The company Vladana is an important agribusiness located in the Sumy region in the north- eastern part of Ukraine. The company initially took advantage of the opportunities of the EU4Business-EBRD Credit Line by investing in a Cultivator and a Seeder through a leasing contract with OTPL. The company was very happy with the cooperation and subsequently invested in a Telehandler through a €59,225 loan.

The new equipment has a significant impact on the company’s productivity. Most importantly, however, the equipment is more fuel- efficient and also provides vastly superior working conditions for operators.

The last project, relating to the investment in a modern Telehandler, was assessed under the Simplified Approach, which involved choosing the required machinery from the pre-approved List of Eligible Technologies (LET). After the successful project verification, the company received 10 per cent of the loan value as a grant incentive, funded under the EU4Business initiative of the European Union. The project verification was carried out under the special COVID-19 rules set by the EU, which ensure that investment projects can be verified despite COVID restrictions and that investors can receive their grants. The timely verification and grant payment is important to all companies, but even more so to companies that contribute to safeguarding the food supply during these times.

With the investment, the company now meets a wide variety of European standards on farm machinery and workers’ health and safety. It also obtained significant environmental benefits, including energy savings of over 34 MWh and CO² emission reductions of more than 9 tonnes annually.