In the Kyrgyz Republic, start-ups are in style
In the Kyrgyz Republic, start-ups are in style
In the Kyrgyz Republic, start-ups are in style
Youth and the rise of a new Kyrgyz economy
Learn moreYouth and the rise of a new Kyrgyz economy
Learn moreHow Naryn entrepreneurs are turning heritage into jobs
Learn moreHow Naryn entrepreneurs are turning heritage into jobs
Learn moreEntrepreneurs powering Syria’s recovery
Learn moreEntrepreneurs powering Syria’s recovery
Learn moreTransforming crisis into opportunity: Green entrepreneurship in Pakistan
Transforming crisis into opportunity: Green entrepreneurship in Pakistan
Transforming crisis into opportunity: Green entrepreneurship in Pakistan
This page is also available inAKDN | Enterprise Development
AKDN seeks to create economically sound and viable enterprises, both in small or remote villages and in cities.
$8.8 million
Accelerate Prosperity has invested $8.8 million in 430 small and growing businesses.
55,000
The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development’s project companies employ 55,000 people.
9,000
Over 9,000 entrepreneurs a year are supported to build their skills.
$8.8 million
Accelerate Prosperity has invested $8.8 million in 430 small and growing businesses.
Nurturing entrepreneurship in Tajikistan
Accelerate Prosperity has incubated over 1,600 projects and accelerated almost 350 in Tajikistan. Meet some of the 1,000 people who have benefitted.
55,000
The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development’s project companies employ 55,000 people.
Contribution to Africa's development over 100 years
The Aga Khan Development Network has been active in Africa for over 100 years.
9,000
Over 9,000 entrepreneurs a year are supported to build their skills.
"My family struggled, but my children won't" - How India's youth are creating their own economic opportunities
Youth centres are giving vulnerable rural participants English and IT literacy training, along with life and career skills.
His Late Highness Aga Khan IV, London, October 2012
Agencies
Focused on Enterprise Development
Whether micro-businesses changing the lives of a single family or a multi-country industry employing thousands of people, enterprises offer an array of benefits. They can:
- drive local economic growth and employment;
- provide goods and services needed by communities and by each country for further development;
- give entrepreneurs and employees alike a stake in their society;
- improve living standards through generating income both at an individual and a national level, and through programmes aimed at increasing the quality of life in the surrounding areas; and
- encourage innovation.
After completing vocational courses at UCA, Alijon (far right) launched his welding business in Khorog, quickly becoming the leading provider of welding services in Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast. Committed to giving back to his community, he offers apprenticeships and employment opportunities to fellow UCA graduates.
UCA
AKDN works across the spectrum of enterprise development, whether assisting poultry farmers in Afghanistan or creating large-scale hydroelectric plants in Uganda that provide half the nation’s electricity. We are guided by decades of experience in husbanding companies and institutions. We have nurtured several from their inception as small entities to achieving a stock exchange listing.
AKDN also works to build many of the characteristics of healthy, robust economies, including employable skills, support for small- and medium-sized companies, and savings and credit programmes that increase financial inclusion.
The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), for example, puts into place the means to bring prosperity to a region. It builds roads, bridges and markets, and invests in infrastructure and connectivity solutions to enable globally connected remote working.
AKF educates youth in 21st-century skills and creates coalitions of employers who source and invest in young workers from disadvantaged backgrounds, readying the next generation for future-facing careers.
The Accelerate Prosperity programme in Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan is a joint initiative of AKF and the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development’s (AKFED) industrial sector. It promotes entrepreneurship, placing emphasis on women and youth entrepreneurship, and the growth of start-up and early-stage businesses. It offers coaching, networking, mentoring, finance and market connections to help businesses take off. It also provides skills development in vocational and technical trades. Find out more about Accelerate Prosperity.
With the objective of creating job opportunities in mountain communities, the University of Central Asia (UCA) has established centres for entrepreneurship in Khorog, Tajikistan and Naryn, Kyrgyzstan. These centres offer expert guidance, training, and support to help small and emerging entrepreneurs generate income, develop sustainable businesses and contribute to local market growth. Since their launch in 2021, they have trained over 2,300 learners, 74 percent of them women.
Jomart Hudaibergenov, Manager, Naryn Centre for Entrepreneurship
The Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM) supports these efforts by providing finance to entrepreneurs and small- and medium-sized companies. It aims to support entrepreneurs to create the means for expanding their businesses and becoming a part of the productive infrastructure of a nation.
AKFED collaborates with local and international development partners to create and operate companies that provide goods and services essential to economic development. These include banking, electric power, agricultural processing, hotels and telecommunications. AKFED takes a long-term view in order to build viable, self-sustaining and profitable companies. These profits are then reinvested into development projects.
Throughout, AKDN emphasises the development of local human resources over time, whether in remote and impoverished villages or in major cities in the developing world.
Where We Work
Enterprise Development