One month ago, the young Ukrainian startup Choice31 was developing new products. But at one point the war ruined all plans. Now the CEO of an educational startup, Evgenia Glizer, is trying to save the company and her country.
The Ukrainian company Choice31 is engaged in online education. They promote the culture of "switching" – a safe change of profession, namely, they help to "enter IT" without technical skills. Before the war, they worked exclusively for the Ukrainian market, but the war changed everything.
How to survive the war when your family is not only relatives but also your team?
Evgenia Glizer says that she woke up in the morning when she received a call and was told that the war had begun. The first thing she picked up was her phone to see what was going on in the team chat.
“When I saw that everyone was writing like they had heard explosions, of course, I was overwhelmed by a wave of rejection of everything that was happening. But I immediately recorded a video in the chat while still sleepy to talk about what I see, hear and understand what is happening. And ask for time for us to decide all this.
Of course, there is a feeling that your family does not consist of “your” six people. But of 35, all employees. To this day, we are trying every day to find out who is where in what condition. I know about everyone. It helps in such acceptance of this whole situation.”
Evgenia felt that everything had fallen on her for the first three days of the war. This happened at a time when no one fully understood what was going on at all. And then, the whole team, on the contrary, began to support Evgenia when she had problems and her husband was taken away.
“Fear certainly paralyzes. And the fear at once is not only because of what will happen to you or your family. And what will happen to each employee and what to do so that we can exist as a company.”
How to organize work during the war?
At the start, Choice31 took a “pause” for four days. It all started on Thursday. Until Monday, everyone went about their business and tried to figure out how to be in this situation.
Then Evgenia Glizer developed an action plan, created a document in which she outlined the tasks. They were divided into two groups: what Choice31 can do for Ukraine and what the team can do for the company. For each job, a responsible person was chosen, while everyone is engaged far from the areas they had before the war.
What did the company manage to do during the one month of the war?
Now, Choice31 has already adapted some of its courses. They chose several products relevant for other countries and people with knowledge of the Russian language. Now the startup is working on translating some of the courses into English. The company
sends 50% of the money received to the fund for humanitarian assistance to victims of Russian aggression, opened by the National Bank of Ukraine.
It was almost amazing, but the company managed to resume the educational process for Ukrainian students. Many people want to study because it is an opportunity to get a little distracted from the news, as well as a chance to learn a new profession for those who lost their jobs.
“It will definitely never be like before, but it is logical. Not in terms of what will not be good, but simply will not be the same as before. So the most important thing we can do is accept that everything will change.”
The company plans to enter other markets and search for its niche there. Now, Choice31 is working to ensure that its results are long-term.
“If we were just chasing short-term money, we could do many things. But we are chasing to put roots somewhere and understand what can come of it next.”
What's next? Evgenia Glizer says that she has no doubts that both the company and Ukraine will be saved. After all, this is definitely possible with such personnel and such people.
“I think a company is made up of people. My people are so talented, and we are all so united that we will not let this company go completely off the radar. And we will not let our country disappear. As a company, we will definitely stay, we will just be in a different place and maybe in a slightly different format. But we definitely will. And Ukraine will be too.”
