DUSHANBE, April 29, 2010, Asia-Plus — U.S. President Barack Obama, together with the Department of State and the Department of Commerce, hosted the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in Washington on April 26-27.
According to the U.S. Department of State, the summit participants included successful entrepreneurs, investors, academics, and leaders of entrepreneurship networks, non-profits, foundations, and businesses who are invested in promoting business or social entrepreneurship in Muslim communities around the world. The conference highlighted the role that entrepreneurs play in communities in creating jobs and improving societies.
Making closing remarks at the summit, the U.S. Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton, noted on April 27 that an entrepreneur is anyone with the imagination to conceive of a new product, process, or service, and the ability and persistence to turn that idea into something real. She noted that many of the summit participants made a success of small business just by stint of hard work, persistence, commitment, and a belief that they could.
The Secretary of State, in particular, highly appraised work of the director of the Pamir Energy Company (PamirEnergy) Daler Jumaev. “…Daler Jumaev directs the only private power company in Tajikistan. It used to provide just 12 hours of electricity a day, but thanks to his leadership, homes there now have power nearly around the clock,” the Secretary of State noted.
In the meantime, according to data of PamirEnergy, the company generated more than 174 kWh of electricity in 2009. In the past autumn-winter period, residential customers had electricity 23-24 hours per day.
PamirEnergy is a joint project of the Government of Tajikistan, the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), the World Bank’s private finance division, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). A total cost of the project is some 26.5 million U.S. dollars, including the Tajik government’s contribution of 10 million U.S. dollars.
The company has a 25 year concession on the assets formerly under the management on Barqi Tojik (Tajik electricity supplier) in Gorno Badakhshan. In exchange for this concession (management right), PamirEnergy has invested in completing the Pamir hydropower station, rehabilitating power generation, transmission and distribution assets, and improving the management of the company.
