A new life that no one asked for: how Ukrainian refugees are reviving their business abroad

In addition to continued death and destruction, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has also sparked the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. More than 8 million Ukrainians fled the country to Europe and North America, reports MarketPlace.

Photo: IStock

For the displaced people and families, it was a huge human tragedy, but also a huge economic upheaval, with most refugees having to rebuild.

Tatyana Stetsyna, 38, fled Odessa with her terrified 10-year-old son two days after the invasion. Now she lives as a refugee in England and is trying to overcome the difficulties of a new life and revive her business. The latter is very successful.

“I try to be positive, but of course what happened still hurts me. You have your own life. And then, in a second, you no longer have anything that was before, ”said Stetsina.

She ran a corset-making business, but closed the company when the war broke out, fearing the worst. She loaded a few things into the car, including a sewing machine, a steam iron and several rolls of sewing fabric, and headed towards the Moldovan border.

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Today she is happily settled in a small rented house near the English city of Oxford and is reviving her business.

“It was a very successful business. We couldn't keep up with the demand. I think that very soon everything will be the same again,” she said.

With the financial help of a small British refugee charity called Opora, Stetsyna has re-employed eight of her workers in Odessa and sells her products. online customers in the US, UK and Ukraine. She believes that by April she will be able to receive a good income from the business. She refuses to touch even a penny of social benefits offered in the UK.

“The UK government has done a lot for us. The English are the best people. I use my savings to support myself and my son,” she said. “I don’t need any more help.”

This self-confidence and work ethic was evident on other occasions as well.

“The data looks quite impressive,” said Paweł Kaczmarczyk, professor of economics at the University of Warsaw and director of the university’s Center for Migration Research. — About 60% of those people who arrived since the beginning of the war are already actively working on the Polish labor market. Also last year, we created a record number of Ukrainian companies in Poland - more than 10.”

Kaczmarczyk points to a contrast with the situation in Germany, which has taken in just over a million Ukrainian refugees and integrated far less than 60% of the workforce.

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“It seems that in the case of Germany, this proportion is much lower - less than 20%, about 17% or so,” he said.

Kaczmarczyk offered several possible explanations. There was already a very large number of Ukrainian emigrants in Poland, which could make life a little easier for refugees. Language may also be a key factor - Ukrainian is much closer to Polish than to German.

In the UK, language proficiency has certainly been an important factor in helping the refugee Yana Smaglo stand up on feet.

“I can speak English. Not very good,” she laughed. “But at least I can express myself.”

Smaglo, 30, fled Ukraine as soon as the war broke out, leaving behind several lucrative fashion businesses. Last March, she arrived in the UK with little to no; today she has a couple of pop-up stores and a website selling Ukrainian women's clothing.

Her business is called Nenya brings profit. But she admits that many of her fellow Ukrainian refugees, of whom there are more than 150 in the UK, are struggling because their English is not good enough or their qualifications are not recognized.

“If you are a teacher, doctor or lawyer in Ukraine, you cannot work here as a teacher, lawyer or doctor,” she said. “These people have a hard life here.” They cannot have the same standard of living as before.”

She said that 90% of the Ukrainian refugees she met in the UK wanted to return home after the war. But as a young, independent entrepreneur who has already lost one business in Ukraine, Smaglo does not share this desire.

“We have no guarantee that even after the war they will not do this again. The Russians could invade again, she said. - We were very unlucky with our neighbor, really. I don’t want to spend another eight years building a business only to find it disappears again overnight.”

Mo Hornik of the MAD — or Make a Difference — Foundation, which helps Ukrainian refugees find asylum abroad, sympathizes with Yana Smaglo's reluctance to consider returning home.

“Even if the war ends tomorrow, the infrastructure, the job opportunities, the lives of the people - especially in the eastern regions - may not be so good,” she said. “It will be years and years and years before everything can be restored and create a safe and welcoming environment in which to raise your family.”

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Much depends on the duration of the war. The longer this goes on, the more harm will be done, the better the Ukrainian refugees will acclimatize in the new environment and, perhaps, feel that it is better for them to live in exile.

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