USAID Supports Youth Entrepreneurship

Kara Balta, Kyrgyzstan – A media tour to visit youth-led businesses took place on November 21, from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. in Kara Balta, Chui Province. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through its project Jasa.kg, is supporting the International Youth Foundation (IYF) to teach young people how to run their own businesses. Media tour participants met young entrepreneurs who have successfully participated in the Bishkek Business Club’s Rural Entrepreneurship Development Course (REDC).

From April-June of 2012, more than 350 rural youth in Jalal-Abad, Kara-Balta, Osh and Bishkek’s new settlements attended the REDC, gaining valuable business skills to develop and run their own businesses.  Approximately 200 business plans were evaluated and the young people who created them were interviewed by experts, business professionals and financial analysts. From the plans submitted, 31 were selected to receive vouchers for up to $500 each for starting up their own businesses.

Two of the businesses that received vouchers were featured during the media tour in Kara Balta as examples of young people who have successfully completed the trainings and proposed innovative business ideas. One business is focused on quilling (a form of paper art), while the other is related to English language courses.

Aziza Halbekova, a student in Kara Balta who completed the entrepreneurship course and received a voucher, explains her business plan. “We will introduce quilling to people in the community. It’s a very popular occupation in European countries, and will attract lots of young people here to devote their free time to creating pictures from paper,” she said.

For additional information on this event, please contact: Ainura Japarova, Communications and Outreach Specialist, mobile: +996 771 406 119, e-mail: a.japarova@iyfnet.org

The USAID Jasa.kg program implemented by the International Youth Foundation has three primary objectives: inspiring active citizenship among Kyrgyzstan’s youth, preparing youth for the job market, and creating a culture of positive youth development. For more information please visit: http://www.facebook.com/jasa.kg

This program is one of many assistance projects supported by the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). For more information about USAID, please visit our website at: http://kyrgyzstan.usaid.gov

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