Business Lockdown: Real estate agent Romanyuk says surviving is in Ukraine’s DNA

Editor’s Note: Ukraine’s businesses are struggling after the country introduced nationwide restrictions on movement and travel starting on March 12. The restrictions have been toughened since then and are set to last until at least April 24. Most businesses are closed with employees working remotely or not working at all. The exceptions include supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, parcel delivery services. The borders are closed to most forms of traffic, except Ukrainians returning by foot or by car. Most domestic transportation is closed or heavily restricted. Estimates range on how deeply the ensuing recession will harm Ukraine. The Kyiv Post talked with entrepreneurs about their daily struggles, asking how the quarantine has affected their ventures and what they are planning to do once it’s lifted.

We want to hear your personal story of survival during this national lockdown. Please contact us at [email protected].

Nataliya Romanyuk, the CEO of Kyiv real estate agency Green Way Property.

Nataliya Romanyuk
CEO of real estate agency Green Way Property in Kyiv. She has been working as a real estate specialist for more than 20 years.

“Right now, we can’t predict how much (money) we will lose. The best we can do is to diversify our offer and agreements. We lost a lot of money because we could not rent commercial spaces due to the shutdown. Usually, restaurants and bars are good businesses for Kyiv. It is a very active market. On the other hand, we had expensive houses that were on the market for a year, worth $3,000 to $5,000 per month on average, which is quite expensive. In two days, when people understood the need to stay (indoors) with their children and avoid contact with other people in the center, they immediately started to rent houses outside of the city. In this case, we caught the balance. We stopped renting businesses, but we started to rent houses.

“The most difficult decisions to take are the ones involving people who work for you. Even if it’s not intense due to remote work, even when employees can’t close the contracts they have to, even if there is nothing to do right now in the commercial sector, they still need their salaries and support.

“The only chance to save our business now is to go to a fully online format. I’m currently preparing my new online project, which will keep my clients well informed and safe with investments.

“Ukraine has already gone through that kind of situation many times. We went through the 2008 global financial crisis, we had revolutions, a bad president, another revolution, the war with Russia… We just need to keep our head high and keep going! Surviving is in our DNA.

“I receive nothing from the government, and I expect nothing from it. I just wish the government would handle the situation properly and control the spread of the virus by making wise decisions to save our people.

“I salute the efforts of the business community which is ready to do its best and helping the government with protection supplies, transportation, food delivery for hospitals and medical personal. The real estate sector is very important, but I understand it is not the priority for the moment. We will manage to work after the quarantine is over.”