Ukrainians in Poland open working places for Ukrainians

Ukrainians in Poland open working places for Ukrainians

Ukrainians for Ukrainians

Citizens of Ukraine in Poland open businesses and create working places for compatriots

The owner of confectionery ‘Glademcake’, Lilia Sanghavy and her collective

Since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, millions of refugees have found shelter in Europe. According to the UN, over 1,5 million Ukrainians have come to Poland. A lot of them have decided to open or transfer their business to Poland and create working places. Others have found jobs in Ukrainian companies and firms.

Ukrainians mostly open sole proprietorships in Poland. In December-January of 2022, there were created around 15-16 thousand companies, and over 4 thousand – are companies with Ukrainian capital. This is stated in a report on this topic by the Polish Economic Institute. There are constantly being introduced simplifications that allow Ukrainians to open their companies or transfer them from Ukraine to Poland more effectively. The decisive factors are culture and language similarity. Half of the entrepreneurs admit that it was a try to continue a business which they had run before the war. Every third one said that they wanted to save their business from the consequences of the war in that way.

However, the Ukrainians’ affair in Poland is still a pretty tough process. 40% point out the lack of job experience in the Polish market as the main obstacle to business development.

Lilia Sanghavy is the owner of confectionery Glademcake in Warsaw. She came to Poland with her family seven years ago. She says that she always had a hobby – cooking, baking something, exploring new tastes. ‘I was always excited about that and I baked very often at home. I borrowed a lot of recipes from journeys… Very often we have been to India, and the family of my husband, Anish, visited us. That is why I have a lot of recipes of Indian cuisine. And here, in confectionery, we implement this as well’, - the woman says.

Lilia is from Eastern Ukraine, from the small town of Terebowl. She and her husband were studying in Khmelnytskyi, at Technological University, and there they met each other. She is a designer by profession, he is a computer engineer. Firstly, they moved to Kyiv, where Lilia’s husband got a job. They had been living there for 15 years. They built a house, raised a garden and bore three children. Then there appeared an opportunity to move to Warsaw. ‘We wanted to try something new’, - the Ukrainian woman admits. Lilia explains her choice of living in Poland by having Polish roots. Thus, in 2006, she gained a Pole’s card. But the crucial factor for actual moving was teaching kids in the English language school in Warsaw.

It started with making cakes to order at home

However, it was tough for the family to find employment. So they decided to open their own family business. ‘Everything started with me making the cakes to order at home. Sometimes, once a day or a week. When the amount of orders increased significantly, my husband and I decided to open a full-fledged confectionery’, - the woman says.

Lilia remembers that she herself advertised her products via social media, in particular, Facebook and Instagram. She created her own account and sent information to a variety of groups and communities. Given that the woman was familiar with the Indian cuisine, she started to receive orders from the Indian diaspora. ‘Here, in Warsaw, I make the cakes that they know and love at home, the cakes that are popular in India. I offered the representatives of the Indian diaspora something they cannot get in Polish confectioneries – pastry without eggs. It is related to religion’, - the businesswoman explains.

They patiently told us and helped us

Lilia says that the opening of the business in another country, the country of the EU, was pretty easy. ‘It was six years ago. There were no obstacles at all. Everything was easy, simple and clear. No one put a spoke in our wheel. Our acquaintances were telling and explaining well. Even if we do not understand why is something like that, the people who are familiar with the affairs, patiently told us and helped us’, - the businesswoman points out. According to her, creating the business took place under the simplified tax system. Two years of tax holidays really helped at the beginning. Running your business in Poland is profitable - the woman is making a conclusion.

‘Our people often are not used to working in normal conditions. Because there is a difference between running a business, for instance, in Europe and in Ukraine. It is the opinion of Valeriy Sikora, entrepreneur, CEO and the owner of a company that distributes household goods to Polish retail chains and online stores. According to him, probably, registration and formalities are easier in Ukraine, but ‘our people are used to earning large margins. And they simply cannot get that they cannot have 30 or 50-60 percent of markups for certain services. They can have only 5 or 10 percent. That is why, for them, it is a shock. They do not understand that there are other priorities. Here, in Poland, there are stable and tranquil prospects. You earn less, but slowly grow and quietly sleep. If you pay all the taxes and do everything according to law, you can be calm and plan your business for many years ahead and know that everything is going to be fine with it. Such a global difference’, - Sikora is explaining.

Earlier, I used to design clothes. Now I design cakes

What always saved the Sanghavy family is that there was no language barrier, because Lilia spoke Polish since childhood. Her husband, Anish, knowing Russian and being able to understand Ukrainian, went to Polish courses. Lilia calls him an ‘idea generator’. Anish handles the financial side of the business as well.

Nowadays, the business of Lilia and Anish is three confectionaries, one of which is a café. ‘We have portioned desserts, traditional Ukrainian desserts, in particular, ‘Medovik’ and ‘Napoleon’. There are small cakes for kids. But the main thing is cakes to order. Because we dedicate the whole soul to them, in particular, to decoration. Because people want to surprise someone by the appearance of this cake, show something, present something that person likes. I used to design clothes, now I design and cook cakes’, - Lilia is saying, smiling. She adds that she really cares about the quality of production.

Ukrainians work in the team of Lilia and Anish. Since the full-scale Russia’s war against Ukraine, the married couple gave a job to Ukrainian women that found temporary shelter in Poland from Russia’s aggression. The family learned about the beginning of the full-scale invasion on the morning of 24th of February 2022. ‘Reading the news and understanding what was going on in Ukraine, it was tough to work and sell desserts. Women in the confectionery were crying and could not speak with clients’, - Lilia is remembering the beginning of big war.

Later, girls and refugee women that were looking for a job in Poland started writing to her. All of them worked before in the confectionery field. ‘After the beginning of the war, four women from Ukraine, who became forced migrants, started working with us. One woman was from the Volyn region, the second girl was from Odesa, the third was from Dnipro’…

I felt calmer – our people

Julia Gundariieva came to Poland by refugee train from Dnipro, taking her eleven-year-old daughter to safety. She remembers that she was very confused. She immediately started looking for a job exactly in the confectionery field, because she had worked as a confectioner in Ukraine. ‘Here I wanted to do what I love to do as well, but without being able to speak Polish, I did not know where to apply. I started looking for a job on Instagram accounts. Once I saw an account of the confectionery of Lilia and Anish. I liked the presented products there. I wrote in the direct messages in Polish via a translator. I was surprised, they immediately answered me in Ukrainian. I was really happy, because I felt calmer – our people’, - Julia remembers.

Then there was a meeting, successful interview and beginning of the job in the confectionery. The woman is currently engaged in decorating and ornament of cakes. She says that thanks the job she has a possibility to live in Poland and to grow carrier. ‘Very professional team, clever girls, all Ukrainian. Here we are friends, we speak in Ukrainian and work’

‘One more woman, who is from Charkiv, decided to come back to Ukraine because of family reasons’, - Lilia Sanghvy is saying. Now there 9 people work in the team. They are very pretty, hardworking girls, who do like their job. From ‘the confectionery world’. ‘Someone is engaged in baking rolls, someone makes cakes and prepares them for the decoration. Then someone does only decoration’, - the entrepreneur says.

Business that ‘shoots’

‘The quantity of enterprises in Poland that are open for Ukrainians is increasing every day. Mostly this is Service Industries. For example, barbershops, hairdressers. But there are also lots of in the field of gastronomy, in particular, restaurants, cafes, bakeries. And here are some nuances’ – Valeriy Sikora, who is engaged in consulting Ukrainian brands about entering into the Polish market. He has been living in Poland for almost 20 years, he has built carrier here, but he has job experience with Ukrainian businesses as well.

‘A lot of compatriots try to open gastronomy here, but doing it they go for the most difficult field. Restaurants and cafes are a complicated business. Bakeries or cafes have more chances to survive and earn. However, Service Industries, where our people open beauty salons, barbershops, hairdressers - this business ‘shoots’. The amount of beauty salons open to Ukrainians in Poland really stuns, and they are mostly successful. They have a lot of clients, Poles go to them, because they are delighted with the quality of service. Ukrainian Service Industries here is very valuable’, - the entrepreneur is convincing.

Positive ‘injection’ into the Polish economy

‘We see the circulation of funds, we see an enormous inflow of capital. At the beginning of the war, small businesses were being moved and people came. Now the factories, huge industrial facilities are being moved’, - Valeriy Sikora is saying, comparing opening businesses in Poland by Ukrainians to creating job places with a positive ‘injection’ into the Polish economy. ‘Many people come and bring a lot of money. Everyone makes a living from that. There are new working places being created. Our entrepreneurs pay huge taxes. Therefore, they that much influence in quick development of Poland that I believe that Poland has good luck’, - Sikora is not joking at all. And he is saying that he does not imagine what would be here if Ukrainians left Poland: ‘there would be desolation here, and in a couple of weeks everything would be ‘ended’

However, he points out that the longer our entrepreneurs that are moved to Poland are here, the fewer chances that they will come back to Ukraine. ‘Because at the beginning, knowing from experience, living in another country for a year or two, there is certain sentiment about home and you want to come back. But after a few years, a turning point comes. And if the war drags on longer, chances for Ukrainians coming back will be less. People are getting used to normal and tranquil life’, - Sikora is saying.

In his mind, the part of the Ukrainians that have business in Poland will come back to Ukraine. The more, the better. Ukraine must not only win the war with Russia, but also establish a stable and transparent economy. ‘Everyone already got sick of the corruption. We need transparency of the rights system, courts and all the conditions have to be created… Our entrepreneurs have to survive in Ukraine and fight every day, sometimes, not with a competition, but with the government’, - Valeriy Sikora is summing up.

Svitlana MIALYK 

https://novosti.dn.ua/

Translated by Maksym MALIIENKO