In Ukraine’s Vinnytsia region, Neborak, a veteran-led project focused on farming Australian blue crayfish, is moving into a scaling phase through a franchise model aimed at veterans, with baseline investment starting from UAH 2 million per farm. The project was initiated by former paratrooper Volodymyr Bilenkyi, who is developing an aquaculture niche that remains uncommon in Ukraine while building a network of partner mini-farms with guaranteed product offtake.
Neborak’s business model combines elements of a franchise and a business incubator. According to the founder, partners are not required to pay a traditional franchise fee, but they must complete a crayfish farming training programme priced at EUR 1,000. These costs, along with part of the initial launch expenses, are expected to be covered through grant programmes available for veteran entrepreneurship.
Bilenkyi financed the first stage of the project independently. Before launching a crayfish and shrimp farm in 2025, he invested around $34,000 in acquiring old houses in the village of Mohylivka near Vinnytsia, converting them, and purchasing filtration, water disinfection, and aeration systems. After testing the two directions, the entrepreneur abandoned shrimp farming due to weak demand and focused on Australian blue crayfish, which, according to him, grow three times faster than local species.
In 2026, Neborak is moving to the next stage of scaling. For this purpose, Bilenkyi leased former silage trenches on the premises of the Institute of Feed Research and Agriculture of Podillia of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences, where he plans to establish a new production site with open-air pools. The project has already secured EUR 50,000 for the development of this site from the international TeamUp 2025 programme run by EIT Food.
The new model envisages the creation of a shared production ecosystem in which individual partner farms operate as separate businesses, but on one site and within a single operating framework. At the initial stage, the founder plans to attract up to ten partners, all of whom must be veterans. In this way, the project combines an investment-driven scaling model with the social mission of helping military personnel adapt to civilian life.
The first partners are already in place. One of them, veteran Illia Zaiarnyi, plans to raise UAH 250,000 in financing through FinStream, a service specializing in loans for veteran-owned businesses. According to LIGA.net, FinStream has already invested more than UAH 200 million in businesses founded by veterans. Another potential financing channel is the state-backed 5-7-9% programme, under which Oschadbank provides loans of up to UAH 5 million for franchise acquisitions for terms of up to 10 years.
For the investment market, the Neborak case is notable in several respects. First, it involves the development of a niche aquaculture segment with a relatively low entry threshold compared with traditional agricultural projects. Second, the business is scaling not through equipment sales or a rigid franchise structure, but through partnership, training, and centralized sales. Third, the project is integrated into the broader veteran entrepreneurship ecosystem, where sources of capital include grants, concessional loans, and specialized financial services.
Against the backdrop of growing attention to veteran-owned businesses in Ukraine, the Neborak model demonstrates how a combination of modest стартup capital, international grant support, and a franchise approach can create new growth points in the agri and food sectors. If scaled successfully, the project could become an example of how veteran initiatives move from a local format to a systemic business with a network of partner farms.
