Ukrainian refugee wins investment from Dragons' Den
2025-01-24
Category: economic

A Ukrainian refugee who fled her war-torn home country with just a bag of belongings has secured investment on Dragons' Dan after pitching her fashion business.Yana Smaglo set up home with friends in Huddersfield and started Nenya, which imports luxury clothing made in Ukraine "with love and bravery".The 30-year-old appeared on the BBC show on Thursday and struck a deal for £80,000 of funding from dragons Deborah Meaden and Steven Bartlett.She told the panel that she "really wanted to do something" for the country of her birth.
Ms Smaglo told the judges: "Nenya is a distribution company which represents high quality Ukrainian products for an international market. "Our mission is to help Ukrainian companies to increase sales and support the economy by taxes, and create new workplaces for Ukrainian refugees in the UK." When asked by investor Bartlett where her drive came from, she replied: "Let's say, when you lose everything that you worked for, your home and everything and you need to build your life again, this is driving you a lot." "Dragon" Peter Jones told her she had made "a heart-wrenching pitch" which was "inspiring", with Meaden adding her products were "luxury and lovely". 
Nenya now has 98 wholesale partners across three continents, products in two department stores and a yearly turnover of £100,000.Some of the five brands she distributes were originally based in Kharkiv but had to relocate their manufacturing to the safer western part of the country.In Ukraine, Ms Smaglo owned her own brand of womenswear and she said Nenya translated as "motherland".She said: "It was my first experience of pitching investment and it was quite challenging, especially in English." The BBC contacted her and asked her to take part in the show. She said: "They told me, 'we found your business and we think it's really good, would you consider taking part?' "I have to be honest, I had never seen it. "I messaged my chat group and I said,' I had this call and they invited me - should I accept it?'. And they all said yes!" She added: "I had my own business before, I have a strategy, so pitching in front of other businesspeople, it is OK. "What made me nervous was the cameras, not the people!" She accepted a joint offer from Meaden and Bartlett, with each investing £40,000 for a 5% share. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.