Small and Medium Business: How long will it take to recover after the war in Ukraine - Mastercard Research
The condition and main needs of small and medium -sized businesses have greatly influenced small and medium -sized businesses. 79% of respondents state a decrease in business volumes, with one half entrepreneurs reaches from 50% to 99%. At the same time, every fifth entrepreneur managed to save (19%) or even increase (2%) business volumes compared to the pre -war period. Adapting to a new reality, every second entrepreneur (50%) was forced to transform his business activity.
Most often, these changes concerned business reorientation to the country's defense needs (17%), the transition to another business (16%) or the transfer of production facilities to other regions of Ukraine or abroad (13%). It will take time and support to recover business.
Depending on the long-term situation in Ukraine, 41% of respondents predict a return to pre-war indicators during the year, 30% believe that it will take from one to two years, and 23% expect that they will be able to recover completely not earlier than, two to three years . Among the main needs of active business are new orders and markets (56%), development funds (33%) and logistics assistance (23%).
However, despite the decrease in the level of income and difficulty that small and medium -sized businesses face today, Ukrainian entrepreneurs are actively paying money for charity and supporting volunteer initiatives - 74% of respondents say. Digitalization and non -cash payments are characteristic of most small and medium -sized businesses in Ukraine. Thus, 70%of entrepreneurs say that they use digital sales channels, the most popular are social networks (40%) and their own site (33%).
According to 39% of workers surveyed, it is digital channels that bring their business more than half of all orders. “In recent years, we have seen digital transformation helped Ukrainian entrepreneurs to develop, and today, digitalization has become of particular importance. Ukrainian small and medium -sized businesses sees this important condition for its restoration and growth, and looks at the future.
Two -thirds of Ukrainian small and medium -sized businesses have been using digital channels, so the potential and the need for further digitalization are obvious. It plays an important role in helping Ukrainian entrepreneurs, and we will continue to use our technologies, innovations and expertise to help Ukrainian businesses, ”Inga Andreeva, CEO of MasterCard in Ukraine and Moldova, said. The number of businesses that are paying for goods or services are increasing.
Thus, with the outbreak of the war, 8% of entrepreneurs began to accept non -cash payments for the first time. In total, according to the results of the study, today 87% of the current business is accepted in non -cash form - through POS terminal, on a bank account or through digital services. At the same time, one third of entrepreneurs claim that the vast majority of payments (90-100%) account for non -cash. Ukrainian entrepreneurs are also interested in the latest payment technologies.
Thus, according to the study, one tenth takes payments for goods and cryptocurrency services, and 24% of businesses consider this opportunity in the future. For many years, MasterCard has actively supported Ukrainian small and medium -sized businesses, launching special financial products, services and initiatives aimed at expanding ICB capabilities through the use of modern payment technologies.
Since the beginning of a full -scale invasion, Mastercard has temporarily canceled the Interchangu commission for non -cash payments in Ukraine. In addition, this year MasterCard opened an advisory center in partnership with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.