Co-owner of the NOVA group of companies (Nova Poshta), Vyacheslav Klimov, is convinced that entering foreign markets is the right and only alternative step for Ukrainian technology businesses, despite all possible obstacles along the way.
Co-owner of the NOVA group of companies (Nova Poshta), Vyacheslav Klimov, is convinced that entering foreign markets is the right and only alternative step for Ukrainian technology businesses, despite all possible obstacles along the way.
He expressed this opinion during a meeting of the Diia.City United union, which was attended by a dev.ua correspondent.
«When I am asked whether to go abroad or not, I will tell you — to go abroad, even if you have no ambition, no plan, and no strategy. You can go abroad intelligently, you can go abroad frivolously. You can make mistakes, you can do everything right. But you have to go abroad,» Klimov believes.
According to the co-owner of Nova Poshta, his company’s entry into foreign markets was belated, and its catalyst was largely the full-scale war.
«The first cautious and unsystematic steps were taken quite a long time ago, back in 2015, when we had „Nova Poshta. Moldova“… Then there were long talks that we should go abroad, but the company did not do it. I think, first of all, because it really was the market leader in Ukraine, and there was a lot of work here… But then the war began and the company, as always, in stress — in this case, in useful stress — realized that it was late and did nothing in the period from 2015 to 2022,» Vyacheslav Klimov shared his observations.
As for the strategy for entering foreign markets, as Klimov says, it was largely formed spontaneously, and most of the plans initially laid down in it «did not work out.»
«The development of the strategy began on our knees, in our joint office with Volodymyr Popereshnyuk, which was about 7-8 sq. m. … To be honest, this strategy continues to be developed even now, it is constantly being revised… And almost 80% of all our desk research, which we did in April or May 2022, we then threw in the trash,» the businessman said.
According to Klimov, Nova Poshta currently operates in 17 countries, and Moldova, Poland, and several other countries are showing very significant dynamics.
Previously, another co-founder of Nova Poshta, Volodymyr Popereshnyuk, said that the company aims to receive half of its revenue generated outside Ukraine, although currently this figure is 10%.
In June, Nova Poshta opened a new sorting hub in Kaunas (Lithuania), which processes over 1,000 shipments daily.
