Introducing the Top Freelancers and Agencies in Ukraine

Ukraine is one of the top freelance markets on Upwork, with a particularly strong community of freelancers and agencies working in Web, Mobile and Software Development as well as Design and Creative.

Ukraine is also one of the hottest tech hubs in Europe, and many talented professionals have chosen Upwork to build and grow their businesses. To celebrate their success, in 2015 Upwork launched the annual Upwork Awards in Ukraine.

Being recognized as the Best Freelancer or Agency of the Year represents years of persistent hard work and delivering excellent results for clients that are needed to build an outstanding profile and reputation on Upwork.

A look at the award winners for 2018

The Upwork Ukraine awards are based on a number of criteria from the last calendar year—in this case, looking at 2018. These factors include:

• Past years’ earnings
• Client feedback, including the number of successful job outcomes
• Regular profile improvements and updates
• Efficient client communications based on client feedback
• High responsiveness scores

Top freelancers were invited to an exclusive Upwork Awards Dinner in the heart of Kyiv. To recognize the award-winning agencies, a team from Upwork spent one week on the road to visit their offices and deliver the awards themselves—making sure each team member could feel the victory vibe and importance of the work they’ve done.

This gave us a chance to learn more about their businesses and listen to their unique stories about what has helped them to succeed and what drives them forward. We captured some of their comments in this exclusive video:

Best Agency 2018, Design & Creative winner Denys Safonov, founder of Etcetera, said he initially launched a freelance business on Upwork to combine remote work with his passion for traveling. “Eventually, I started to gather a team of successful Ukrainian print design professionals and created my agency, Etcetera. At the moment, my agency has 25 team members and our main goal is to build strong partnerships with every client, helping them with any design tasks they have. Our customer-centric approach has paid off and we have many long-term clients.”

Best Freelancer 2018, Design & Creative winner Serhiy Ozhibko, UI/UX designer, said using Upwork gave him an opportunity to dramatically change his life: “I always wanted to be independent and [be more] confident about what I am doing. It was really hard to get my first job and to get started because of communication issues and limited work experience. But I tried my best to grow gradually with Upwork.”

The Upwork Ukraine 2018 award winners

2018 has been an outstanding year for Ukrainian freelancers and agencies specializing in Web, Mobile & Software Development as well as Design & Creative, two of the most in-demand categories on Upwork. Here’s a look at this year’s award winners:

Best Agencies 2018 in Ukraine on Upwork

Web, Mobile & Software Development
‍MobiDev (Ukraine)
Codemotion (Kyiv)
CodeIT LLC (Kharkiv)
Azon5 (Lviv)
Clockwise (Dnipro)
Light IT Global (Zaporizhzhya)
Beemster Team (Odesa)‍

Design & Creative
‍GoldDev Agency (Ukraine)
Etcetera (Kyiv)
UX ENERGY (Kharkiv)
Cieden (Lviv)
Halo Lab (Odesa)

Best Freelancers 2018 in Ukraine on Upwork

Web, Mobile & Software Development
Pavlo Matviienko (Ukraine)
Mykhailo Kolotushkin (Kyiv)
Alexander Kleshchevnikov (Kharkiv)
Michael Kobasyar (Lviv)
Alexander Golubyatnikov (Dnipro)
Alexander Ponomarenko (Zaporizhzhya)
Mykyta Nagalskyi (Odesa)

Design & Creative
‍Serhiy Ozhibko (Ukraine)
Yaroslav Brol (Kyiv)
Artem Kropovinskyi (Kharkiv)
Dmytro Svarytsevych (Lviv)
Max Snitser (Dnipro)
Tatyana Baksheeva (Zaporizhzhya)
Yevhen Ledenov (Odesa)

Learning growth hacks from successful freelancers and agencies

Upwork hosts regular conferences, networking meetups, and other events that often feature community leaders—like this year’s award winners—who share their tips and best practices with fellow freelancers and agencies. Check out the Upwork local events calendar for a list of upcoming events in your area.

Congratulations to all of the Upwork Ukraine Award winners for 2018 and best of luck as you keep growing your business! Hopefully, we’ll see you on the 2019 winners list.