Survey: 1 in 10 businesses in Poland opened by Ukrainians

In 2023, every tenth enterprise founded in Poland was Ukrainian, according to data from the Central Registration and Business Information, analyzed by Rzeczpospolita.

The number of sole proprietors registered by Ukrainians in Poland last year was more than two-thirds higher than the year before.

Before the start of the full-scale war, Ukrainians registered a little more than 200 proprietorships per month in Poland. In March 2022, the number of businesses increased to almost 600, but the number of registrations increased in the following months. In April, their number approached 1,300, and in May and June – up to 1,700. In the following months, Ukrainians registered more than 2,000 proprietorships.

At the beginning of 2023, the pace accelerated even more – the number of new companies increased by 2,700-2,800 per month. In 2023, 30,325 new Ukrainian proprietorships were registered in Poland. This is more than 67% more than a year earlier. In total, in 2022–2023, Ukrainians registered 48,464 sole propritors in the neighboring country.

The publication notes that among the main problems faced by Ukrainian businesses in Poland are customs bureaucracy, slow transshipment in ports, inefficient railway transport and a lack of workers.

The majority of companies based in Poland operate in the construction, IT, service and trade sectors.

The newspaper notes that the growth of the number of Ukrainian companies does not make a special impression on Polish entrepreneurs. Only 27% of companies are afraid of competition from Ukrainian companies on the Polish market, while 61% do not perceive it as a threat.

This year, there is a historical record of bankruptcies in Poland. The number of insolvent companies in Poland has been steadily increasing since 2016. Most of the bankrupt companies in Poland last year are small and medium-sized firms that depend on external financing. Most bankruptcies are in the transport sector.

Only 20% of Ukrainians expressed a clear intention to stay in Poland forever.