“Since the end of the war is not in sight, Ukrainian enterprises have to look for other places.”, — write: www.unian.ua
Since the end of the war is not in sight, Ukrainian enterprises have to look for other places.
Strong cultural similarities with Ukraine helped make Poland a natural base for Ukrainian business / photo ua.depositphotos.comUkrainian companies that opened in Central Europe after the Russian invasion of 2022 shifted their focus from refugees to local customers. Some businesses are considering westward expansion.Reuters writes that in Poland, where the Ukrainian population grew to more than 1.5 million people as a result of the war, in 2024 Ukrainians opened every tenth new business.
Andrii Halytskyi’s company “Lviv Croissants” now has 12 outlets in Poland after opening two years ago. The first Czech outlet opened in October, which the company’s founder says is part of a strategy to create a geographically diverse business by expanding westward and beyond the diaspora.
Strong cultural similarities with Ukraine helped make Poland a natural base for Ukrainian business. But many are also looking beyond Europe’s largest emerging economy to find more customers.
“From the very beginning, companies consider Poland as a bridge or a springboard to the markets of the European Union,” says Dariusz Szymcikha, the first vice-president of the Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce. “They want to learn… the reality, standards, norms and rules of work in the European Union.”
The chain of bars “Drunk Vishnya” is dedicated to traditional cherry liqueur from Ukraine, but its main goal is to consider local customers, said Andriy Hudo, the company’s founder.
According to him, 15 establishments were opened in Poland and nine in other Baltic and Eastern European countries, intensifying expansion to the west from February 2022.
The group plans to open locations in Germany, Switzerland and France in 2025, as well as reopening a London location, he said, adding that the bars are attracting new customers and generating revenue.
“Before the war, we focused on Ukraine because our business there was developing very quickly. But the war forced us to turn our attention to the west because of the risks in Ukraine,” says Hudo.
Although Ukraine’s economy is growing, Economy Minister Yulia Svyridenko said in November that it is still only 78% of what it was before the full-scale Russian invasion.
Since the end of the war is not in sight, Ukrainian companies have to look elsewhere, which is an economic failure for neighboring countries, where there is also an easing of tensions in the labor market due to the arrival of Ukrainian workers.
“When they (Ukrainians, UNIAN) come to Poland, for example, to work or to open a business, it is an additional stimulus from an economic point of view for consumption and improving the labor supply,” said Andrzej Kubisiak, deputy director of the Polish Economic Institute.
Another Ukrainian restaurateur, Olga Kopylova, said that before the war she had no plans to take her Chornomorka brand abroad, but now she has three outlets in Poland and two each in Bratislava and Vienna.
The chain of Aroma Kava coffee shops moved to Poland in 2022 and has since expanded to 10 outlets, and the Ukrainian ice cream and frozen products manufacturer “Three Bears” bought the Polish company Nordis.
Salary in PolandThe minimum wage in Prolsha is six times higher than the Ukrainian minimum wage. As of January 1, a Polish worker must now earn at least 4,666 zlotys ($1,120) a month working full-time.
It is worth noting that the minimum wage in Ukraine today is 8 thousand hryvnias, that is, about 190 dollars. This is 5.89 times less than in Poland.
You may also be interested in news:
- The import of electricity increased by 333%, the total volumes imported into Ukraine are impressive, – the Cabinet of Ministers
- Ukrainians will not receive “national cashback” in January: when they will pay the money
- The National Bank named the reasons for the increase in prices in Ukraine