Name: Bohdan Chaban
Age: 24
Education: Donetsk Polytechnic College (secondary technical education)
Profession: War veteran, entrepreneur
Did you know? Chaban founded his first business, an advertising agency in Donetsk, when he was 17 years old.
Bohdan Chaban, 24, was born in Donetsk, the eastern Ukraine provincial capital under the control of Russian-led forces since 2014. Now Chaban splits his time between Kyiv and Mariupol, the Azov Sea port city in Donetsk Oblast.
He plans to enter university next year, most likely the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv.
After the EuroMaidan Revolution that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power on Feb. 22, 2014, triggering the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Chaban lost his second business — the successful hipster café Izba in Donetsk. He was forced to leave because he supported the Ukrainian government.
Chaban is one of the founders of “Donetsk is Ukraine,” a patriotic movement that organized pro-government demonstrations in Donetsk, even after Russian-led forces seized the city of 1 million people located 750 kilometers southeast of Kyiv.
He fought against Kremlin-backed forces first in the streets of occupied Donetsk, and then, after leaving Donetsk, in the war-affected areas of Donetsk Oblast: He was a volunteer fighter of the Shakhtarsk Battalion and took part in several big battles, including in Pisky and Ilovaisk.
“We guys from Donetsk are dubbed the fiercest fighters in the Ukrainian army… People who have lost their homes have a stronger motivation,” Chaban said.
In 2015, Chaban was arrested by Ukrainian police and sentenced to prison on charges of illegally possessing weapons. He spent two months in a prison cell with three separatists before being released under the supervision of 11 Ukrainian lawmakers.
Soon after his release, Chaban won a Hr 200,000 small business grant from the United Nations and reopened his Izba café in Mariupol.
Then in January, together with another war veteran Leonid Ostaltsev, the founder of Veterano Pizzeria in Kyiv, he opened Veterano Bar.
Since then, both have been helping other veterans by providing them jobs and helping them start their own business in the Veterano Family Chain, which now includes three pizzerias, a bakery and 11 coffee shops all over Ukraine.
“We want to show Ukrainians that Donbas war veterans are good guys. They’ve returned from the war even more skillful, beautiful and stronger than they were before,” Chaban told the Kyiv Post.
“And we want to show other veterans that they can do it – start a business and gain success. All they need is to have an idea, a smart business plan, and patience. Sooner or later an investor will believe in them.”
