POSLOVNI ĐIR Maryna Lysenko

Guest Marina LisenkoHosted by Mojdana KoharevićMay 3, 2026

Marina Lisenko

About this episode

What you'll hear in this conversation

A business built on resilience often starts with a single, clear purpose beyond profit. For Marina Lysenko, that purpose was to create a haven for her fellow Ukrainians, displaced by war, within a new country. She arrived in Split, Croatia, with her son and mother, leaving her husband and brother behind to fight. Instead of seeking employment, she started two businesses: a beauty salon, then the first Ukrainian restaurant in Croatia. Lysenko’s story isn't just about entrepreneurial spirit; it’s about rebuilding a community while rebuilding a life. She staffed her restaurant, Marinade, entirely with Ukrainian refugees, offering them not just jobs but a connection to home through traditional dishes like boršč and pampuška. Her experience navigating Croatian bureaucracy, sourcing ingredients, and introducing a new cuisine offers a sharp lesson in founding a venture under acute pressure. This conversation explores the surprising clarity that can emerge from crisis, the drive to create opportunity for others, and what it truly takes to plant roots and build something new when everything familiar has been uprooted.

Insights from the conversation

What to take from this episode

Marina Lysenko's first thought upon arriving in Croatia wasn't to find a job, but to create one for others, specifically for Ukrainian refugees like herself. She says she "decided to open something of our own for our workers" so they could "have a job among their own people." The most personal crises often lead to the most impactful businesses, built on a mission beyond pure profit.

Though her professional background in Ukraine was different, Marina Lysenko chose hospitality in Croatia because she "always wanted to prepare something for the kitchen" and loved to cook. Sometimes, starting over means letting a long-held personal interest become the core of your new enterprise, especially when language or prior experience limits other options.

Asked about government support for businesses in Ukraine, Lysenko offers a contrarian view: "The main thing for the state is not to interfere. That is true help." The best support a government can offer entrepreneurs is often the absence of bureaucracy and hurdles, rather than active intervention.

Lysenko's entire staff comes from Ukraine, all refugees who were looking for work. When your staffing strategy is also a humanitarian mission, you create a team that shares a deeper purpose, turning a common business challenge into a source of shared strength.

Before opening a restaurant, Lysenko first launched a beauty salon, two vastly different industries. This suggests that entrepreneurial drive isn't confined to a single sector; it's about identifying needs and applying business principles, even if it means operating outside your comfort zone.

When her beauty salon first opened, Lysenko found Croatian clients "very difficult to change master," preferring their established providers. It took over a year for new customers to build trust, showing that entering a market with existing loyalties demands patience and consistent quality over rapid adoption.

Boršč, the national Ukrainian soup, has "as many recipes as there are people in Ukraine," Lysenko explains. Authenticity in traditional cuisine isn't about a single, fixed formula; it's about a shared cultural heritage expressed through diverse personal interpretations, allowing for both tradition and adaptation.

Some Croatian customers initially find Ukrainian dishes unfamiliar, noting they're "not their food" because they expect something "very greasy, very salty." Lysenko stresses their food is cooked "healthily," revealing that introducing a new cuisine often involves re-educating local palates and challenging preconceived notions of flavor.

Lysenko expresses a desire to build a "network" of restaurants in other cities, but quickly adds that "everything must be super" and well-controlled. Expansion isn't just about adding locations; it's about replicating quality and service consistently, a task that requires careful, step-by-step growth.

Finding an affordable, suitably sized restaurant space in Split was a significant challenge, with Lysenko noting large spaces were either "very expensive" or not suitable for hospitality. Real estate constraints in popular cities often mean entrepreneurs must balance prime location with budget, sometimes requiring a compromise on either.

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