Working together

The Stelmashchuk family from Lviv has been through a lot. In April 2022, a Russian missile destroyed their car repair shop. The projectile hit the company’s yard at 8:30 a.m. Its intended target was likely the adjacent railway line, which was regularly used to transport military vehicles and tanks at that time. The attack took its toll on the people there, too. Four employees of the company were killed and two injured. The workshop was like a debris field, with 36 cars damaged or destroyed. It was a terrible, tragic incident that the family will never forget.

“It was very difficult to see my father that day,” recalls the daughter of the entrepreneur who founded the workshop 13 years ago. “He built the company. It was his life’s work. People died that day. The military was there. The fire brigade came. It was difficult to keep a calm head. After an hour, there was another air raid warning. We had to leave everything as it was, even a building that was still burning when we went back into the shelter.”

Her father said: “In the first four days, we were concerned solely with funerals. That was the most important thing at that moment. When we thought about how to proceed, the employees came to me and said, ‘We don't want to leave. What can we do next?’ Then they started to clear away the rubble and plan what to do next. We removed 29 truck loads of 30 cubic metres each. All the machinery was destroyed.”

With a great deal of commitment and personal initiative, they all worked together in the months that followed. They also received support, both locally and internationally. The SME Boost programme, set up by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and financed by KfW on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), helped them. With the funds made available, they were able to re-equip the workshop and purchase four vehicle lifts.

“The attack was terrible,” states the entrepreneur. However, by working together and receiving the necessary external support, the company recovered. “Today we have 50 employees again.”