IT-INVEST, based in the city of Kryvyi Rih in Ukraine, ensures that all of their clients stay connected and, with support from the EBRD, the European Union (EU) and OTP Leasing, aims to bring yet more people online.
Boosting digital access
IT-INVEST is one of the vital companies supporting the many in getting used to the new normal.
Established in 2010, the company offers high-quality fibre-optic broadband and its list of clients includes more than 2,400 organisations and 4,800 households. The company firmly believes in the ability of fibre-optic to supply higher-bandwidth broadband services.
“We are a young, motivated team that understands how important our work is. Alongside providing high-quality, round-the-clock access to the internet, our highly-qualified support team can solve the problems of even the most demanding of clients. Our services are essential to the modern world in which we live,” says Natalya Dashevska, the director of the company.
One can really appreciate the company’s work given the staggering fact that over 3.7 billion people worldwide have no internet access, according to the World Economic Forum.
IT-INVEST has a clear vision of what it wants to achieve. The first step on its journey is to develop the necessary infrastructure for uninterrupted network access throughout the city and beyond. The EBRD and the EU helped the company purchase machinery to realise these goals.
Driving growth
More than 280 Ukrainian businesses in sectors from manufacturing to agriculture and from construction to telecommunications have already benefitted from the joint financing programme of the EBRD and the European Union.
The companies may be diverse in their scope, but one can identify at least one uniting motivation: the determination to grow their business by increasing the quality of products and services for the benefit of customers at home and abroad.
The EU4Business-EBRD Credit Line is a flagship programme available in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. The programme has also been extended to the remaining Eastern Partnership countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus.
Access to EBRD funding coupled with incentive grants from the EU under its EU4Business initiative has proven to be a winning formula for the SMEs involved. Through partner financial institutions – OTP Leasing, in the case of IT-INVEST – the credit line helps companies boost competitiveness and upgrade standards. More than 90 per cent of projects in Ukraine are undertaken outside its capital Kyiv.
As the result of the investment, IT-INVEST has grown its subscriber base by 15 per cent and has increased customer satisfaction. And this is just the beginning:
“We are wired to see what’s yet to come. We work continuously to construct new telecommunication networks, expand, and further improve the quality of our services,” says Natalya.