At the same time, small-business owners have become more mobile and more cautious about large investments, the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs, or SUP, told NV Business.
The overall number of entrepreneurs continues to rise, but the headline figure masks high turnover and unequal access to financing. The gap between Ukraine’s main economic centers and frontline regions has only widened, SUP said.
Despite these challenges, the European Business Association’s Small Business Sentiment Index did not change dramatically in 2025.
The lowest-rated component was Ukraine’s overall economic situation, which received 1.9 points. Small-business owners gave their current condition and expectations for the next six months the highest scores, at 2.6 points each.
NV Business asked SUP and the European Business Association, two of Ukraine’s leading business organizations, how the country’s small-business sector has changed since early 2022.
More entrepreneurs, but the picture is complicated
Ukraine had 2 million registered sole proprietors at the beginning of 2026, an increase of 194,000 from before the full-scale invasion.
How that growth has been generated is important, SUP said.
After rising 5% in 2023, the number of sole proprietors grew 3.5% in 2024 and just 0.3% in 2025.
Ukraine recorded a net increase of 39,000 sole proprietors in the first half of 2026, driven primarily by a 36% decline in business closures.
The number of new registrations remained almost unchanged.
This suggests that businesses that survived the first years of the war have learned how to remain in the market longer, SUP said. Although this is a positive sign, it does not yet indicate that small businesses have sufficient resilience to expand aggressively.
Women lead new business registrations
Women accounted for nearly 60% of newly registered sole proprietors in the first quarter of 2026, up from about 49% at the beginning of the full-scale war.
Women are most widely represented in retail, education, health care, consulting, advertising, food service and personal services.
The war has changed the distribution of roles in the labor market and forced families to seek new sources of income, SUP said.
Starting a business has become a way for many women to quickly regain financial independence, the organization added.
Financing has become more accessible
Bank financing opportunities have expanded considerably for established businesses, SUP said.
The hryvnia-denominated loan portfolio for small and medium-sized businesses grew by more than one-third in 2025.
Business lending is gradually becoming less dependent on the government’s subsidized 5-7-9% loan program and returning to a more conventional market model, SUP said.
The loan portfolio in this segment had grown 77% by the end of June 2026 compared with the end of 2022, said Anna Savenia, a ProCredit Bank management board member responsible for business clients.
Entrepreneurs’ willingness to invest in expansion, modernize production and replace equipment has driven the increase, she said.
ProCredit Bank’s loan portfolio for the segment grew 16.4% in the first half of 2026.
Agriculture leads the bank’s business lending with a 43% share, followed by manufacturing at 31%, trade at 17% and services at 8%, Savenia said.
Access to loans remains difficult for microbusinesses and first-time entrepreneurs, however, SUP said.
The average interest rate on new hryvnia-denominated business loans stood at 15.1% in March 2026.
Separate financing programs support projects designed to improve businesses’ energy resilience, including loans at 0% annual interest for generators and cogeneration units, Savenia said.
Entrepreneurs can also receive financing on preferential terms, with rates under some programs starting at 0.01% annually, she added.
Business owners’ assessments of bank financing accessibility remained largely unchanged, the European Business Association said.
Thirty-three percent of entrepreneurs described loans as inaccessible or difficult to obtain, while 22% said financing was accessible or that many offers were available.
The share of entrepreneurs planning to seek financing fell from 62% to 53% in 2025.
Businesses are increasingly relying on internal resources. The share identifying their own funds as their main financing source rose by 4 percentage points to 51%.
Entrepreneurs planned to cover their remaining capital needs through grants, cited by 12%; loans, 12%; and investment, 9%, the association said.
Grants have become one of the most significant changes of the wartime period, SUP said.
More than 34,000 applications worth almost UAH 9 billion have been approved under the government’s Own Business program since July 2022. More than 7,000 Ukrainians used the program to launch a business for the first time.
Grants help businesses enter the market but do not solve the problem of further growth, SUP said.
Companies still require longer-term and cheaper financing to purchase equipment, secure working capital and enter new markets.
Retail, digital businesses and services lead new registrations
Retail remains the largest small-business sector.
More than 15,000 sole proprietors registered in retail during the first quarter of 2026, SUP said.
The number of closures was even higher, however. Retail has a low barrier to entry but also extremely intense competition and high turnover, the organization said.
Information technology, education, professional and personal services, real estate, marketing and delivery services are generating more sustainable growth.
New businesses cluster around major economic centers
Ten regions accounted for two-thirds of all new sole-proprietor registrations in the first quarter of 2026.
Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa oblasts were among the leaders.
Entrepreneurs tend to locate businesses where there is consumer demand, an available workforce, established logistics and financial infrastructure, SUP said.
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast’s strong position demonstrates that proximity to the front does not necessarily stop business activity when a region remains a major economic center, the organization added.
Closures continued to outnumber new registrations in Donetsk, Kherson and Luhansk oblasts.
Two different economic realities are emerging, SUP said.
Small businesses are recovering and adapting in major economic centers. In the most dangerous regions, physical threats and the loss of markets often outweigh even the benefits of preferential financing.
Small-business owners were less optimistic about the first six months of 2026, the European Business Association said.
Twenty-one percent expected the situation to improve, down from 22%, while 48% expected conditions to deteriorate. Another 31% anticipated no change.
Entrepreneurs also remained overwhelmingly negative about Ukraine’s broader economy.
Seventy-six percent described the economic situation as unfavorable or catastrophic, while only 4% considered it favorable.
Despite that pessimism, Ukraine’s small-business sector continues to develop.