Consumers looking to support businesses that are pressuring Russia — and punish those that aren't — have a new resource.
Coalition for Ukraine was created by Alex Algard, founder and CEO of Seattle-based caller ID startup Hiya. The new website lists what actions 570 companies have taken, if any, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Algard is on a six-member team that updates the list daily. They've added nearly 200 names to the list in just the past week.
"As long as there’s a need for the site, we’ll continue to add more information and continue to add features," Algard said in an email to the Business Journal. "Its purpose is twofold. One, the companies that have taken a stand get credit, so consumers can feel assured that whoever they’re doing business with is principled and is doing the right thing. Then, vice versa, for the companies that haven’t yet stopped doing business in Russia, it’s an urge to get them to do something."
Algard said he started working on the website on March 11 and had it up and running in about four days. Hiya has an office in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, which borders Ukraine. Algard said he decided to visit and do some work on the ground when the managing director there mentioned all the refugees coming into the country. When Algard felt that the work on the ground wasn't enough, he said he wanted to do something with a broader impact.
Coalition for Ukraine is not a commercial venture. Out of the six people working on the site, Algard said three are focused solely on research.
Site users can filter companies by category and tweet in support of those shutting down services in Russia. Coalition for Ukraine also highlights in red companies that haven't taken action in Russia and allows users to tweet at them as well.
"It’s a feature to allow people to do something, to take action, to apply pressure on companies that have yet to act," Algard said in an email. "They can make a difference. They can speak up to the companies who continue to do business in Russia and urge them to stop."
Hiya spun out of Whitepages in 2016. Algard founded Whitepages in 1997 and led the company as CEO until a few months after Hiya spun out, allowing him to focus on running Hiya. Hiya partners with wireless carriers to block fraud calls, and it allows companies to label and brand their outgoing calls so consumers aren't turned off by an unknown number. According to the company, Hiya has a network of more than 200 million users.
