After the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine,  Solution Mentors  IT company left Kramatorsk and evacuated to Mukachevo, Zakarpattia Oblast.

The company, founded 20 years ago, now unites more than 100 developers. Solution Mentors provides 90% of its software development services for the US and European markets. The company’s expertise is related to solutions for document management, multi-channel contact centers, the banking sector, digital security in companies, and protecting information.

“Special thanks to our foreign clients who have not stopped cooperating with us. From the first days of the war, when dozens of our employees were leaving dangerous cities, our clients understood these challenges. Some people could not work, as they were looking for housing and were evacuating their families. We already had experience in 2014, and when we left Kramatorsk and opened offices in Kyiv and Mukachevo this experience came in useful now as well,” says Danylo Tretiakov, Head of Solution Mentors IT company.

Communication support during the company’s relocation was provided by USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA). Despite relocations and other challenges, the IT company did not stop working, and programmers continued to provide services to foreign partners.

Recently, the company, which is one of the founders of Donechchyna IT cluster, took part in the largest IT conference in eastern Europe, which took place in Lviv IT Arena. ERA financed the participation of representatives of ten clusters from different regions of Ukraine.

During the two-day event, Yevhen Chevichalov, head of the marketing and sales department of Solution Mentors, talked to representatives of the IT community from different regions of Ukraine and the world, and found out where colleagues were moving to and what they would work on.

“It was interesting to hear how IT clusters interact; how they communicate internally and externally, and to meet colleagues. I hope that joint projects may arise after this. We already have ideas for cooperation with the Mariupol IT cluster, which currently has a space in Mukachevo to train young people in IT specialties,” says Chevichalov.

During the IT conference, participants talked about training specialists for the IT industry. Before the start of Russia’s full-scale aggression, Donechchyna IT cluster planned to create an educational center in Kramatorsk, which would train specialists for the needs of IT companies. This idea remains relevant, although the location has changed.

“IT companies have a constant need for personnel training. That is why two years ago with ERA assistance we created a cluster. We planned that one of its tasks would be training of IT specialists. Now we have submitted a grant application to open such a center in Mukachevo. If we manage to implement this idea, then later, after the victory of Ukraine, we will be able to scale it in different cities and regions of Ukraine. In order to implement the idea, a grant application was submitted to ERA for the creation of such a center. Now we see that the demand for IT specialists continues to grow. It is possible to prepare a tester in a few months, and then continue to train him or her in the company,” says company head Tretiakov.

Currently, ERA is organizing free business training for the company’s employees and plans to rent office space for the needs of the cluster, which will be able to hold meetings with partners and plan its work.

Solution Mentors specialists are ready to create for free a chatbot for volunteer organizations and public organizations helping temporarily displaced persons and the army, who need constant communication with people and fast information processing.

“We are ready to create such a chatbot for free for those volunteer or public organizations that need automation of communication processes. Volunteers told us that now people fill out a lot of Google forms, and write to foundations or charitable organizations on social networks about their needs. This information needs to be processed and it takes a lot of time. We have experience in this field and are ready to help. Usually, it takes a long time to collect information by phone, and the lines are overloaded. The chatbot will help to process applications automatically. It can speed up the work several times and solve the problem of some requests getting lost,” Tretiakov says.

Those interested in such a chatbot can write to the company at: contact@solutionmentors.com

USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) held the MRPL IT Weekend conference in Mariupol (Donetsk Oblast). The event brought together about 300 representatives of IT companies from eastern Ukraine, Kyiv, and Mykolaiv.

Speakers from international and Ukrainian IT companies discussed the prospects for the development of the IT industry in eastern Ukraine and challenges for the IT business, industry trends, lead generation, team building and corporate culture. They also shared their experience in creating startups and forming ecosystems.

Welcoming the forum participants, Timothy Madigan, DCOP of ERA, spoke about the changes taking place in the Mariupol IT sector today. Thanks to development of the IT ecosystem, the region’s economy is gradually changing from industrial to innovative.

Mariupol Deputy Mayor Serhii Orlov recalled the IT industry in the city five years ago, observing that the IT-sphere in Mariupol becomes stronger every year. Then, executive Director of 1991 Open Data Incubator Yevhenia Klepa reflected on the drivers of the future of IT and women’s leadership in IT, and trends towards 2025 – demand for mobile applications, personalization, security and privacy, new business needs, emerging markets, and no-code startups.

The second day of MRPL IT Weekend took place at Beetroot Academy Mariupol on September 19. Mariupol IT companies talked about themselves, IT development in the city, and invitations to work, study and cooperate.