Chris Borys has sold more than $2-million worth of Saint Javelin stickers, T-shirts, hats, flags, hoodies and mugs and distributed around $700,000 to charities that support programs in Ukraine.ANTON SKYBA
The organizer: Chris Borys
The pitch: Creating the Saint Javelin phenomenon
Toronto businessman Chris Borys never dreamed that a simple design of the Virgin Mary holding a Javelin anti-tank weapon would become so popular that the President of Ukraine would sport a T-shirt bearing the image.
“I’m honestly amazed it blew up so fast,” Mr. Borys said while sipping coffee at an outdoor café in Lviv, Ukraine.
He’s sold more than $2-million worth of Saint Javelin stickers, T-shirts, hats, flags, hoodies and mugs and distributed around $700,000 to charities that support programs in Ukraine. He’s planning to use more of the sale proceeds to buy trucks for the Ukrainian military.
He got the idea in mid-February after a friend circulated a meme showing a reworked version of American artist Chris Shaw’s depiction of the Virgin Mary holding an AK-47. In the meme, the gun was replaced with a Javelin. Mr. Borys saw it and thought it would be fun to use the design to sell some stickers and raise money for charity. “I thought if I got to $500 it would be amazing,” he recalled.
A banner with the image known as 'Saint Javelin' depicting a saint holding a Javelin, an American-made portable anti-tank missile system, is displayed in a check point in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 25.Rodrigo Abd/The Associated Press
He hit the $5,000 mark after two days and by the time Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Mr. Borys was selling around $40,000 worth a day. “When the attack started it went really, really, really, viral,” he said. Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proudly displayed a Saint Javelin T-shirt he’d been given.
Mr. Borys, 35, is no stranger to Ukraine. He has Ukrainian roots and he spent four years, from 2014 to 2018, covering the war in eastern Ukraine as a freelance journalist. After leaving journalism, Mr. Borys opened a marketing business in Toronto.
The Saint Javelin project is now his main activity and he plans to turn it into a social enterprise dedicated to rebuilding the country. He’s hired 10 staff so far, almost all Ukrainians, and he’s planning to source all materials in Ukraine.
“I love being here and it’s just a super interesting project,” he said. “If I can do this and make this my life’s work, I think that’s a pretty great thing to do.”
Your time is valuable. Have the Top Business Headlines newsletter conveniently delivered to your inbox in the morning or evening. Sign up today.
Paul Waldie