Fifty high school students from Arys, which suffered explosions this summer, had the opportunity to master business basics during the winter break, reported inbusiness.kz Jan. 7. As part of the final stage of Menіn Arysym (My Arys), a special project initiated after the incident, the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs opened 1317.Kz entrepreneurial camp; the numbers indicate the minimum and maximum ages of the participants. The course combines the Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship from the school programme, Atameken Business Academy and Bastau business courses. Upon completion, each camper received a Zhas (Young) Master of Business Administration (MBA) certificate and individual development card.
Damu Entrepreneurship Development Fund summed up the results Dec. 31 of the Business Roadmap 2020 programme, reported informburo.kz. The programme’s purpose was ensuring regional entrepreneurship’s sustainable and balanced growth, as well as maintaining existing jobs and creating new ones. During the ten years, the small and medium-sized business share of the gross domestic product (GDP) increased to 28.4 percent compared to 24.9 percent in 2015. The number of operating small and medium-sized businesses increased by 400,000 and the number of employees by 300,000. More than 16,000 business entities received financing, more than 100,000 entrepreneurs received training, products worth 15.5 trillion tenge (US$40.9 billion) were produced and one trillion tenge (US$2.7 billion) was paid in taxes. The Business Roadmap was extended through 2025. While the draft has the identical goals and objectives, support tools have been improved. Lending has been increased from 60 to 360 million tenge (US$158,700 to $952,200) and the government has allocated 421 billion tenge (US$1.1 billion) for the next phase, 1.5 times more than the funding for the previous five years.
Kazakhtelecom, which tested 5G technology Dec. 18, spoke about the capabilities of fifth-generation networks at the Digital Samruk 2019 forum in Nur-Sultan, reported profit.kz. It announced the intermediate results of digitising and implementing innovative projects in the country’s largest companies, and participants had the opportunity to become acquainted with the partner experience in digital technologies, world trends and cases. One of the forum’s important events was demonstrating 5G technology using the Tele2 and Kcell networks, where devices achieved speeds of up to 1.5 Gbit/s at a specially organised demo booth. Kazakhtelecom launched its 5G commercial network Oct. 24 on the Altel network at Astana Hub, an international technology park of IT start-ups, becoming one of only several operators in the world to provide such service.
Kaspi.kz earned 363 billion tenge (US$960 million) during the first nine months of 2019, reported profit.kz Dec. 23. Revenues increased 34 percent compared to the same period of 2018 and the net profit margin increased from 30.8 percent to 37.1 percent. The number of active mobile app users increased by three million to 5.4 million, or approximately one in three Kazakh citizens.
Due to losses, Pavlodar International Airport is seeking an investor, reported inbusiness.kz Jan. 6. Two scheduled domestic flights to Almaty and Nur-Sultan, as well as international flights to Minsk, Moscow, Novosibirsk and Turkey, pass through the airport. Of these, only the latter operates on a regular basis. A Turkish company has expressed interest and the necessary package of documents has been forwarded, according to airport Deputy Chair Dinara Mussalimova. In her opinion, there is a need to rely on cargo transportation rather than new air routes, although work is continuing in this direction. Cargo routes would require at least three kilometres of runway and the airport currently has 2.5 kilometres.
