The Entrepreneurship and Prosperity Public Foundation, which is better known as Accelerate and Prosperity, has trained and financed entrepreneurs in Tajikistan for the third year running. Over this period, they have reportedly trained hundreds of people in how doing business and financed 69 startups in the country.
Director of Accelerate Prosperity Tajikistan, Roziq Chorshanbiyev, says that at first their focus regions were Khatlon province and the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO). “But now we are gradually expanding our operations to other regions of the country as well,” Chorshanbiyev said.
“Every cycle lasts about five months. At first we collect applications; sometimes, we receive several thousands of them, while only 30 applications are allowed for incubation. During a month, they take training and prepare to appear before the assessment committee, which will select the best 10 works for the next stage – acceleration and individual coaching,” Chorshanbiyev noted.
At this stage, they jointly with mentors solve specific tasks for launching their startups. After three months of work, they will present their ideas to the investment committee, which will solve the issue of financing the best ideas.
According to Chorshanbiyev, every year they increase the number of cycles. “This year, for example, we plan to carry out up to nine cycles, while last year, we carried out only five cycles,” he said.
“By the way, we have carried out the first women’s incubation this year in Dushanbe, and it may be a small but success, because mainly men submit applications for participation in incubator,” noted Chorshanbiyev. “We have analyzed the situation around the world and found out that it is a global trend – women account for not more than 15 percent of the total number of those willing to participate in business-incubator.”
“In Tajikistan, the statistics are about the same if we speak about Dushanbe, GBAO and Sughd province. The worst statistics on female entrepreneurship are in Khatlon province,” Chorshanbiyev added.
Accelerate Prosperity is a Global Startup and Early Growth Enterprise Business Incubators and Accelerators by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in South and Central Asia. It is a unique platform that extends tailored financing and technical assistance to potential entrepreneurs and existing businesses.
More specifically, Accelerate Prosperity promotes entrepreneurship through inspiration, equity investments, and pre & post investment support through mentorship and coaching.
Currently, Accelerate Prosperity operates in three countries: in Tajikistan and Pakistan since 2016; and in Kyrgyzstan since 2018.
In Tajikistan, Accelerate Prosperity has two offices – In Dushanbe and Khorog. It provides returnable financial assistance to business for the period of up to three years. Return of the financial assistance is made in accordance with the turnover of money that a business has.
Accelerate Prosperity’s mission is to inspire rising entrepreneurs in emerging regions to grow new markets, create sustainable employment, and strengthen communities.
