A Ukrainian entrepreneur has moved to Harrogate and launched a vodka and sunflower oil import business.
Fedir Haidai undertook a 14-day journey across Europe with his wife Katya and three-year-old son Misha after finding a sponsor family in Harrogate through the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
He said:
“I was on a business trip to Kherson in February when we heard that Russia was assembling soldiers, tanks and military equipment around 100km away. I spoke to my wife in Kyiv and said we must go now.
“She left work, picked up our son from nursery and a few belongings from home. We crossed into Moldova where we were able to stay with friends. A few hours later we watched on TV as the invasion started.
“My parents are still in Ukraine and I am afraid for them.”
Mr Haidai was forced to abandon two businesses that employed 30 people in Kyiv.
His outdoor paving tile manufacturing company was destroyed by Russian attacks. A second company that imports central heating pipes became unsustainable because his main supplier was based in Russian ally Belarus.
He has now joined the North Yorkshire branch of the Institute of Directors to forge new connections and support as he restarts his business journey.
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Three months after arriving in the UK, he has three new ventures.
Sunflower Ltd – named after the Ukrainian national flower – will import Ukrainian sunflower oil, which Mr Haidai will market under the Holla Oils brand.
He is also to import Hetman-branded vodka. Lviv-based Hetman is one of the largest producers of alcoholic drinks in Ukraine, with a history dating back to 1782.
He plans to sell the products through online, physical retail and the hospitality trade.
A third business will help to relocate IT experts from Ukraine to safe European locations.
Mr Haidai said:
“The main thing is that we are safe but we don’t have any savings so I need to set up in business here.
“I know how to organise a company and build relationships with suppliers and clients. My idea is to import products from the west of Ukraine, where it is safer. There is a need for sunflower oil here and significant demand for Ukranian vodka.”
Harrogate ‘like a Harry Potter film’
Mr Haidai has faced challenges in setting up his business – not least finding a bank prepared to open a business account for him – but doors are now beginning to open.
“I need a lot of money to import vodka due to alcohol duty but I have found some people who want to help me,” he said.
“I am surprised and happy that so many local people want to help us in different ways. People are so open and friendly. We have been introduced to so many new people.”
Mr Haidai has been joined in Harrogate by his sister and 17-year-old niece, who have also found a sponsor home in the town. He said:
“My first impression of Harrogate was it looked like a Harry Potter film, with all the old buildings.”
Harrogate business man praises ‘amazing’ charity following £2m aid convoy into Ukraine
A top Harrogate businessman has praised the “amazing efforts” of a Yorkshire charity after returning from an aid mission to Ukraine.
James Rycroft, managing director of Vida Healthcare, was part of a team that drove eight wagons containing aid worth about £2 million for Ukrainian soldiers and citizens who intend to stay in the country.
The five-day mission, which featured a number of volunteers from Harrogate, was organised by Yorkshire Aid Convoy, a charity which has been running overseas aid expeditions for more than 30 years.
‘Really proud’
Mr Rycroft, whose company owns several specialist dementia care homes around Harrogate, said:
“We did it, it was successful and I am really proud of what we have done.
“Yorkshire Aid convoy is an incredible charity and Mark Murphy, who heads it up, lives in Harrogate. He has done it for years and is one of these silent heroes that does amazing things.
“The charity has already delivered 16 wagons. They ran a mission about four weeks before we went.
“It’s really hard work as you drive for 12 to 14 hours a day. It’s a proper mission.”
James Rycroft.
The convoy carried around 100 tonnes of items, including medical equipment, beds and hygiene products.
It is also took a mobile classroom, which was donated by the Knaresborough-based business, Training and Testing Services.
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Mr Rycroft said:
“A man called Dave Wood came with us. He and his company donated a mobile classroom.
“We filled it with aid and they drove it over and then it got put on a train and taken straight to the front line.
“It is now being used as a wounded soldier hospital. It was named after Dave’s late mother Trish.”
‘Trish’, the mobile classroom, is being used a wounded soldier hospital in Ukraine.
The volunteers met Ukrainian military administrators at the border, where they were escorted to a secure hub inside the border to deposit the goods. They then immediately turned round and headed home.
Their 3,000-mile journey saw them travel by ferry from Hull to Holland, then to Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and into Ukraine and back.
‘So welcoming’
Mr Rycroft said:
“It was just organised so well. It’s so amazing what the charity does.
“I just went along and did my bit because I wanted to feel like I was contributing something tangible.
“The Ukrainian people were so welcoming and grateful for what we did. It was ace. It is a a really great thing we feel we have achieved.
“But I’m a tiny part of it, really it’s the Yorkshire Aid Convoy that has been leading this.”
Mark and Felix Murphy of Yorkshire Aid Convoy.
Mr Rycroft said the experience made the war in Ukraine feel “very real”.
He added:
“People are defiant and life is going on as normal and it almost becomes very normal very quickly when you are amongst it. It’s very strange.
“We felt safe and we were looked after really well.
“It went as smoothly as it possibly could. There are lots of people to be praised for it.
“We feel we’ve made a valid achievement to the effort.”