Laurent Dupuch has weathered not one but two storms over the past few years as CEO and country manager of one of Ukraine’s largest banks Ukrsibbank. He arrived in Ukraine after almost seven years as CEO of the bank’s Morocco operations at the beginning of March 2020, right at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. He stayed in Ukraine after the full-scale invasion began in 2022. According to Dupuch, it was the experience managing the bank during the pandemic that helped him to keep serving Ukrsib

Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine has dealt a devastating blow to the country’s economy. While the country has begun to bounce back from an initial 29% drop in GDP, it’s estimated that at today’s level of growth, the country’s GDP won’t return to pre-war levels at least until 2030. Some areas of the economy, however, have proved more resilient than others, and – remarkably – some companies are even finding opportunities amid the disaster of war. That’s according to Oleksandr Kosovan, the foun

Business is good for Ukrainian banks. Last year, the country’s banks brought in record profits of Hr 130 billion ($3.5 billion) with the five top state-owned banks making 61.5% of the total. One of these banks is Oschadbank, the country’s second-largest state-owned bank after PrivatBank. In 2023, the bank posted record operating profits of Hr 12 billion ($316 million) against Hr 5.6 billion ($206 million) in 2021. The bank serves more than 6.2 million active clients, including 224,000 micro, s

Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 did little to shake German pharmaceutical and agricultural giant Bayer’s commitment to its business in Ukraine. Operating in Ukraine since 1992, Bayer today employs around 700 people in the country, and last year, announced a 60-million-euro investment from 2023 onwards in its corn seed production facility in Pochuiky, Ukraine. Even though Bayer Ukraine suffered losses between 2021-2023, Managing Director and CFO of Bayer in Ukraine, Oliver Gierlic

Getting around Ukraine’s major cities like a true local means having the Uklon ride-hailing app on your phone, and maybe even digitally bartering for the price you want to pay. Ukraine’s leader in the ride-hailing market, Uklon — originally named Ukron for the web version “Ukraine Online” but changed to make it more aesthetically pleasing — is unique in that allows its riders to adjust the suggested price. In a hurry and the app will nudge you to add a bit under a dollar to entice drivers to a

Put active community organization and rapid digitalization together and you get the story of contemporary Ukrainian society. You also get Monobank— Ukraine’s hugely popular mobile-only bank that has facilitated nearly $1 billion in donations to fund the war effort since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. In the first year of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainians donated Hr 8.5 billion ($224 million) through Monobank. Last year, that number was Hr 27.4 billion ($724 milli

After being pruned by the Russian invasion, Ukraine's largest supermarket chain, ATB-Market, is fighting to grow back bigger and better. Like the German chains Aldi and Lidl, ATB prioritizes low prices and big selections. This proved popular with shoppers — the company entered the full-scale war with over 1,300 stores. When Russia attacked, 31 ATB stores were destroyed and 79 more ended up in occupied territories. As of today, the company has yet to fully replace these losses. Even so, ATB ha

Nova Poshta, Ukraine’s largest private delivery company and domestic analog to FedEx or DHL — stands head and shoulders above all other private parcel firms in Ukraine. When Russia’s invasion in 2022 forced millions of Ukrainians to flee to EU countries, the company, now known abroad in English as Nova Post, saw a responsibility to connect them with their homeland, but also an opportunity to expand to new markets. The first foreign branch opened in Warsaw in October 2022. The latest opened ear

As the Polish trucker blockade of Ukrainian haulers heads toward the one-month mark, the toll on Ukraine’s businesses is adding up. As of Dec. 4, around 2,500 trucks are stuck at the Ukrainian border with Poland waiting to cross because of the protests, which started on Nov. 6 when Polish truckers began blocking Ukrainian haulers carrying commercial goods demanding the EU end permit-free access for Ukrainian trucks put in place at the start of Russia’s war. One day of downtime due to the prote

One of just two Okko gas stations along the road to the Russian-occupied city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Oblast has seen better days. Last winter during a nighttime Russian artillery strike on Kostiantynivka, around 20 kilometers from Bakhmut, debris crashed through the roof and landed in the station’s storeroom. The next morning, the station’s employees, none of whom were at work during the attack, rolled a piece of the debris out to the gas station’s entrance, painted it blue an