The U.S. Mission to Kazakhstan, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Future Growth Initiative, and MOST Business Incubator marked the successful completion of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) 2020 in Kazakhstan. This year, GEW was held from November 16-22. 

The focus of this year’s GEW in Kazakhstan was entrepreneurship development. Event sessions were led by local and international experts. The featured speakers, representing the IT and innovation industries, venture capital funds, and successful startups, shared best practices in business management, as well as recommendations for operating in the challenging economic context of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is important to recognize the powerful role entrepreneurs play in strengthening communities and accelerating self-reliance through market-based solutions” said Christopher Edwards, USAID Central Asia’s Regional Mission Director. “Over the years, USAID has worked with entrepreneurs to encourage new solutions to local challenges. By supporting them and their innovative spirit, we amplify the impact and allow entrepreneurs to scale up their creative solutions in a way that positively changes the communities they serve.” 

This year marks GEW’s 10th anniversary in Kazakhstan. MOST, the official GEW ambassador in Kazakhstan, has watched attendance at the international event grow steadily from year to year, attracting entrepreneurs from across Kazakhstan as well as foreign businesses. Over 90 participants attended 2020 activities in Kazakhstan to discuss the latest startup trends for growth, sales, fundraising, and scalability. The event encourages young entrepreneurs to develop innovative business ideas and products that will create jobs and help fuel the country’s economic growth. 

In honor of GEW, Eric Meyer, the U.S. Consul General in Almaty, hosted a virtual roundtable of Kazakhstani tech entrepreneurs to discuss opportunities for technology development in the country. 

The U.S. Mission to Kazakhstan also highlighted Kazakhstani entrepreneurs participating in international study tours and mentoring programs in the United States, such as alumni of the Special American Business Internship Training (SABIT) Program. The SABIT program, which began in the early 1990s to engage the then-Soviet Union through trade, provides a unique forum to build partnerships, create new relationships, and strengthen existing ties between American businesses and their Central Asian partners. In honor of GEW, the U.S. Consulate General in Almaty created a series of videos celebrating the success of 3 SABIT alumni in Kazakhstan – Viktoriya Gorobtsova, Rustam Khalikov, and Natalya Ashkhabayeva. 

Additionally, the American Space in Almaty and American Corners across Kazakhstan hosted numerous virtual programs on November 16-22, including an online presentation by international trade specialist Laurie Kelleher who presented the vibrant American city of Pittsburgh as an example of a community benefiting from an ecosystem that supports entrepreneurship through university and incubator programs, small business development counseling, and trade finance programs. 

Around the world, Global Entrepreneurship Week engages 10 million people from 180 countries in more than 40,000 events and activities each year. Collectively, these events aim to foster a culture of collaboration and build support networks for a new generation of entrepreneurs.

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USAID is a leading international development agency and is a catalyst for achieving sustainable development. For more information, visit the USAID Central Asia website: https://www.usaid.gov/central-asia-regional and Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/USAIDCentralAsia. For information about the USAID Future Growth Initiative, visit: https://www.facebook.com/FGICentralAsia. 

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