Will Ukraine be able to become one of the most technological countries in Europe

It takes 15 minutes to open a new account in the virtual bank - monobank -, which has been operating in Ukraine since 2017, or to get a card of the state-owned Privatbank.

You need to spend the same amount of time to open your own business — FOP.

Ukrainians who were forced to go abroad because of the war had time to assess the level of service and digitization of our country.

For example, in Germany, to start using the card, you need to receive several pieces of paper. Yes, the PIN code for it and the password for access to online banking are sending separately.

Ukrainians quickly master new technologies. In Kyiv, you can now order food in a restaurant without even talking to the waiter, pay by card and go home by taxi.

And all this can be done with a few clicks on your smartphone. You can buy any goods online, get a doctor's consultation, send an application for social assistance through the Diia service, or participate in a state tender. Ukrainians can teach the world a lot.

Does anyone else use cash?

In Kyiv and other large cities of the country, you can use public transport, ride a taxi, visit restaurants or buy coffee on the street without a single hryvnia in your pocket.

You can pay by card or phone everywhere. Cashless drives. Does this work in European countries? Not always. Many sellers in shops in Italy, Greece or France still ask to pay cash.

We, Ukrainians, are ready to experiment and usage of the new technologies. I remember the moment, when in 2017-18 consumers have started paying for their purchases by phone.

It's a wonder that over time has become the new norm. The need to carry on a bank card has disappeared. Android Pay technologies, and later Apple Pay, were implemented in our country among the first in the world, as well as in Belgium, Spain and Canada.

Ukrainians trust financial institutions even during the war. According to the National Bank, in May the share of non-cash payments was 69%, while in January it was 63%.

By the way, we at Uklon, the Ukrainian leading ride-hailing service, observe the same trend. In September, the share of non-cash payments, i.e. by card, Google Pay or Apple Pay, - reached a record of 53%.

All documents are in Diia

There is a full-scale war in the country, and I do not take my passport with me when leaving home. Because all documents are online in the Diia service which representes public services. It has appeared in the fall of 2019 and quickly became popular.

At the beginning of the year, it was already used by 13 million Ukrainians. And I am among them. I even made domestic flights without a "paper passport" and showed his Covid-certificates when traveling abroad before the start of the war.

It was Diia that helped the government not to lose control of the state and to steadily pay social assistance to millions of Ukrainians after the start of the war.

Remember how we all tested the system when we received the "Covid thousand hrynias", - funds that were given to all vaccinated people? It was then and in good time that all the shortcomings were discovered, so there were no longer any problems with the payment of assistance to internally displaced persons.

Just like our compatriots who lost their jobs after the start of the war and were able to register at the Employment Center online and receive assistance.

Diia was recognized in dozens of countries around the world. I am not surprised that Slovakia, Bulgaria and Moldova plan to adopt the Ukrainian experience and introduce a similar service in their countries.

Call the car with one touch

It was difficult to use a taxi in the early 2000s. All services were similar to each other. It was necessary to call somewhere, wait for the call and then look for a car under the entrance.

So it was an expensive service that everyone used when they needed to get to the train station, airport or home after the wedding. However, the market has changed significantly since then.

With the appearance of the Ukrainian ride-hailing service Uklon, which was developed at the same time as Uber, the way of ordering a car changed dramatically.

The client sees how the car arrives, the photo of the driver, his route, he can leave a review and pay online and not look for the rest all over the place.

I have friends who use taxis to get around the city center even though they have their own car. Because it’s really close to impossible to find a parking place for your "iron horse" somewhere in the area of​ the Kyiv’s main street Khreschatyk, Besarabka or Golden Gate.

Taxis in Ukraine are inexpensive compared to EU countries. It cost $15-17 to get from the city center to Boryspil airport, that is very cheap. For example, in German capital, Berlin, the same trip would cost three to four times more.

Ukrainians learn new technologies very quickly and love to use everything new.

Therefore, now ride-hailing services already occupy 90-95% of this market. And their positions are getting stronger every year. Because services offer new options all the time.

It can be the delivery of a parcel, and the opportunity to take an additional passenger and share the cost of the trip with him.

Public procurement online

Until 2016, it was almost impossible to participate in public procurement. It was a complicated and corrupt procedure. Not everyone will remember that at that time, information about state tenders was published only in the newspaper "Bulletin of State Procurements", the circulation of which consisted of several hundred copies.

It wasn’t easy to find that copy. Offers for participation in the tender had to be sent in paper form, and some of them were being "lost".

However, since 2016, public tenders, in which anyone can participate, have saved the state a lot of money. In six years, this amount, according to the public procurement portal Prozorro, amounted to UAH 210 billion. It's a lot.

For example, in the draft state budget for 2023, it is planned to allocate 176 billion UAH for health care, and 142.2 billion UAH for education.

Ukrainians are wonderful, hardworking people who are ready to develop and invent new services. And we definitely have something to impress the world.