The opening of the first foreign Business Advisory Center Diia.Business

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, we have received a lot of support from Poles in all areas - diplomatic, military, humanitarian, economic and digital. Poland has given shelter to millions of Ukrainians and has become the first EU country to accept digital documents in the Diia app when crossing borders. And today, in Warsaw, we have symbolically opened the first foreign Diia.Business Centre. It will work not only in the standard consultation format for entrepreneurs, but all Ukrainians who are in Poland today and need a job, housing or help in completing formalities will be able to come here- said Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister for Digital Transformation of Ukraine, during the opening of the Centre.

Diia.Business is a project promoting entrepreneurship and export, initiated by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. The project consists of two components: an online portal and a network of support centres for entrepreneurs.

I am glad that today we are opening a help centre for entrepreneurs from Ukraine, i.e. the Diia.Business branch in Warsaw. This is possible thanks to the cooperation of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the Agency for Enterprise Development and Export of Ukraine and the Polish Investment and Trade Agency. I would like to thank PAIH for joining the project and providing the location and space necessary to carry out the center’s tasks. I believe that Diia.Business will contribute to the creation and implementation of many necessary and interesting projects in Poland - said Olga Semeniuk, Secretary of State, Government Plenipotentiary for Small and Medium Enterprises.

Thanks to the commencement of the centre's activity, Ukraine citizens will be able to take advantage of free, professional consultations in the area of running a business, accommodation, employment and living in Poland. The Diia.Business Centre in Warsaw will provide, among other things, advice on obtaining refugee status and provide information on who to contact in crisis situations.

PAIH’s role and specialization is to support Polish entrepreneurs in conducting their activities internationally. Currently, such support is also needed by companies which have relocated from the areas in Ukraine affected by hostilities. I am glad that we can participate in the Diia.Business Centre project together with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Ministry of Development and Technology. Thanks to this, Ukrainian companies can maintain business continuity and thus minimize the impact of the war on the Ukrainian economy - said the Chairman of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency, Krzysztof Drynda.

Before the war, we did not plan to open Diia.Business centres outside Ukraine. But war requires extraordinary solutions. We are grateful to Poland for its hospitality and readiness to help in these difficult times, we thank our partners, Mastercard. On the one hand, it is nice that the Ukrainian brand Diia.Business now reaches an international level. On the other hand, it is sad that the reason for this is such a difficult event as war - added Valeriya Ionan, Deputy Minister for European Integration at the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.

The Diia.Business Centtre in Warsaw will operate for the duration of the war and after its end, depending on the need for its support by entrepreneurs and citizens of Ukraine. Similarly to the previously launched Cowork Ukraine, the Centre in Warsaw is located in the PAIH building at 12 Bagatela Street.

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About Diia.Business

The Diia.Business web portal was launched in February 2020 in Ukraine with the support of Mastercard. The portal offers all the information necessary to start and develop a business, as well as more than 68 types of free online consultations, training at the National Online School for Entrepreneurs, up-to-date news about business development opportunities and a wide range of digital services. Since the launch of the project, Diia.Business has already been visited by over 1.5 million users who have benefited from over 5,200 consultations. Diia.Business offline centres are centres whose purpose is to support local small and medium-sized enterprises and provide them with free advice in various fields. Before the start of the full-scale war, 11 centres were established in Ukraine: in Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Odessa, Cherkasy, Kiev (based at the Taras Shevchenko National University), Poltava, Uzhgorod, Becha, Ternopil, Kryvyi Rih and Kremenchuk. Today, most offline centres function as humanitarian coordination hubs. In Ternopil and Uzhgorod, the centres operate in the normal mode, but additionally help companies to relocate, adapt to new conditions, restart and resume operations. The centre in Bucha, which was destroyed during the Russian occupation, is in the process of reconstruction.

About the Polish Investment and Trade Agency

The Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH) is an advisory institution belonging to the Polish Development Fund (PFR) Group. This is the first point of contact for exporters and investors. It operates both in Poland and through a network of its offices around the world. It strengthens the recognition of Polish brands on international markets, promotes domestic products and services as well as technological solutions made in Poland. The agency helps entrepreneurs in choosing their optimal path of expansion abroad. It also supports the inflow of foreign direct investments to Poland and the implementation of Polish investments in the country. PAIH cooperates with the public sector and regional partners, offering, among other things,: training, audit and promotion of investment properties, cooperation in the organization of business missions and communication support in the implementation of joint projects.