In July 2021, Vilnius hosted the Ukraine Reform Conference (URC), a large-scale international forum dedicated to digital transformation, the investment climate, and the modernization of the country’s economy. The focus was on partnerships between governments and public sector transparency. But someone in the shadows was also listening intently. For Serhii Novosel, a graduate from Kryvyi Rih who was fascinated by systems and algorithms, the conference was an indirect boost: “If the country is preparing for a digital breakthrough, then my path is in the right direction.”
Back in 2019, without capital, without a visit to the US, Serhii opened his first store on Amazon. He started with drop shipping. In 2021, in parallel with the URC conference, his sales had already exceeded $100,000. And in a year, they crossed half a million. All from a laptop in Ukraine.
Economic Cybernetics as the Foundation of E-Commerce
Serhii is not a typical Amazon seller. He has a bachelor’s degree with honors and a master’s degree in economic cybernetics from the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics, KNEU. He has shown brilliant results since school: a silver medal for high achievements is a significant distinction in Ukraine.
In his master’s degree, he delved deeply into applied disciplines: corporate information systems, modeling of economic dynamics, mathematical modeling of transformational economics. In his graduation project, he created software for analyzing bank deposits — and this laid the skills that he later applied in commerce.
Half a million dollar volumes without an army of assistants
Sergiy did not assemble a team of dozens of assistants. Instead, he built a system. Google Sheets, Zapier, Google Apps Scripts — everything works smoothly, without the need for intervention. Prices are updated, orders are synchronized, warehouses are controlled automatically.
“Everything that is repeated is automated. It’s not about laziness, but about operational efficiency,” he says.
The education gave him the tools to independently create low-code solutions. Courses in information marketing and modern IT became the basis for technological infrastructure. And experience in modeling helped in building logistics chains that can withstand the load.
His method is not to look for a product by intuition, but to analyze data: “I create a system that finds profitable positions and suggests what to buy. It’s no longer manual — it’s machine logic.”
A new generation of entrepreneurs
Serhii’s story is not just the story of one entrepreneur. It’s an example of how Ukrainian technical education, multiplied by systems thinking and tools, can lead to a breakthrough even without offices and investors.
The main thing is the approach: to build not “at random,” but through logic, automation.
And if reformist forums give Ukraine new directions for growth, entrepreneurs like Serhii are already implementing them.
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