Expected to cost us $8.5 Trillion in losses over the next 10 years. For many reasons, from low-birth rates to hyper-risky Venture Capital in early stage companies and young founders, the West suffers from a massive and costly supply-side problem. Enter Ukraine, a young, bustling knowledge-economy, leading the world in AI, Cryptography and other Sciences. Previously known for its industrial BPOs (Outsourcing), it's now winning Red Lion, Cannes and Red Dot awards in it's edgy-design scene. 3 hours from both London and Israel, bursting with capacity with rapidly increasing infrastructure, many future-thinking entrepreneurs are leveraging distributed teams and remote talent, all over the country.
Geographical Arbitrage
Ukraine has the lowest cost of living in Europ with income taxes as low as 5%
“”The private (individual) entrepreneurs are eligible to choose a simplified taxation system and pay a 5% Single tax of the gross income (UAH 5 million max.) from their business activity. Also, the monthly social fee of UAH 1039,06 has to be paid.””
That translates to a Win-Win situation where Western clients pay on average 40% less, and Ukrainian new-hires make on average 25% more.
STEM Hacking Culture
A 200 000 + person born from the ashes of communism.
https://ain.ua/en/2019/08/30/ukrainian-it-industry-2019-2020/ knowledge-economy Ukraine is an economy of problem solvers and hackers. From, well, 'real' hacking to bioTech, a strong STEM university system and research market allows employers to really find 'hidden gems' in specialist, niche fields.
Silicon Valley Grade Quality
Grammarly.com, Whatsapp, Slack, what do they all have in common? They, like many other teams, leveraged Ukrainian teams and talent to build customer-ready products. Unlike many other outsource destinations, Ukraine doesn't suffer from the stigma of inconsistency or 'Race to the bottom pricing'.
Much like their European neighbors, Ukrainians are easy-going and open-minded. The cultural overlap allows for natural ease in communication that isn’t readily achievable with developers from other outsourcing destinations due to differences in high/low context cultures. Ukrainian developers have an exceptional work ethic and are overall “out-of-the-box thinkers.” Hundreds of businesses that we all know and love have outsourced their development to Ukraine.