Business Lockdown: Dream Town CEO Yemets advises business to ‘stay calm’

Editor’s Note: Ukraine’s businesses are struggling after the country introduced nationwide restrictions on movement and travel starting on March 12. The restrictions have been toughened since then and are set to last until at least April 24. Most businesses are closed with employees working remotely or not working at all. The exceptions include supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, parcel delivery services. The borders are closed to most forms of traffic, except Ukrainians returning by foot or by car. Most domestic transportation is closed or heavily restricted. Estimates range on how deeply the ensuing recession will harm Ukraine. The Kyiv Post talked with entrepreneurs about their daily struggles, asking how the quarantine has affected their ventures and what they are planning to do once it’s lifted.

We want to hear your personal story of survival during this national lockdown. Please contact us at [email protected]

Roman Yemets
CEO of Dream Town, a 160,000-square-meter shopping mall that hosts over 700 shops

“The quarantine has affected us harshly — 99% of the shopping mall is affected, as only the supermarket still works. The rest (of the stores) had to shut down because of the confinement measures.

“The most difficult decision we had to make was to send our staff on vacation, giving them no salaries.

“To be frank, we don’t know what will happen to our business. It depends on a few factors that are still unclear. One of the most important factors is how we negotiate the way out of the crisis with our partners, banks, and authorities. 

“We are also negotiating tenant terms for the shutdown period, (considering) to lift the rent while (shops) are not working.

“The government is not really helpful right now. We need much more help from the authorities. I have a simple message to them: Invest in business and help us by changing taxes, loans and interest payments, the business will give you back even more.

“To the business community, the message is simple too: Stay calm, this is no so dramatic. It looks like it is going to be difficult, but a crisis happens every 10 to 12 years, so (if a downturn is happening now, this means) we will be growing for the next ten years to come.”