude towards us has already been changing. And so we will continue in the same vein,” Andrii smiles.

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FIFTH STORY

ATO Veteran Nazar Fomin: “Ukrainians Are Afraid of Responsibility”

ATO veteran Nazar Fomin made several unsuccessful attempts to start a business, but did not give up

Each initiative has its challenges. Some give up easily, while others keep looking for a way out. ATO veteran, owner of a quail farm Nazar Fomin has chosen the second option. This is a story about business, responsibility and support from a coach within the framework of the East Europe Foundation’s project.

“We may think we are very smart and know everything. But then we get hurt. In fact, I realized this five years ago when I returned from the ATO and started my own business,” Nazar says.

His first business was a small shop selling animal feed. The man was sure that the prospects were good: the outlet was at the central market of the town, in the main alley. However, reality differed from the expectations.

“People would not turn up. A bribe was required for permission to place an advertising poster. If I had done so, probably everything would have started working fine. But I have a principle: I don’t pay any bribes. And so, after a few months I had to close my business,” the entrepreneur says.

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Attempt number two was about chisels – wood-carving tools. A relative already had a business that was expanding fast and the man needed help. “The three employees there could not cope with so many requests.

When export began, it was necessary to promptly form a large team. My kum [child’s godfather] and I sat down, read Tom Ford’s rules and Dao Toyota and began pondering how we could do it all. What followed was a tantalizing year,” Nazar recalls.

As to the quail farm the entrepreneur came to own it two years ago. It had been a friend’s business and it wasn’t doing well, so Nazar bought it. He learned everything from A to Z about quails, but he confesses that there were a whole lot of surprises and challenges: “There was a heap of problems making my brain boil and bubble. I wanted to talk it over, to hear someone else’s opinion. Things are seen clearer from the distance.”

Meeting an old friend At that time, Nazar was lucky to get assistance from Mykhailo Shmihelskyi, a coach involved in the East Europe Foundation’s All4One Project. They had been communicating for ten years already, but it was for the first time that their conversations turned into coaching sessions.

For his part, Mykhailo, also an ATO veteran, says that due to the All4One Project he learned to listen more. “There was a time when I used to hand out advice, but that didn’t always work well. New methods were needed.

Due to coaching, we found them and went up to an entirely different level. I no longer tell people what to do; I simply listen to them and ask questions. I realize that a person’s position is not one I would recommend, and that is normal,” the coach says.

Nazar adds: previously, he and Mykhailo were simply conversing, but now they have a conversation structure. This helped Nazar to resolve the issues in business that he had been so concerned about.

The power of contacts The entrepreneur believes that focus on development ensures full recovery of invested resources. “I noticed that if you invest in your education then the money that was spent gets back to you in an absolutely unexpected way.

You cannot calculate such things – it simply happens,” the entrepreneur says.

He quotes the following example: in summer, when it was very hard to make some profit, there was not enough money to pay salaries to the employees. But Nazar did not start panicking; in spite of everything, he invested money in studying at the Lviv Business School. Eventually, there was a tenfold increase in the sale of quail meat from his farm.

This resulted not so much from the acquired knowledge as from acquaintances made at the business school.

A similar situation occurred when he completed another course. Then, Nazar received a phone call and heard a proposal for cooperation with the words “we have heard about your business.” “I have already seen for myself more than once that studies bring me money. It may seem that a direct effect is impossible. But new acquaintances provide new opportunities,” the entrepreneur insists.

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During the few months of coaching under the East Europe Foundation’s project Nazar put documents in order, concluded new agreements and began to see clearer where he should be moving to. However, some adjustments had to be made because of the global coronavirus pandemic. Previously, his customers were restaurants and hotels; now new clients must be found.

“Everything was going on like clockwork. But now it is necessary to reestablish sales connections. Business is a living organism which needs food. And it doesn’t care whether or not you have money, whether or not there is a pandemic going on,” Nazar says. He does not lose optimism, believing that any challenge is an opportunity for growth.

These days, Nazar is busy making deliveries to a network of shops in Ivano-­Frankivsk with which he has just concluded an agreement. “I deliver the first consignments myself. It is necessary to meet the sellers, so that they will understand what they are selling and why people need it,” the entrepreneur says.

Mykhailo Shmihelskyi, Nazar Fomin’s coach, describes his client’s quail farm “Fainyi Vuiko” [“A Nice Guy”] as social business. Fomin’s six employees include a pensioner and a person with ICP. However, the businessman himself renounces such “honorary titles”: “I don’t believe in social entrepreneurship. In my opinion each legal business entity is social in its essence. After all, it satisfies someone’s need, doesn’t it? Yes, I provide people with opportunities and make charitable contributions to an NGO, but I don’t like calling my business ‘social’.”

About fears and responsibility The story of Nazar is about a man who always tries new things and never stops. “I like the way he thinks. He learns things, calculates, thinks globally and is focused on development. I am happy that there are such people,” the coach notes. But what inspires the entrepreneur himself to move forward? “I find support in mathematics. I make calculations and see potential for growth. Yes, the times we are going through are not easy, but that is a good challenge.”

Nazar has already created around himself a community of active veterans.

He believes that before criticizing someone and demanding something from the authorities, Ukrainians themselves should learn to assume responsibility and make decisions.

“But people are afraid of that. My employees, specialists in their field, telephone me to ask for advice on the simplest matters. They know the answers, but they shift the responsibility for making the decision on me.

And the same thing happens in other spheres, too,” Nazar says.

Now the entrepreneur already acts as a mentor for other veterans. His dream is that there will be more and more success stories about those who returned from the ATO. One of the ideas he is currently working on is the creation of a political force in Stryi together with the veterans: “I would very much like people to whimper and complain about others less frequently; instead, they should assume responsibility and make decisions on their own.”