The new face of entrepreneurship in the Kyrgyz Republic

More than half of the Kyrgyz Republic's seven million people are under the age of 35. The economy grew by an average of nine percent a year from 2022 to 2024, according to the IMF, and initiatives by the Ministry of Digital Development and UNDP have raised digital literacy, particularly in rural areas.

Among the international organisations supporting the country's start-up community are the PEAK Business Innovation Centers and Accelerate Prosperity, which provides early-stage financing, business coaching and co-working spaces to entrepreneurs in the Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Syria. Accelerate Prosperity is an initiative of the Aga Khan Development Network. Three of the founders in the video went through its programmes.

Sisters Aizhan Firsova and Saikal Seitalieva, the daughters of a sculptor and graphic artist, founded Cut A Dash, a fashion label blending contemporary design with ethnic Kyrgyz styles. As the business grew, they joined a six-week Accelerate Prosperity bootcamp, where they learned how to standardise and streamline their operations, vary production and promote their brand through social media, which has become their main sales channel. According to Aizhan, sales tripled in 2023 and doubled again by 2024.

Entrepreneurs Aidar Dushenov and Suusar Abysheva, a married couple, were inspired by a widely shared frustration. Signing a single document could take them as long as six hours. To make the process easier, they founded the Kyrgyz Republic's first digital document signing service, AddSign.

For designer Anna Tyo, entrepreneurship became a way to rebuild her life. After her divorce, she launched a fashion brand We Nera in 2020, featuring an “intellectual casual” style rooted in the DNA of Kyrgyz nomadic culture. Raising two daughters as a single mother, she joined a two-month Accelerate Prosperity programme, which provided the support and training she needed to find business solutions and gain confidence. “The support and advice of other women entrepreneurs was especially useful,” said Anna. Today, We Nera employs 24 women at its atelier, and its collections are sold through showrooms in Almaty, Berlin and Tashkent.

Young people are not waiting for opportunity, but building it. As Azim Abdrakhmanov, one of the country’s young entrepreneurs says, ‘‘We are dreamers. We don’t get easily discouraged.’’

Watch the video above to meet the entrepreneurs behind these stories, or read the article.