17.10.2025
This week, Kyiv hosted the 11th Kyiv International Economic Forum, which featured a discussion entitled "Protecting Investors, Building Trust," where participants talked about creating a transparent and predictable business environment, protecting investor rights, the rule of law, and restoring trust between the state and business.
It is telling that two weeks ago, the International Liberty Institute in Lviv held a panel discussion entitled “Ukrainian business: between forums, advisory councils, and backroom deals. Where is the way out?”
Our presentation focused on the topic: “Why is it difficult to do business in Ukraine and how to change the business climate for the better.” It was quite categorical, controversial, and at times unpleasant. But it was based entirely on our real experience of working with businesses.
Our presentation focused on the topic: “Why is it difficult to do business in Ukraine and how to change the business climate for the better.” It was quite categorical, controversial, and at times unpleasant. But it was based entirely on our real experience of working with businesses.
Reasons why the business environment in the country is poor (in brief):
1️⃣ Low level of economic literacy.
The average entrepreneur understands economics about as well as the average taxi driver. They are well-versed in their field but completely incompetent outside of it.
For example, they may advocate for deregulation in their field, but at the same time support a solidarity pension system or state banks “because they can provide preferential loans to businesses.” In other words, there is a lack of understanding of cause-and-effect relationships and a comprehensive vision of how the economy works.
2️⃣ Paternalism. Just as many people in society expect the state to provide education, jobs, housing, and pensions, many entrepreneurs believe that the state itself should do something to support business, as if a magician should fly in on a helicopter and fix everything.
3️⃣ Businesses’ unwillingness to pay for change. Reforms cost money. Behind every change are hundreds, if not thousands, of person-hours of work by experts, lawyers, communicators, designers, and others. Someone has to cover these costs.
4️⃣ Lobbying under the guise of reform. Often, instead of fundamental changes that promote economic freedom, businesses push for narrow industry privileges — that is, they create favorable conditions only for themselves, distorting competition.
We also mentioned a positive example.
👨💼 In 2017, we met an entrepreneur who complained about a problem with work completion certificates. Because of them, the tax authorities regularly conducted audits, paralyzed the company’s work, and demanded fines. He then made a small donation to our activities — without any conditions. We added this problem to our list of ideas.
🌍 In 2020, we received support from Atlas Network. The condition was that Ukrainian entrepreneurs also had to contribute financially to demonstrate the importance of the issue. We collected contributions from several businesspeople and conducted thorough research.
📈 The result was a report showing that certificates of completion cost the Ukrainian economy UAH 34 billion, or 0.6% of GDP (in 2021 prices).
📢 In 2022, we launched an advocacy campaign (on a reasonably modest budget), which was met with resistance from the Ministry of Finance and the State Tax Service. However, in the summer of 2025, after a change in government, the new leadership took notice of this initiative. Now, even the head of the Verkhovna Rada Tax Committee, D. Getmantsev, has submitted a bill (albeit with differences from our idea) to abolish the mandatory nature of these acts. We hope that this story will have a logical conclusion.
⚙️ Reforms — including those aimed at improving the business climate — are painstaking, tedious, tiresome, and long-term work that requires resources, patience, and endurance.
Ukraine is not unique in its problems (especially in overcoming the Soviet legacy).
Businesses around the world have followed the same path: entrepreneurs unite → form a joint budget → turn to research centers → advocate for change → obtain equal rules → the economy grows, prosperity grows.
⛪️ Since the event took place within the walls of the Ukrainian Catholic University, we concluded with words from the Gospel of Matthew (6:21): “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” That is, you invest in what you truly value. If you say something is important but are not willing to invest resources in it, then you don’t need it.
1️⃣ Low level of economic literacy.
The average entrepreneur understands economics about as well as the average taxi driver. They are well-versed in their field but completely incompetent outside of it.
For example, they may advocate for deregulation in their field, but at the same time support a solidarity pension system or state banks “because they can provide preferential loans to businesses.” In other words, there is a lack of understanding of cause-and-effect relationships and a comprehensive vision of how the economy works.
2️⃣ Paternalism. Just as many people in society expect the state to provide education, jobs, housing, and pensions, many entrepreneurs believe that the state itself should do something to support business, as if a magician should fly in on a helicopter and fix everything.
3️⃣ Businesses’ unwillingness to pay for change. Reforms cost money. Behind every change are hundreds, if not thousands, of person-hours of work by experts, lawyers, communicators, designers, and others. Someone has to cover these costs.
4️⃣ Lobbying under the guise of reform. Often, instead of fundamental changes that promote economic freedom, businesses push for narrow industry privileges — that is, they create favorable conditions only for themselves, distorting competition.
We also mentioned a positive example.
👨💼 In 2017, we met an entrepreneur who complained about a problem with work completion certificates. Because of them, the tax authorities regularly conducted audits, paralyzed the company’s work, and demanded fines. He then made a small donation to our activities — without any conditions. We added this problem to our list of ideas.
🌍 In 2020, we received support from Atlas Network. The condition was that Ukrainian entrepreneurs also had to contribute financially to demonstrate the importance of the issue. We collected contributions from several businesspeople and conducted thorough research.
📈 The result was a report showing that certificates of completion cost the Ukrainian economy UAH 34 billion, or 0.6% of GDP (in 2021 prices).
📢 In 2022, we launched an advocacy campaign (on a reasonably modest budget), which was met with resistance from the Ministry of Finance and the State Tax Service. However, in the summer of 2025, after a change in government, the new leadership took notice of this initiative. Now, even the head of the Verkhovna Rada Tax Committee, D. Getmantsev, has submitted a bill (albeit with differences from our idea) to abolish the mandatory nature of these acts. We hope that this story will have a logical conclusion.
⚙️ Reforms — including those aimed at improving the business climate — are painstaking, tedious, tiresome, and long-term work that requires resources, patience, and endurance.
Ukraine is not unique in its problems (especially in overcoming the Soviet legacy).
Businesses around the world have followed the same path: entrepreneurs unite → form a joint budget → turn to research centers → advocate for change → obtain equal rules → the economy grows, prosperity grows.
⛪️ Since the event took place within the walls of the Ukrainian Catholic University, we concluded with words from the Gospel of Matthew (6:21): “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” That is, you invest in what you truly value. If you say something is important but are not willing to invest resources in it, then you don’t need it.