Key vectors for the development of women’s entrepreneurship were discussed at the Astana Finance Days conference
On June 28, 2022, at the international conference Astana Finance Days (AFD) the AIFC Tech Hub, together with Visa, the world leader in the digital payments, held a panel session “Strengthening the SME sector in Kazakhstan through the active inclusion of women in the country’s economy”.
Speakers of the panel discussion on the development of women’s micro, small and medium-sized businesses in Kazakhstan were Cristina Doros, Vice President, Regional Manager Central Asia and Azerbaijan at Visa, Lazzat Ramazanova, Deputy of the Majilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Yerbol Eskakov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Development Fund JSC entrepreneurship “Damu”, Alma Kassymova, Principal Manager of the EBRD Kazakhstan, Assem Nurgaliyeva, co-founder of Techno Women Kazakhstan, Dauren Sartayev, Deputy CEO of Halyk Bank.
How proactive are women in entrepreneurship? What programs and drivers exist today for the development of female SMEs in Kazakhstan? How successful are women in technology? These and other questions were discussed by the participants at the Fin&Tech forum during AFD 2022.
The meeting was moderated by Lazzat Ramazanova, Deputy of the Majilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Opening the panel session, she shared statistics on women’s entrepreneurship in the country, as well as spoke about successful cases and entrepreneurship centers.
Vice President, Regional Manager in Central Asia and Azerbaijan at Visa Cristina Doros presented promising trends in the development of SMEs in the world, and also provided data on the current situation in Kazakhstan.
“Supporting women’s leadership at Visa is a priority, so we are very pleased to be a partner in this panel discussion. Global studies show that if women participate in the development of the world economy on an equal footing with men on an ongoing basis, then the annual global level of GDP will increase by 26% by 2025 with a profit of $ 28 trillion. These data emphasize the high importance of involving women in business, providing them with expert, educational, financial support, and today’s session was devoted to discussing how else we can stimulate the development of the women’s SME sector in Kazakhstan” – said Cristina Doros, Vice President, Regional Manager in Central Asia and Azerbaijan at Visa.
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The participants of the discussion paid special attention to one of the main vectors for the development of women’s entrepreneurship in the country – the transition to e-commerce, and mentioned the increased interest among women in the IT industry, the development and launch of technological products.
The speakers also touched upon global initiatives and international programs to support women entrepreneurs in Central Asia. As part of a panel discussion, Visa announced its intention to launch the second wave of She’s Next, Empowered by Visa in Central Asia this year. The global initiative is designed to support women in business who manage, finance, develop or are just planning to start their own business.
Reference Information:
The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) is an independent jurisdiction that started operations in 2018. In accordance with the Development Strategy until 2025, the key focus of the AIFC is to consolidate as a universal platform connecting the countries of the EAEU, Central Asia and the Caucasus. www.aifc.kz
The AIFC Tech Hub is a subdivision of the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), whose task is to promote the development of the startup ecosystem, venture industry market, e-commerce, corporate innovation, and new technological areas in Kazakhstan (FinTech, GovTech, SatelliteTech, Industry 4.0., etc.). Together with international partners, The AIFC Tech Hub conducts programs to support market players, as well as facilitates the structuring of venture deals and testing of new fintech solutions within the regulatory sandbox of the AIFC jurisdiction. https://tech.aifc.kz
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is a global leader in digital payments. Mission Visa Inc. ‒ to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network, which allows consumers, businesses and the economy as a whole to develop systematically. The latest global technological network VisaNet provides reliable and secure payments around the world and can process more than 65,000 transactions per second. Visa’s focus on innovation is the catalyst for the rapid growth of connected commerce, where virtually any connected device can make payments, and thus advances the transition to a cashless future for everyone, everywhere. As the transition from analog to digital takes place, Visa is using its brand, products, experts, network and scale to transform commerce. For more information visit https://usa.visa.com/about-visa , https://www.visa.com.kz/ .
