Ukrainians Fight To Save Their Businesses | Meet One Of The First Female Tech Founders | Sales And Marketing Tips For Entrepreneurs

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens to cripple Ukrainian companies, including the three owned by entrepreneur Alex Medovoi, who tells Forbes’ Rashi Shrivastava he’s spent $340,000 to evacuate about 85% of his employees from Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. Medovoi says he doesn’t know what’s left of his travel tech consultancy, AltexSoft, or his children’s food and education companies, which together made about $20 million in revenue last year. “For our businesses that focused on the local market, there’s no business, because there is no market,” Medovoi says.

In addition to Medovoi, Shrivastava spoke with several entrepreneurs in the war-torn country who are working to save their businesses and employees, all while donating and delivering necessities to civilians, police and the Ukrainian army. Andrey Zdesenko, the founder of Biosphere Corporation, has shut down his three factories in Ukraine that produced diapers, wet wipes and other household staples and has set up five centers from which his employees have been handing out food and sanitary supplies. One of the 100 richest Ukrainians, according to Forbes Ukraine, Zdesenko says he’s continuing to pay his Ukrainian suppliers and his 2,500 employees. He sees the war as an opportunity to set an example as a leader, and looks forward to rebuilding. 

The war is also wearing on already fragile supply chains. At least 374,000 global businesses depend on Russian suppliers, while around 241,000 rely on Ukrainian ones—more than 90% of the former and 93% of the latter are based in the U.S., according to a report from Dun & Bradstreet. Here’s how the conflict will put added strain on supply chains. And follow Forbes’ live blog for the latest news about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its repercussions. 

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"The 1990s was an exciting period of rapid transitions in technology from PC to smartphones, from wired internet to mobile and also in semiconductors. I didn’t view myself as a woman in a tech environment, I saw myself as an entrepreneur, trying to make these technologies happen."

Cher Wang

Cofounder and chairwoman, HTC

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