Women of Power: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya
For Belarus a missed opportunity
It was not meant to be thus when the Belarusian president, Aleksander Lukashenko, unveiled his government s groundbreaking startup decree in December 2017, promising state incentives and tax breaks to tech founders in his country.
After ruling the landlocked state for 24 years, Lukashenko seemed to understand the need to diversify his country s economy. Minsk also signed the IT Decree 2.0 a digital economy initiative designed to simplify business for tech companies while also attracting international talent by relaxing work permit regulations. Belarus had already made a home for startups in its Hi-Tech Park, which was launched in 2006 and has developed into one of the biggest IT clusters in Central and Eastern Europe. The zone offers a special tax regime for IT companies.