In Ukraine, 30,033 re-registrations of sole proprietorships were recorded from January through September 2026, accounting for about 14% of all new registrations. Thus, one in seven entrepreneurs who registered an individual entrepreneur this year had previously run their own business, according to data from the Unified State Register published by the “OpenDataBot” service on November 2.
According to the study, in the first nine months of 2026, 29,382 individuals who had previously closed their sole proprietorships returned to entrepreneurial activity. At the same time, the number of re-registrations for the current year (which is not yet complete) has already exceeded the total for all of 2025.
The share of re-registrations of sole proprietorships in Ukraine has been growing for the third consecutive year. While it accounted for about 5% of all registrations in 2023, reached 7% in 2024, and increased to 10% in 2025, the figure reached 14% in the first nine months of 2026.
The highest number of re-registrations was recorded in Kyiv—3,862, or nearly 13% of the national total. Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ranked second with 2,861 registrations, and Odesa Oblast ranked third with 2,226. The top five also included Lviv Oblast with 2,115 repeat registrations and Kyiv Oblast with 2,032.
According to Danylo Getmantsev, chairman of the parliamentary committee on finance, tax, and customs policy, the increase in the number of re-registrations is due to several factors, including the simplification of administrative procedures, the financial burden on entrepreneurs, and opportunities for tax optimization.
Specifically, starting in June 2023, entrepreneurs were able to automatically terminate their business activities through the “Diya” portal, and as of November of that same year, the registration of sole proprietorships and the selection of a taxation system were combined into a single application.
An additional factor has been the rise in the cost of maintaining sole proprietorships even in the absence of income. According to Getmantsev, starting in January 2025, the corresponding financial burden for certain categories of entrepreneurs may exceed 30,000 UAH per year due to payments of the unified social contribution and the military levy. This will prompt some entrepreneurs to temporarily suspend their activities and resume them once new orders come in or their business stabilizes.
At the same time, re-registration can be used to change the place of business and switch to different local tax rates.
Getmantsev noted that he does not see a systemic problem with re-registering a sole proprietorship, provided that tax laws are followed. However, he did not rule out the use of such procedures in certain schemes to fragment businesses or conceal employment relationships, though he assessed the proportion of such cases as insignificant.
The study also identified entrepreneurs who repeatedly terminated and resumed their business activities. The record belongs to a 25-year-old entrepreneur from the Dnipropetrovsk region, who has eight re-registrations carried out in 2021, 2022, and 2024. His business is related to real estate and advertising.
Four other entrepreneurs from the Kharkiv, Volyn, Rivne, and Khmelnytskyi regions each have seven re-registrations. They worked in the fields of trade, programming, design, computer repair, and healthcare.
“OpenDataBot” clarified that a repeat registration is defined as any new sole proprietorship established by an individual who previously held entrepreneur status. The first registration is not included in the statistics, and a single individual may carry out multiple repeat registrations over the course of different years.
“OpenDataBot” is a Ukrainian service for monitoring open government data that analyzes information from government registries, particularly regarding entrepreneurs, companies, court decisions, and business financial activities.
business registration, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, SMALL BUSINESS, Sole proprietorship, UKRAINE, Опендатабот
Raiffeisen Bank has started issuing unsecured “green” loans to small businesses for construction solar power plants, as well as for the purchase of electric cars and charging stations to them.
As noted in the bank’s statement on its website on Tuesday, both FLPs and legal entities can obtain financing up to 80% of the cost of the relevant equipment and installation.
Under the terms of lending, the loan amount can be up to UAH 9 million for a period of 24 months. The interest rate is 17-19% per annum, without additional commissions.
“Thanks to the new loan program Raif contributes to decentralization of the energy system, development of electric mobility and ‘green’ recovery of Ukraine. Our business clients can reduce their risks, become energy autonomous, ensure the continuity of their work, reduce the cost of electricity and fuel. Having installed SES for loans from Raif, entrepreneurs will be able to produce “green” electricity for their own business needs, charge electric cars of their enterprises and clients with it, and sell the rest to the energy market, receiving additional income”, – commented Elena Shpirko, Raif’s business banking client segment development manager.
The bank specified that as the largest foreign lender to the Ukrainian economy, it issued UAH 1.5 billion of “green” loans to businesses, including for construction SES, production of solar panels, creation of biogas and biomethane plants, biofuel boilers, implementation of energy efficiency projects, etc.
The small business spirit index in 2018 was 3.2 points out of the maximum possible five, which corresponds to a neutral level, according to a study conducted by the European Business Association (EBA). According to a report on the EBA’s website, small business representatives are optimistic about the prospects for development this year: out of the 278 interviewed owners and directors of small enterprises in all spheres of activity 76% expect business to improve in the next six months, while 87% forecast profit growth in 2018.
More than half of the companies surveyed plan to increase the number of employees, while 57% to raise wages, 64% to increase the amount of financing their business in 2018, the report says.
At the same time, the materials of the study indicate that 40% of the companies polled were founded in the crisis years of 2015-2017.
“The survey shows the orientation of small businesses to exports. Some 27% of the companies surveyed have already entered foreign markets, and 30.3% plan to do this this year. The companies intend to develop their enterprises and reinvest their earnings in their own business,” the report states.
However, small business development is hampered by difficulties in obtaining loans. According to the survey, 82% of the surveyed heads of companies admitted that they need credit funds, 65% of respondents have difficulties with this, in particular 15.5% of them say that borrowings are “absolutely impossible.” “In general, 68.2% of respondents believe that the economic situation in Ukraine does not contribute to the development of small business, and only 3% of respondents are completely satisfied with the business climate in Ukraine,” the release says.
