Turkmenistan on the Central Asian Startup Map and Prospects for the Regional Ecosystem

The Central Asian Startup Forum, which took place in Tashkent on November 13, brought together key players in the startup ecosystems of the region’s countries, including startups, experts, venture funds, accelerators, universities, government agencies, international organizations, etc.

The main goal of the forum was to create a dynamic platform for the exchange of knowledge, experience and best practices among participants, as well as to promote cooperation and synergy between startup ecosystems across Central Asia. The event was held in various formats: panel discussions, thematic lectures, workshops, round tables, networking sessions, startup pitches and more.

Central Asia is today becoming a single integrated space where talented youth can receive support, finance and experience to create startups.

Daniil Maikovskiy, director of Startup Academy in Turkmenistan, cited a case of successful cooperation between Central Asian countries:

“Our organization has attracted funding from the FGI/USAID project to strengthen its capacity. Now we are preparing a conference on startups, which will be held in April 2025. The program will include a series of webinars from MOST employees, which will help expand our activities and make them more sustainable, as well as improve financial performance and indicators of attracting the target audience – startups and investors. Joint activities to develop the startup ecosystem in Turkmenistan by the local organization StartUp Academy and the most experienced ecosystem builder in Central Asia, MOST, can significantly accelerate the development of the startup community in Turkmenistan.”

Overall, the forum discussed the importance of creating connections between hubs in different Central Asian countries, developing early-stage startups in order to later bring them to more mature positions and export technology products to international markets, thereby jointly promoting the region on the global stage. That is why the private venture fund in Central Asia MOST is launching an accelerator fund with a mandate to invest in early-stage startups and high scaling potential with founders from the region.

After the completion of all panel sessions of the forum, a startup battle took place, in which 10 startups from Central Asia competed, including two from Turkmenistan: Biar delivery (Begench Rejepov) and Zootel (Tahir Orazdurdyev).

ORIENT

Photo: ca-startupforum.org