Under sanctions, Belarusian origin hinders startups -- Imaguru

Under sanctions, startups are hindered by their Belarusian origin. That's the conclusion of a study on the Belarusian startup ecosystem in exile.

The study was conducted by the Imaguru Startup Hub team and Envision Research Center with the support of the European Union. The research format included interviews with 11 founders of large startup companies of Belarusian origin. Their cumulative valuation exceeded 5 billion Euro.

The presentation of the research took place within the framework of the opening of the European Union program to support the venture and startup environment in Belarus.

Tatsyana Marynich, the founder of Imaguru, noted that "Belarusian origin in the conditions of sanctions prevents entrepreneurs of any size from developing their business even abroad. This is the so-called indirect effect of sanctions. It may apply to entrepreneurs who have no ties with the political regime in Belarus and, of course, are not on the sanctions list."

However, the interviewed entrepreneurs do not consider the sanctions as a serious obstacle to the growth of their business. They see their companies in the context of the development of the global startup ecosystem and objectively face a number of challenges in the international venture capital markets.

The survey also showed that the interviewed startup founders do not want to adapt to the consequences of the crisis in Belarus. They prefer to liquidate their companies in Belarus and relocate their employees. However, 90% of the surveyed founders want to maintain ties and contacts with Belarus to promote change and help the country in the future.

To preserve the startup ecosystem for the future of Belarus, the European Union is launching a program to support Belarusian startups. One of its priorities will be to bring together startup founders through networking, based on startup hubs in Vilnius and Warsaw, and online. It is planned to create accessible high-level educational programs for innovative companies, investors and entrepreneurs, as well as study tours for founders to European ecosystems.