The pan-European telebridge hosted by Impact Force yielded a compelling insight: the European integration of Ukrainian SMEs is no longer a one-way process. Ukrainian entrepreneurs are bringing resilience and speed to Europe—qualities that the EU itself often lacks. The key challenge is no longer market access, but the absence of connections between business, government, and European support instruments.
The Ukrainian NGO Impact Force, together with the European association SME Connect, organized the pan-European telebridge “Connecting Ecosystems: Advancing the Integration of Ukrainian SMEs into the European Economy.” The discussion brought together representatives of the Ukrainian government, the Kyiv City State Administration, international financial institutions, European business associations, and think-tanks. The discussion went beyond identifying barriers to forming a shared agenda—at the level of policies, financial instruments, and urban infrastructure.
Today, the SME sector is the backbone of national economic endurance: 99.98% of all enterprises in Ukraine belong to this segment, accounting for approximately 74% of employment and over 60% of value added. More than 63% of Ukrainian exports are already directed to EU countries—yet SMEs drive only 25–30% of this trade. This gap was identified by participants as the key window of opportunity.
Strategic Framework: SMEs as the Primary Beneficiary of European Integration
The position of the Ukrainian government was outlined by Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Taras Kachka:
“The main beneficiary of integration with the European Union is small and medium-sized enterprises. SMEs are the foundation—the most dynamic and energetic part of Ukraine’s economy and society integrating into the EU.”
This perspective defines the policy approach to European integration in the business sphere: SMEs are viewed not as recipients of support, but as full-fledged agents of transformation.
Resilience as Ukraine’s Export
Expanding on this idea, Olga Diakova, moderator of the Ukrainian part of the telebridge and co-founder of Impact Force, highlighted a key thesis: for Ukrainian businesses, European integration has already become a daily practice, yet the challenge is to move from a survival strategy to systemic growth.
“Small and medium-sized enterprises are essentially the economic core of the country. Despite their strength and adaptability, Ukrainian businesses often lack not ideas or ambition, but the infrastructure for scaling. Support exists—programs, international partners. There is demand for Ukrainian resilience and entrepreneurial energy, but what is often missing is the most critical element: system-level support for SMEs at different stages.”
Nina Levchuk, moderator of the European part and co-founder of Impact Force, emphasized the uniqueness of the moment: Ukraine is not merely gaining access to markets and regulatory frameworks, but Europe itself is learning from Ukrainian entrepreneurs—their resilience, ability to operate under extreme conditions, and deliver results. This two-way dynamic became a central theme of the discussion.
Anatomy of the Gap: Four Types of Barriers
Participants described the issue not as a lack of resources, but as fragmentation between the levels where these resources exist. Four types of barriers shape this gap:
Financial. Long-term financing for SMEs remains scarce despite billions mobilized by international partners. Vladyslav Nosyk, Lead Banker for SME Finance and Development at the EBRD in Ukraine, acknowledged that “many SMEs still face challenges in accessing long-tenor, investment grade financing.” Nataliia Butkova-Vitvytska, Board Member of Oschadbank, clarified the scale: the bank acts as an operational hub for 90% of state and international support programs, working through credit guarantees and export insurance. Financing exists—but businesses often lack the tools and capacity to access it.
Managerial. Anna Mishchenko, Managing Partner at the Kyiv School of Public Administration, described this as a shift from reactive “firefighting” to long-term strategic planning and ESG implementation. This is not a technical challenge—it is a transformation of management culture aligned with European expectations of transparency, sustainability, and predictability.
Instrumental. Support programs exist but remain fragmented. Taras Kachka emphasized that SMEs are the main target group of state programs related to EU integration. Kateryna Spivakova, Advisor to the Minister of Economy, added that the state is pivoting from a regulatory watchdog to an ecosystem enabler—preparing businesses for European rules even before formal accession.
“We are moving from a set of programs to building a coherent entrepreneurship support ecosystem. SME integration into the EU is not only about access to resources, but about transforming the business model itself.”
Volodymyr Perun, Head of Innovation and Access to Finance at the Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office, noted that Diia.Business significantly simplifies business entry, while navigation support is critical for accessing international markets.
Political and regulatory. Lilia Heitz, Director of SME Connect in Brussels, highlighted a structural challenge within the EU itself:
“European policies are often designed for ideal scenarios, but SMEs rarely operate under such conditions—resulting in a growing gap between policy and reality.”
Thus, Ukrainian SMEs face a dual gap—both domestically and within the EU.
What Works: Ecosystems Instead of Isolated Instruments
The key conclusion of the telebridge is a shift in approach: from expanding individual programs to building ecosystems where programs are interconnected, and businesses have access to a coherent set of tools across growth stages.
Johanna Palmberg, Research Director at the Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum, defined this as “infrastructural logic”: integration requires not one-time access to resources, but ecosystems and long-term partnerships where larger companies pull smaller ones along, and regulatory predictability reduces market entry risks.
Peter Joakim Kofler, Chairman of the Danish Entrepreneurs and representative of SME Europe, proposed viewing SMEs themselves as strategic infrastructure—a diplomatic corridor through which business shapes the policy agenda.
“Europe needs the sense of urgency you currently have. We are trying to communicate to policymakers that we must move faster—because Europe is moving too slowly.”
In this framing, Ukrainian businesses become not recipients of integration, but its catalysts.
Urban Ecosystems as Units of Integration
Vyacheslav Panchenko, Deputy Director of the Department of Economics and Investments at the Kyiv City State Administration, presented how the ecosystem approach works territorially. His key point: a shift in the unit of competition.
“In the global arena, Kyiv isn’t just competing with Warsaw—Kyiv metropolitan area is competing with Warsaw metropolitan area.”
For business, this means a consolidated labor market, role specialization between urban core and its periphery, and deeply integrated value chains. This scale unlocks access to premier EU instruments such as Interreg and Horizon Europe which are often beyond the reach of smaller, isolated municipalities..
In this regard, Kyiv akigns a with sophisticated urban models of Hamburg, Brussels, and Nordic capitals: cities become the level where macro-level integration frameworks turn into everyday operational reality.
A New Shift: From Economic Integration to Value-Driven Integration
One of the most unexpected insights came from Jonathan Robinson, co-lead of The Possible initiative:
“In the coming years, all SMEs will need to become social enterprises—and in Ukraine, you have already achieved this. You are advancing a model where purpose is central—and proving it works.”
In this sense, Ukrainian SMEs are not only integrating—they are exporting a blueprint to the EU, where the transition toward an impact-driven economy is a strategic priority for the next decade.
Ecosystem Logic in Action
The telebridge conclusions go beyond analysis—they define a principle of action: SME integration into the EU is not a set of programs, but a resilient architecture of interconnected stakeholders including businesses, government, cities, financial institutions, and European networks.
This infrastructure is built not through declarations, but through operations synergies:
- between municipal and national programs
- between Ukrainian exporters and European investors
- between social entrepreneurs and outcome-oriented donors
It is at the level of these connections—not individual instruments—that scaling Ukrainian businesses into EU markets is determined.
In this process, civil society plays a distinct role—not as an implementer, but as a connector of system levels, translating business needs into the language of policy, instruments, and partnerships. Impact Force acts as one of systematic orchestrators, operating at the intersection of government, business, and international partners.
Ultimately, this is about addressing the core gap identified in the discussion—the absence of connections between existing opportunities. By linking these elements—from local initiatives to European instruments—an environment emerges where integration becomes a daily practice rather than an external process.
The telebridge marked the point where this approach was aligned between Ukrainian and European stakeholders. The next step is to translate these insights into joint actions—integrating existing tools into a more coherent entrepreneurship support system.
It is precisely through building these connections that Ukrainian business is reshaping the map of the EU—not by integrating into it unilaterally, but by transforming it through a two-way process.