WoE Protests in Belarus, the business perspective

bne IntelliNews

It seems the entire population of Belarus has risen up against self-appointed president Alexander Lukashenko following a massive falsification of election results on August 9. But what does the potential regime change mean for business? There are two Belarusian economies: the Soviet legacy giant machine and vehicle producers, such as the famous tractor and giant mine truck plants, and the new highly profitable IT sector. Belarus has become a global hub for software engineering and earned $2bn from IT exports last year. The fact that the sector could flourish in the midst of a neo-Soviet command economy says much about the intelligence entrepreneurial nature of the Belarusian people. Potentially the country could boom if it can shrug off Lukashenko’s shackles. bne IntelliNews editor-in-chief Ben Aris talks to panel of Belarus-based business from IT and the renewable energy sector as well as Elina Ribakova, deputy chief economist with the Institute of International Finance (IIF), about the business climate and the country’s potential. This panel was organised in cooperation with EM Communications, the biggest PR agency in Eastern Europe. Ben Aris, editor-in-chief, bne IntelliNews Elina Ribakova, deputy chief economist with the Institute of International Finance (IIF) Yury Melnichek, Partner at Bulba ventures Mikita Mikado, CEO PandaDoc Torsten Merkel, CEO Pure Energy Intelligence