Young entrepreneurs received about $2 million from the Saby Foundation

Yesterday in Almaty, the winners of the 8th annual competition for young Kazakhstani entrepreneurs "Build your own business-2021", organized by the Saby Charitable Foundation with the support of businessmen Kenes Rakishev, Vyacheslav Kim and Rashit Makhat, were announced.

As a result of the competition, the jury, chaired by Aselle Tasmagambetova, President of the Saby Foundation, determined 11 finalists who received gratuitous grants for the development of their business from $ 10,000 to $ 50,000. For the first time in the history of the competition, three projects at once were awarded $ 50,000 checks.

The total prize pool also became a record for all years and amounted to $ 330,000.

Aselle Tasmagambetova: “There is an opinion that grants are not the right thing to do and greatly relaxes entrepreneurs. Perhaps. But, considering how young, by the time of its existence in our country, the community of people starting themselves in business is, as well as the enormous competition, it becomes unrealistic for many to survive and open their own business. In these conditions, our competition, in a sense, is a social lift that has become a rare phenomenon in our time.

The future of business lies in collective projects that can meet the broad needs of different sectors of society and economic actors. Therefore, our competition is not limited only to the IT-area. We develop industrial and agricultural projects, environmental, medical and educational, services and education projects. "

Since 2018, the British audit and consulting company Ernst&Young has been a permanent partner of the competition. The company representatives presented the finalists with certificates for training at the EY HR and Business Academy.

A year later, with partner support, Microsoft joined Build Your Business to provide the finalists with technology mentoring and professional support.

This year, the competition was supported by two more respected organizations - UN Women in Kazakhstan and Forbes Kazakhstan.

Representatives of UN Women reviewed all the business plans of the semi-finalists and selected two projects led by women entrepreneurs who were awarded certificates for training in 2022. Forbes Kazakhstan Publishing House acted as an information partner of the project. The publishing house employees took part in interviews and will prepare a series of articles on the activities of the finalists of the competition.

We thank all partners and friends of the Foundation for their cooperation and support!

And, of course, our sincere gratitude to the permanent sponsors financing the Build Your Business project, Vyacheslav Kim, Kenes Rakishev and Rashit Makhat. Their contribution to the development of young entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan over the years amounted to about $2 million!