Entrepreneurs have made the Odesa region one of the top five most active regions in the country

Since the beginning of 2026, nearly 17,000 new sole proprietorships have been registered in the Odesa region, allowing the region to rank among the top five most active business regions in Ukraine. Overall, over the course of nine months, the number of active entrepreneurs in the region has increased by more than 5,000.

This information is available on the OpenDataBot platform.

In terms of the growth in the number of small businesses opened, the Odesa region was surpassed only by the Dnipropetrovsk region (22,300) and the Lviv region (17,200). 

At the same time, the Odesa region ranked third in terms of sole proprietorships closing. During the specified period, 11,500 sole proprietorships ceased operations in the region. Despite this, the region saw 5,143 more sole proprietorships open than close.

In total, over 222,288 new sole proprietorships were established in Ukraine during the first nine months of 2026. Closures dropped by 27%—to 155,600. Overall, the net increase in new sole proprietorships was 66,643. Retail trade remains the most popular sector for starting a business.

Earlier, it was reported that 110 companies with foreign owners were established in the Odesa region during the first 7 months of 2026. This accounts for 16 percent of the total number across Ukraine.

As reported by Intent, as of September 7, more than 14,000 businesses in the Odesa region were on the list of debtors to the state. By this metric, the region ranked first among all regions in southern Ukraine, ahead of the neighboring Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.

Юлія Калабайда