CABAR.asia notes that the Ilmhona Training School, which provides programming and design courses and organizes events for the development of the tech community in Tajikistan, is an example of a successful startup in the country.
The company reportedly enjoys financial support from international partners such as UNICEF, USAID and some others.
One of the center’s co-founders, Farrukh Umarov, told CABAR.asia that after creating Ilmhona at the time of the pandemic, it became more difficult to get funding from donors they then began creating design and build digital websites and mobile applications.
According to him, the main problems in establishing Ilmhona were high taxes, expensive and low-quality internet, and a lack of good personnel to develop the “startup ecosystem”.
Abdullo Qurbonov, the founder of Alif Bank, also cited high taxation as the main obstacle to launching startups in Tajikistan.
Alif was established in 2014 as a microfinance organization. In 2020, the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) raised its status to that of a full-fledged bank.
CABAr.asia notes that having started operations in 2014 with just three employees, the bank now has more than 800 employees in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In 2021, Fintech finance news reportedly estimated the total value of Alif Bank in the market at 100 million US dollars.
Meanwhile, Ms. Zaytuna Saydulloyeva, director of outsourcing company Beehive Design and Development, told CABAR.asia that Tajikistan is making slow but steady progress toward the development of startups. However, government assistance is essential for business development. She believes that opening IT parks will be a major boost for emerging startups.
At the same time, there are startups in the country that stopped operating after their financing was terminated and are still waiting for investors.
Fozil Fathulloyev, an economic observer who monitors the state of startups in the country, told CABAR.asia that most of the startups that exist now are created outside Tajikistan. Even if these projects have been launched in the country, the process has been extremely difficult.
According to him, dozens of startups were pushed to bankruptcy by the country’s authorities due to needless inspections, bribery and extortion. “In the end, all the founders of these startups either left and succeeded abroad or sold the startup,” he said.
The poor state of the economy, shortage of personnel, monopolism and lack of suitable conditions for startups are also factors hindering their development.
