Name: Mykhailo Obolonskyi
Age: 27
Education: National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
Profession: Economist, founder of EasyBusiness
Did you know? He has climbed Mount Elbrus and Mount Kilimanjaro
Vinnytsia native Mykhailo Obolonskyi has already built an impressive career in economics at age 27. He began working in his sophomore year as a part-time business analyst at IT&T Consulting, a Swiss-based firm with offices in Luxembourg, Ukraine, and China, and by the time he graduated he had already had a job offer from another European consulting company, Roland Berger.
“Working for international companies gave me deeper understanding of macroeconomic processes and the interconnection of business and politics,” says Obolonskyi.
However, it wasn’t his foreign clients who inspired him to dive into the problems of doing business in Ukraine, but his family’s small woodworking enterprise.
“For my parents, as for all small business owners, every inspection from government services was problematic. It took so much time and caused hassles,” recollects Obolonskyi. “The larger businesses that I worked with as a consultant had different issues, for example, with the judiciary system or certification according to Western standards.”
After the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014, Obolonskyi joined the team of newly appointed Minister of Economics Pavlo Sheremeta as an adviser on deregulation.
“When I first came to work with the government, I got culture shock. The way of thinking of the public officials was chaotic and unstructured. They had not practiced having consultations with the business sector before.”
In an attempt to be more independent and continue efforts to advance deregulation reform in Ukraine, Obolonskyi and two of his colleagues, Dan Pasko and Mykola Gaidai, founded a non-governmental organization, EasyBusiness. The team of 20 experts examines regulatory constraints that hinder business operations such as inspections, all types of permits and licenses, and excessive paperwork. They also develop legal initiatives and create a framework for their implementation.
“I thought it would be a great accomplishment if at least one of our bills passed and impacted the lives of thousands of people. So far 10 of our initiatives have been adopted by the government,” says Obolonskyi. “We want EasyBusiness to grow into an analytical center, a think tank, in compliance with international standards.”
He wants Ukrainians to be driven to make this the best country for everything, from doing business to living standards. “It’s time to act and think in terms of the processes of integrating with the world community.” Obolonskyi is also passionate about mountain climbing. So far he has reached the peaks of Mount Elbrus in Russia and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
