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The war forced this lifestyle upon me—it's not wandering by choice, but forced migration. I now live across three countries: maintaining our office and team in Ukraine, where my personal business affairs remain; living with family in Spain where we're opening an office; and establishing our first contracts in Dubai while opening a company to serve the UAE market and explore Saudi Arabia. This wasn't planned—war disrupted everything, but we've turned necessity into opportunity. I travel to Ukraine three to four times a year, spend half the year in Dubai, and base myself in Spain. It's complex, but it allows us to serve global markets more effectively while maintaining our Ukrainian roots and team.
I'm an entrepreneur first and foremost. I celebrated 12 years of entrepreneurial activity at the end of July. While I started offering advisory services in 2022, helping with LinkedIn promotion and international expansion, my core identity remains entrepreneurial. The business continues to exist and grow—that's my primary focus. The consulting work emerged naturally from our expansion experience, but building and scaling companies is what drives me. When internal voices speak, they say "entrepreneur" without hesitation.
My company operates under two brands: MK-Translations in Ukraine and Locally Kayo in Estonia for European operations. We specialize in cultural adaptation of digital products and help import-export companies expand their presence globally. If a company has a mobile game and wants to enter five additional markets, we ensure that game looks native in each new territory. It's more than translation—it's complete cultural integration. We work with Ukrainian companies expanding abroad and international businesses entering Ukraine. We don't serve purely domestic Ukrainian businesses; only those looking at globalization or seeing Ukraine as a market opportunity.
Our client portfolio includes VidiGroup (premium automotive distribution), regional prosecutor's offices in Ukraine, Suspilne TV channel, and we supported the Oscar ceremony broadcast in the Ukrainian market. We maintain a two-year contract with Samsung Ukraine, helped launch Uber Eats in Ukraine, continue working with Uber and Uklon, serve Genesys, and adapt apps for Kismet Apps clients. The diversity demonstrates our capability across industries and scales.
During the war, we didn't stop—only a five-day pause after the full-scale invasion began. In March 2022, we achieved 85% of our financial plan without reducing targets, thanks to our international market work since 2019. This foundation allowed us to retain our team and continue operating. During the war, we've grown threefold. While war represents crisis for many, it became a boost for us because companies increasingly look toward expansion and diversification. The problem became our catalyst. Many companies closed, but for us, it created opportunities. During crises, we increase marketing budgets while eliminating administrative costs—this long-term perspective pays back threefold.
Our full-time staff numbers around 40, plus or minus depending on hiring. We have a country manager in Spain and are expanding with new model testing in Ukraine, requiring significant team growth. The number isn't constant. Monthly, we engage 100-150 contractors on projects worldwide—people we interact with regularly. They're not outsourcers; in 2022 or 2023, we won an award from the Ukrainian Association of Professionals for innovative team management solutions. We created a motivation system for external teams, providing benefits that make us their preferred choice.
Regarding turnover, I can't provide exact figures because our new financial director introduced new metrics and we're reviewing everything. We'll have clarity by early September. However, we've maintained stable growth of 25-40% year-over-year since 2022.
They serve different purposes. The company works with existing products and established strategies—clients come with clear technical specifications and defined needs. My personal consulting targets businesses wanting to enter foreign markets or build lead generation systems. I dive deep into business development, sales, and marketing, developing comprehensive international market strategies before implementation.
The company handles stable products with clear requirements without consulting. My work is consultative—either strategizing from scratch or fine-tuning existing approaches. The company focuses more on marketing optimization, reducing marketing costs, and testing hypotheses. After adaptation, products launch successfully, companies see ROAS and ROI exceeding 100%, and they scale further. My clients come with broader requests: wanting to enter markets (without knowing which ones) or integrate LinkedIn into their sales process. I break these down into actionable components.
War forced relocation and fundamentally changed our perspective. Previously, we measured scale by Kyiv districts, then Ukrainian regions, now by continental regions. We don't look only at Spain but at all Spanish-speaking markets because the language spans continents. Relocating to Spain allowed us to see the world differently, understanding that opportunity extends far beyond local boundaries—whether Shevchenkivsky district or Bologna region.
Throughout development, yes, and we still communicate. A valuable contact is the president of the Ukraine-Arab Business Consulate, working at DFC with extensive networking. She's been in Dubai over eight years, working as a diplomat. Her most valuable advice: build networking in Dubai—everything operates on contacts there.
When I moved initially, there weren't specific mentors, but friends provided support. Not mentors or experts, but a circle of entrepreneurs offering practical advice and emotional support. Global adaptation is personal—everyone approaches it differently depending on how deep they're willing to go. There was a business club in Valencia called Bort, which helped initially, though organized Ukrainian business communities like UBC aren't consistently present in Spain.
Executing our financial plan in 2022 stands as our greatest achievement. This was significant because we reduced base salaries by only 10-15% by changing our model: lowering fixed components while tying compensation to turnover and distributing it across departments. We retained 90% of our company at war's onset. The 10% who couldn't work maintained contact, but after six months, they couldn't adapt. Receiving the Ukrainian Association of Professionals award in 2023 validates our team management innovation. We're proud of our client portfolio's quality and diversity.
We've worked with AI since 2018—it's not something new for us. These technologies have been integrated into our product for years, serving as tools for pricing policy and providing client choices. Currently, we're implementing AI at onboarding levels with a goal to eliminate checklists by year-end. This will improve onboarding and employee retention. We're creating a product that will reduce pressure on sales and project departments while enabling stable financial plan forecasting.
We depend on geopolitics, which affects leads and company decisions. We continue implementing AI and see its perspective. If it impacts workforce reduction, we support people in developing new skills. If they're unwilling—we've done everything possible.
In priority order: quality networking with international companies—I'm interested in experience exchange. Second: collaboration and partnerships with businesses serving other businesses—we'll find mutual value. Third: clients, because business without clients isn't business, though only one priority makes it to business cards. If prioritizing, it's networking. Let's say partnerships.
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