Within the framework of the Belarus Business Harbor 2022 forum, which opened on September 19 in Warsaw, the speakers were Andrii Romanchuk, partner, head of the EUCON office in Warsaw, as well as attorney, managing partner of EUCON and part-time chairman of the Board of the Association of Ukrainian Business in Poland Yaroslav Romanchuk.
First of all, Yaroslav Romanchuk and Chairman of the Board of the Association of Belarusian Business Abroad Yaugenii Bury signed a Memorandum of Cooperation between ABBA and AUBP for the purpose of joint activities and holding joint events aimed at supporting Ukrainian and Belarusian investors by creating space for their development in the territory Republic of Poland and Ukraine.
In addition, Mr. Yaroslav became the speaker of the first session of the event, which was devoted to the issue of the impact of the war in Ukraine on Belarusian business abroad. During the speech, the expert, announcing the purpose and prerequisites for the creation and presenting the content and vectors of the Association’s activity, shared his experience regarding the processes of the first wave of Ukrainian business relocation to Poland, which took place during 2014-2015, and also described the stages, conditions, challenges and problems with which currently faced by Ukrainian entrepreneurs within the process of relocation in the conditions of war. Thus, the speaker emphasized that the following problems are the most common:
- unpreparedness for relocation;
- difficulties in adapting to the conditions of doing business in another country (specific differences in mentality and business approaches, legislative realities);
- lack of in-depth knowledge of the Polish market and thorough preliminary analysis, finding a niche;
- selection of top management who will be able to effectively manage the business in Poland, since the owners do not always have the opportunity to leave and are forced to manage from a distance;
- the problem of work and communication with banking institutions (opening accounts, carrying out banking operations, credit history, etc.).
Andrii Romanchuk took part in the third session of the first day of the forum, during which the issue of current challenges for Belarusian business abroad was discussed. Mr. Andrii focused on the main challenges that the relocated business in Poland mainly faced, using the example of Ukrainian entrepreneurs who entered the Polish market, and outlined a range of tools that can help to improve business processes.
