Co-owner of monobank and member of the Entrepreneurship Support Council during the martial law under the president ("Council of Seven") Oleg Gorokhovsky reported on the council's activities in 2024 and stated that, in his view, the government's interest in the "Council of Seven" has decreased.
He reminded that on January 26, a year has passed since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed decree No. 30/2024, which established the "Council of Seven" aimed at improving the business climate in Ukraine.
"We hold meetings several times a week - we address entrepreneurs' appeals who are under pressure from law enforcement or other state bodies, discuss legislative proposals that we consider beneficial, and respond to force majeure situations. In our view, the intensity of work has not declined, but the government’s interest in the council has waned," noted the co-owner of mono on Facebook.
He added that the "Council of Seven" also systematically advises representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers, deputies, the Office of the President, and attempts to prevent harm that could be caused by detrimental legislation or regulations regarding taxes, reservation, and other restrictions.
According to the banker, a year ago the "Council of Seven" developed a number of proposals to enhance the business climate in Ukraine and has since deliberately refrained from taking on new directions to maintain a high task completion rate. Instead, it decided to focus on the eight most pressing issues that pose serious obstacles to business and significantly impact the country's economic development.
Thus, within the framework of the "Council of Seven," a team was established where every entrepreneur can submit an appeal if they see unlawful or disproportionate actions by law enforcement that lead to claimed damages. Over the year, the "Council of Seven" received 31 appeals, resolving six cases. Three of these were actively discussed in the public domain: "Textile-Contact" and unlawful actions and pressure from investigators and prosecutors, Agromino and attempts of raider seizure of the company's property, as well as EDS Ukraine, whose owner had cash and documents seized by the SBU after searches at home.
"We hope that in the future the law enforcement system will be more transparent and will not need the involvement of the 'Council of Seven' to identify abuses by individuals and rectify them. But for now, we work with what we have," - remarked Gorokhovsky.
He explained that one of the important tasks set at the beginning of the "Council of Seven" was to ensure that the government and the president communicate that entrepreneurs are important, especially during wartime. Thus, through communication, they aimed to change the attitude of Ukrainians towards entrepreneurs and business as a whole.
In his opinion, positive feedback is working - the president regularly mentions the role of taxes from businesses in supporting the country's defense capabilities, and state managers attend and communicate about the importance of entrepreneurship at business forums.
"Unfortunately, we have not been able to bring order to the law on CFCs. The delay in fines does not address the root problem. According to our data, founders of businesses with a total revenue of about $20 billion have left Ukraine and do not plan to return because of this law," stated the member of the Council of Seven.
Moreover, as Gorokhovsky emphasized, the "Council of Seven" registered bill No. 12439 aimed at improving the protection guarantees for business entities during criminal proceedings, which was registered on the VR website on January 24, 2024, and regulates the procedure for imposing property seizures, establishes clear timelines for its return, guarantees the mandatory presence of specialists during searches, and provides the defense side with broad rights for appeals and access to case materials.
Gorokhovsky added that an important achievement of the Council of Seven is the recommendations for amendments to the new standards of prosecutors' activities in protecting investments during pre-trial investigations, which were approved by the Attorney General on April 24, 2024.
Also, based on the council's recommendations, the Office of the Attorney General conducted an audit of criminal proceedings opened against Ukrainian businesses, resulting in the closure of 1218 of them (according to OGP data).
"Unfortunately, we see that pressure on businesses from some state bodies continues: the tax service, law enforcement, environmental services, and others. There are many who want to control, and few who want to create," he stated.
Among the positive changes facilitated by the "Council of Seven," Gorokhovsky also noted the reboot of the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB), the creation of a platform for collecting feedback from businesses and the launch of its beta version "Pulse" (which already has 140 reviews), the establishment of an analytical dashboard for business-law enforcement interactions, the simplification of the procedure for acquiring land for entrepreneurs, and support for the development of military-tech companies.
The overarching goal of the "Council of Seven" for 2025, as in the previous year, is to complete the tasks outlined at the beginning of its activities.
"It’s clear that we could do more, but we want to first bring these tracks to completion. Launching new initiatives is easy. Completing them - that’s what we need to do and show this to the state administration by example," summarized the co-owner of monobank.
According to presidential decree No. 30 dated January 26, the "Council of Seven" includes co-founder of LLC "Netpik" Artem Borodatyuk, co-founder of LLC "Fintech Band" and monobank Oleg Gorokhovsky, president of LLC "Biopharma Plasma" Konstantin Yefimenko, member of the board of the Association "Information Technologies of Ukraine" and co-owner of LLC "SoftServe" Taras Kitsmey.
Additionally, its members include the president of the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs (SUP), co-owner of LLC "Nova Poshta" Vyacheslav Klimov, member of the board of directors of SUP and co-owner of LLC "Ajax Systems Manufacturing" (Ajax Systems) Alexander Konotopsky, and chairman of the Council of Employers of Ukraine Dmitry Oleinik.