Ukraine seeks to rebuild economy with defiant small businesses

Victoriia Maslova abandoned her herbal cosmetics factory in the Ukrainian town of Bucha on the first day of Russia's invasion of the country, fleeing to Poland with her mother and three younger brothers when rockets began hitting a nearby airport, reports Reuters.
A month later, they were back in Ukraine, determined to keep manufacturing Maslova's plant-based cosmetics brand, Vesna.
"We love Ukraine. We wanted to return to our country and work here," says Maslova, 24, who founded the business seven years ago with her mother, Inna Skarzhynska, 44.
To reverse the economic shock caused by the biggest war in Europe since World War Two, Ukraine's government is pinning its hopes on the entrepreneurial resolve of people like Maslova, along with the return of millions of refugees - and large-scale international financial aid.
Waiting until after Russia's chaotic withdrawal in April from Bucha, a town near Kyiv now notorious for an occupation that left civilians' bodies strewn in the streets, Maslova's mother returned to the factory. The shop floor had been looted and was in disarray, but she salvaged some equipment and loaded it on a truck. They set up a new operation in the relative calm of Lviv, some 450 km (280 miles) west near the Polish border.
Five months later, Vesna products are sold in more countries than ever, including Poland and Lithuania, and Maslova recently won a deal to produce goods for a private label in the United States, she said. All the while, the company has been donating skincare and haircare products, labeled "You are our hero", to women and men serving at the front.
The war, which Moscow calls a "special military operation", is now nearing its eighth month. Despite recent wins for Ukraine on the battlefield, experts believe it could drag on for a long time yet, leaving millions of Ukrainians displaced within the country and nearly 8 million outside its borders.
So, at the same time as Ukraine's forces fight to regain territory seized by Russia since the Feb. 24 invasion, the government in Kyiv is racing to steady the economy, and to find employment opportunities for those who fled homes, jobs and businesses in the east and south.
The economy is expected to shrink by more than a third this year, but with businesses reopening, Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko sees output stabilizing and growing by as much as 15 per cent in 2023, albeit from a low base. And in a decade, she dreams of it more than doubling from pre-war levels to reach $500 billion, helped by foreign investments and European Union accession.