Foreigners opened three thousand businesses in Odesa region

Odesa region is among the regions of Ukraine with the largest number of foreign entrepreneurs, with 3,295 such individual entrepreneurs registered in the region. By this indicator, the region is second only to Kyiv and Kharkiv, while in the neighboring Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, the figures are much lower.

This is evidenced by data from the Opendatabot monitoring service.

As of May 2026, there were almost 22 thousand individual entrepreneurs with foreign citizenship in Ukraine. Most of these businesses are concentrated in the capital, with 5,216 foreign entrepreneurs registered in Kyiv.

Odesa region is ranked third among the country's regions in terms of the number of foreign sole proprietors, with 3,295 entrepreneurs from other countries working here. At the same time, 224 such businesses are registered in Mykolaiv region, and 328 in Kherson region.

SCREEN SHOT: opendatabot.ua

In general, Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Odesa regions accumulate more than half of all foreign entrepreneurs in Ukraine. Foreigners most often open businesses in retail, logistics, wholesale trade, hospitality, and IT.

The largest share of foreign entrepreneurs is made up of Russian citizens - more than 4,500 people. Citizens of Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Moldova are also actively starting businesses.

At the same time, the number of new sole proprietorships registered in the first quarter of 2026 in Ukraine reached 63,555, 4,542 of which were registered in Odesa region.

Odesa region ranked fourth in terms of the number of individual entrepreneurs who closed down - in the first quarter, 3,730 individual entrepreneurs closed down in the region.

From January to March 2026, the number of individual entrepreneurs in Odesa region increased by 775, while in Kherson region, on the contrary, it decreased by 224. Thus, Odesa region is ranked fifth in Ukraine in terms of the number of new sole proprietorships, and Kherson region is ranked second in terms of the number of entrepreneurs who ceased operations.

Анна Бальчінос