On November 13, a Youth Startup Initiatives Support Programme kicked off. According to the results of the competitive selection, 32 startup projects from Tashkent take part in the third cycle of the ‘Startup Initiative’ Programme.
This year, the programme engages all regions of the country. Even if the most represented areas are still e-commerce, delivery service, this year there are projects in online education, agriculture and crowdfunding.
The Programme has started with an intensive five-day seminar, where participants will learn the basics of creating a startup based on the ‘Lean Startup’ methodology. Having been educated, young entrepreneurs will start practical implementation of their projects – they will elaborate a ‘Road Map’, create a prototype and conduct test sales.
Programme’s trackers will guide and consult project teams helping them to track their progress. Participants will be able to attend targeted master classes on marketing, taxation, legal aspects at each stage of the programme. A series of master classes and workshops will be held by experts from Russia, South Korea, UK and USA.
Based on the experience of the first cycle, this year’s focus will be on providing technical support to the participants. For this, entrepreneurs and market leaders with extensive experience in the implementation of startups are involved as trainers and trackers. The experts’ team includes founders of Paynet, MyTaxi, Robokidz, the director of the 'Startup Factory’ Acceleration programme and other competent specialists.
As a result of the programme, finalists will pitch their projects on ‘Demo Day’ to attract partners and investors for further development of their business projects. The top five projects, with highest scores will receive 40 million soums for further development of startups.
This year, seminars and master classes will be held in Tashkent, Namangan and Samarkand regions and in the Republic of Karakalpakstan. Three best regional projects selected by the expert group will be able to participate in the final national ‘Demo Day’ in Tashkent.
By serving as a bridge between the educational and private sectors, the programme helps young people gain support from entrepreneurs and adopt their successful experience. In turn, youth share innovative ideas and projects that can diversify entrepreneurs’ activities.
The initiative is implemented by a joint project of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the United Nations Development Programme ‘Business Climate Improvement in the regions of Uzbekistan’ in cooperation with the Ministry of Innovative Development and Youth Union of Uzbekistan with the financial support of British Embassy in Uzbekistan.