Doing business at 18

Donetsk is a city of big and powerful companies. It is difficult for small- and medium-scale business here. To be successful, one should bring absolutely new, but easy-to-grasp, ideas and proposals to the business milieu. Those who are successfully coping with this task are young people who have formed in the “digital era” and have their own views on goods, services, and approach to people. No university market research courses teach this – it is a question of experience and wits. Interestingly, many of those who are trying themselves out in business are still under 20.

Bohdan Chaban, who is going to be 19, has taken a great interest in social media marketing (SMM) and become director of an agency that works in this field. This variety of business is so far low-key in Donetsk. While in Kyiv quite a large number of companies, both small and medium, are engaged in SMM, in Donetsk this niche is almost vacant. Many firms, hotels, restaurants, and media turn to social networking sites to attract the public and spread information about them, but far from all know the specifics of online marketing. Bohdan says that this technology has changed his view on the traditional media and customary advertising. “I understood at a certain moment that the media are changing now, as is advertising. People stop reading newspapers and watching TV – they prefer surfing the Internet. Accordingly, this channel of promotion should be used as fully as possible. Therefore, such a service as SMM became a top priority in my activities – I quit the previous job and decided to launch my own business,” he says. Chaban’s current clients comprise big companies and organizations. This guy’s agency is also hired to provide coverage for some events, concert, and festivals,

The young manager says that his agency sometimes finds it rather difficult to work because a more or less transparent and stable business milieu has not yet been fully formed in Donetsk. According to Chaban, many companies still promote their product in the old fashion. “There is enough ‘free money’ here, but it is difficult to get it because people don’t understand the importance of your work. I think there are very few people in our region, who understand that it will be difficult for them to promote their product without advertising and hype. ‘Donetsk-style’ business means kickbacks and pressure of rivals. There are exceptions, of course, when no other than they become our customers,” the young businessman says in conclusion.

Kostiantyn Shubin and Bohdan Maniukov, who have set up an agency of what may be called “stand-in-queue brokers” in Donetsk, also confirm a lack of understanding on the part of the business community. Their company is based on a time-honored maxim: time is money. If one needs to have some documents finalized but has no time to wait in the queue, he or she can use the services of a broker who will gladly stand in the queue instead of them. A broker earns about 15 hryvnias an hour, and the client pays 10 to 15 hryvnias to the company. The boys claim that these rates are much lower than in Kyiv, where clients pay 50 to 90 hryvnias an hour.

Shubin and Maniukov are still students. In spite of this, the boys take a serious approach to their own business: they attract their acquaintances to work and seek out clients. Although not only a student, but also a pensioner, who is not averse to earning money by standing in a queue, can be a tramitador, the entrepreneurs are banking on young people. They usually look for employees and clients in social networking sites because their users are more responsive to initiatives.

The business ideas that young people offer in Donetsk have long been successfully developing in various countries. They came to Ukraine quite recently, and it is too early to judge whether or not these projects are successful. It all depends on many factors: firstly, on the way of behavior on the market, the supply and quality of services; secondly, on the rivals and the transparency of actions; and, thirdly, on the Ukrainian law which is supposed to help small-scale business to develop. But what also remains important is the perception of services. For if you offer your customers “fashionable” and “comfortable” services, you should know for sure that customers are prepared to march abreast of times. There have been a lot instances when interesting ideas remained unused only because society was not prepared to change. New technologies and willingness to work have already helped the abovementioned guys to make the first steps and win the trust of some customers. But will Donetsk businesspeople accept the situation when an 18-year-old student can give them a run for their money?