Oleg Shcherbatenko at Rivne Invest Forum 2026: Where the Next $1 Billion of Ukrainian IT Is Being Created

IT-Enterprise Founder and CEO Oleg Shcherbatenko participated in the panel discussion “Where the Next $1 Billion in Ukrainian IT Is Being Created” at Rivne Invest Forum 2026. The discussion also featured SoftServe Co-founder Taras Kytsmey, Metinvest Digital CEO Sergiy Detyuk, and Oleksii Datsiv. The forum brought together more than 600 participants, including entrepreneurs, investors, developers, and representatives of the public sector.

Ukrainian IT ranks second among the country’s export industries after the agricultural sector. Last year, the domestic market volume exceeded $1 billion. According to the panel participants, the potential for the next billion will be driven by the transformation of the domestic market and the creation of next-generation products.

Oleg Shcherbatenko outlined three strategic growth vectors for the IT market:

• Replacing toxic software with Ukrainian solutions. Rejecting Russian software products is not only a matter of security, but also an open market opportunity. Ukrainian developers are already creating IT systems and software products that significantly outperform outdated legacy solutions. A domestic market worth over $1 billion is waiting for its leaders.
• Integrating AI into the real economy. AI is no longer a tool used exclusively by IT companies. Agriculture, heavy industry, and manufacturing are already gaining measurable efficiency from AI adoption. Investors today are looking precisely for this combination: growth combined with cost optimization. This is what defines global investment attractiveness.
• Process transparency and human capital development. A digitalized and transparent management system is one of the key ways to attract capital during wartime. Businesses that invest in their specialists and equip them with modern tools automatically increase their market value.

“Ukrainian IT is not only about creating and exporting products — it is also about supporting the stability of the national economy. We pay taxes that support the frontline while simultaneously building the technological foundation for operating under current conditions and for the country’s future recovery. Our ability to remain effective here and now is the best possible proof of resilience for global investors and a driver of capitalization,” summarized Oleg Shcherbatenko, Founder and CEO of IT-Enterprise.

IT-Enterprise is a Ukrainian product IT company with more than 35 years of experience supporting the digital transformation of the country’s largest industrial enterprises. Its clients include Interpipe, Ferrexpo, Nibulon, Ukrposhta, Ukrnafta, Ukrzaliznytsia, and others. Since the first days of the full-scale war, the IT-Enterprise team, together with government authorities, has been implementing critically important national projects, including humanitarian aid accounting, procurement recovery initiatives, and business relocation support. Co-founder and CEO Oleg Shcherbatenko is a consistent advocate of Industry 4.0 and 5.0 approaches and technologies.