The State of Entrepreneurship in Ukraine
Approximately 74,000 entrepreneurs in Ukraine run businesses generating over 10 million hryvnias in revenue. In total, around 360,000 business owners submitted annual reports. Women account for just 28% of entrepreneurs earning above 10 million hryvnias. Over the past year, 9,122 participants dropped out of the ranking, while 15,450 new business owners joined, resulting in a net increase of 6,328 individuals. Only 21 participants maintained their positions in the ranking, whereas 37% moved up and 42% lost ground.
Where Big Business Thrives
The highest concentration of large businesses is in Kyiv, where 16,230 entrepreneurs are registered. Dnipropetrovsk region ranks second with 7,204 entrepreneurs, and Lviv region third with 5,878. Together, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Lviv account for roughly 40% of the country's big businesses.
Among enterprises generating over 10 million hryvnias:
- 79% have annual revenues between 10 and 100 million hryvnias,
- 19% earn between 100 million and 1 billion hryvnias,
- 2% exceed the 1 billion hryvnia mark.
In 2025, the threshold to enter the top 100 wealthiest business owners rose to 9.96 billion hryvnias—an 11% increase from the previous year. To crack the top 1,000, a minimum revenue of 1.5 billion hryvnias is required. Rinat Akhmetov leads the top ten with a combined company revenue exceeding 843 billion hryvnias. Vitaliy Antonov holds second place with 164 billion hryvnias, and Andriy Verevskyi ranks third with 149.7 billion hryvnias. The top ten also includes Yuriy Kosiuk, Volodymyr Kostelman, Oleksiy Poroshenko, and Dmytro Firtash. Svitlana Ivakhiv closes the list with approximately 46.9 billion hryvnias in revenue.
Of the 100 richest entrepreneurs, 69 are registered in Ukraine, while others represent:
- Cyprus (7%),
- the USA and the UK (5% each),
- Switzerland (4%),
- the UAE, Germany, and Monaco.
The first quarter of 2026 showed positive momentum for sole proprietorships (FOPs): 11,297 more new entrepreneurs opened than shut down. Between January and March, 63,920 entrepreneurs launched their ventures, while 52,623 FOPs ceased operations.
This data confirms that Ukrainian businesses are evolving and adapting to new economic realities. The concentration of business in three key regions highlights regional economic imbalances and underscores the need to support small and medium-sized enterprises for the country's sustainable development.
As the entrepreneurial landscape in Ukraine continues to evolve, new opportunities and challenges arise for business owners. The recent surge in new sole proprietorships highlights shifting trends across various sectors. To explore which industries are thriving and which are facing decline, check out the latest insights on the recent openings of 64,000 new sole proprietorships in the first quarter of 2026.