Translated with AI
Until 2014, Anna lived with her husband and four children in Gorlovka, Donetsk region, and worked as a doctor in a mine. Life was stable and full of love. Everything changed when military action began in the region. The family had to leave urgently – they moved to Toretsk, which remained under Ukrainian control.
“At first, I felt lost,” Anna recalls. “Then I saw an advert for courses for entrepreneurs. They asked: ‘What do you do best?’ And I immediately thought – pancakes! After all, I always made them for my loved ones.”
This is how the idea for a business was born. Anna bought a pancake maker, a coffee machine and rented a small space. But her real passion turned out to be baking: “Everyone in my family baked: my mother, my grandmother. But at first I couldn’t do it. I suffered failure after failure. But I didn’t give up – I knew that one day I would succeed.”
And it worked. Now her bakery has more than 20 types of bread.
The oven that started it all
In 2019, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) provided a grant that allowed Anna to buy a large professional oven. It became the “heart” of the bakery. This oven has survived shelling, renovations, and relocations.
"When the full-scale invasion began, I thought about only one thing – how to take the stove out. Neither money nor documents were so important. Without it, I would not have been able to start everything again," says the entrepreneur.
In 2022, the family had to leave their home again – this time they moved to Dnipro. They packed their things, took their dog and stove with them – and started from scratch.
Within a few weeks, the bakery was up and running again. The son, who had not previously shown any interest in baking, stood at the oven. The daughter-in-law took care of the counter, and the husband – of the renovation. “We did everything together. For us, a family business is not just a structure, it is the heart of our business,” Anna notes.
Today, Goncharenko already has two bakeries in Dnipro – she runs one herself, and her son runs the other. In 2023, IOM came to the rescue again: thanks to additional support, it was possible to purchase equipment and create new jobs – including for other displaced persons.
Family recipes
The menu includes more than 20 types of bread, cinnamon buns, cookies, croissants, nuts and the signature hit – Donbass poppy seed roll, which contains three times more poppy seeds than dough.
“There’s always a line,” smiles Ganna. “Some recipes haven’t caught on here, but others have become favorites. I learn along with the customers.”
The first buyers in Dnepr were the same immigrants as she was.
"I wrote on social media: 'Come in for tea, just to talk.' People came. They were scared, lonely. Just like us. We supported each other. Then the locals started coming, too," says Goncharenko.
Now she dreams of hiring families – mothers and daughters, spouses, brothers and sisters: “Family is a support. Only it can be truly relied upon. I want to preserve this feeling, even if the business grows.”
Anna’s story is one of many. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, IOM has supported more than 1,800 small and micro businesses across Ukraine – with grants, advice, equipment – to give people a chance to rebuild their lives and even thrive in difficult times.
Of course, anxiety does not go away. Goncharenko admits that he is still afraid – especially when the shelling affects everyday life and business.
"When it thunders at night, there's no one in the morning," she says. "But we still open. Because we have to go on living."
