Small Businesses In Ukraine Band Together To Raise Their Profile Around The World As Many Contend With The Daily Challenges Of War

Khrystyna Oliiarnyk worked as a lawyer in the energy sector in Kyiv for much of her career. But she began rethinking her career choice after the Russo-Ukranian War started, and in 2017 began to pursue another passion: Making beautiful silk scarves.

“My friends started to go to war, and some of them unfortunately died,” she says. “I understood that life is too short. I wanted to do what I really liked, and my passion was art.

Oliiarnyk devoted herself to learning how to run her business, OLIZ, and today sells scarves she designed with her 10-person team through the company’s website, on the crafts marketplace Etsy and other venues.

One factor that is helping her spark more export sales is membership in Spend With Ukraine, a nonprofit organization focused on helping small businesses in Ukraine generate more sales by promoting them around the world. Many have been challenged by the constant disruptions and trauma of war, particularly since the Russian invasion in 2022.

“It’s a huge support to us,” Oliiarnyk says. “Sales in Ukraine are not stable at all, and for us, selling abroad is a significant support. The platform gives us an opportunity to be seen in many new countries. We started to get many more orders from the United States, France, Germany and even our first orders from Peru and Lichtenstein.”

Spend with Ukraine, founded two years ago to draw attention to the creative economy, currently includes 240 businesses, according to founder Andriy Klen, also co-founder and CFO of Petcube. Petcube, a 50-person company based in Ukraine, makes cameras that let pet owners look after their pets remotely. The company sells its products around the world via Amazon.

Since Spend with Ukraine launched, it has helped the members generate about $500,000 in additional collective revenue, Klen says. Members include creative agencies, consumer products makers, technology startups and many others. Among the most visible are the editing site Grammarly, software startup MacPaw, and the fashion brand Bevza.

“We started it from the get-go when the full-scale invasion began,” says Klen. “We understood right away that getting bad news from Ukraine all the time is emotionally taxing, and people wouldn’t be able to focus their attention on bad news at all times. We thought about how to shed light on the positive things that Ukraine is known for.”

Some of the founders are still getting their businesses established—an effort complicated by the war. “Of course, war puts a strain on your resources, but it inspires you greatly when you get things done and when you’re able to keep your business intact, keep shipping, and, probably the best thing of all, grow your operation and extend your business,” says Klen.

Oliiarnyk has overcome significant challenges since her business started to take shape five years ago. She tested the water by photographing the scarves owned by her grandmother—who worked in a handkerchief factory— and posting them on Instagram and Facebook. “She had a huge collection of winter scarves with beautiful flower patterns,” says Olin. “It was my dream to restore the production of scarves but in a modern way, with modern Ukrainian artists, to make them with beautiful Italian silk—a piece of history, a piece of art you can wear.”

Her first big break came when a friend offered to buy one of the scarves for $800. That provided seed money. Although she had a strong vision for the brand, down to details like the colors of the scarves, she had no professional design background, so she enlisted freelance designers from a local design school.

Initially, Oliiarnyk started producing the scarves in India but then found a production facility in Ukraine. She had to relocate production after the occupation. Since then, her production has been stable. “We are not certain about our tomorrow, but at least we are not occupied,” she says.

As OLIZ took off, Oliiarnyk received some grant funding to cover business education, and the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs began promoting her brand abroad. “We are all united around promoting Ukranian art internationally,” she says.

Meanwhile, Klen continues to bring Ukranian businesses into the fold at Spend With Ukraine. “For the small businesses, this platform has been life-changing in many ways,” he says.