Ukrainian businesses continue to operate despite challenges, but want their voices to be heard
A Business Ombudsman Council survey shows that companies are adapting to the realities of war, but expect the state to genuinely protect their rights and engage in meaningful dialogue.
On 15 September, the Business Ombudsman Council presented the findings of its survey, “Current Challenges for Business and Ukraine’s Investment Attractiveness.” The event brought together representatives of government authorities, international financial institutions, foreign embassies and diplomatic missions, leading business associations, and think tanks.
Business Ombudsman Anka Feldhusen welcomed the participants and emphasised the important role of business during the war, as well as the challenges of building trust between companies and the state.
“This trust does not emerge on its own — it is built through the protection of rights, transparent procedures, and predictable decisions. This kind of partnership lays the foundation for long-term investment.”
Tetyana Korotka, Deputy Business Ombudsman, presented the Business Ombudsman Council’s Policy and Recovery workstream and outlined the challenges businesses face in recovery projects, including delays in the state’s fulfilment of financial obligations, a gap between partners’ expectations and actual contractual terms, and additional operational costs.
“Individual business complaints show where the private sector is forced to bear risks that require systemic solutions. Our task is not only to help resolve individual cases, but also to turn these signals into changes that make recovery more predictable for businesses and investors,” Tetyana Korotka said.
According to her, Ukraine’s challenge is not only to attract investors, but also to create predictable conditions that can turn investment interest into actual deals.
What did the survey show?
The findings were presented by Yevhen Anhel, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting. The survey covered 319 companies across 20 of Ukraine’s 27 regions.
Key challenges for businesses:
· Labour shortages (70.8%) due to mobilisation and employees leaving the country
· Rising resource costs (48.7%)
· Only 0.3% of companies say they face no problems at all
· Trust in institutions remains low: 63.6% rate the protection of property rights as poor, while 63.1% do not trust the courts
European integration and exports:
· 61.1% of businesses already export to the EU, while another 9.9% plan to do so
· The main barriers are high market-entry costs (45.5%) and intense competition (38.9%)
· More than half of businesses (51.7%) expect the state to provide practical guidance on European integration rather than general statements
Investment attractiveness:
· Despite the war, none of the foreign investors surveyed said they had no interest in Ukraine
· The most attractive sectors are energy (60%) and defence (53.2%)
· The main expectations of foreign businesses from the authorities are not incentives, but reduced corruption (90%), simplified procedures (75%), and access to justice (65%)
Panel discussion
The survey findings were discussed during a panel featuring Oleksandr Kubrakov, Advisor to the President of Ukraine and Co-founder of the We Build Ukraine think tank; Sergiy Fursa, Investment Banker and Deputy Managing Director at Dragon Capital; Olena Boichenko, Partner and Consulting Leader at Deloitte Ukraine; and Igor Burakovsky, Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting.
The discussion was moderated by Dmytro Polianskyi, Senior Recovery Manager at the Business Ombudsman Council.
The key topics of the discussion included the challenges faced by Ukrainian companies and their expectations of the state; barriers to participating in recovery projects; labour shortages and labour migration; the key factors and risks investors consider when making decisions about investing in Ukraine; and the readiness of Ukrainian companies to become partners for international businesses.
The participants also focused on the impact of Ukraine’s European integration path on the country’s investment attractiveness and the prospects for recovery projects, businesses’ readiness to finance such projects, the effectiveness of state financial support programmes, as well as the changes needed in war-risk insurance and their potential impact on the investment climate.
The full survey findings are available at the link.
