ALMATY - Kazakhstan’s Minister for Investment and Development Asset Issekeshev raised the curtain Thursday on the sixth leg of the Russian Startup Tour - and first to take place abroad – with a call to transform Almaty into a major innovations hub.
Asset Issekeshkov addresses a packed hall at Almaty Management University. Photo: sk.ru
The Skolkovo Foundation hopes the Startup Tour’s appearance in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s second city, will help kick-start the local entrepreneurship scene and usher in a new era of investment cooperation between Russia and its neighbor to the south.
As the early morning sunshine beat down upon the Almaty Management University – set against the stunning backdrop of the snowcapped Zailiski Alatau mountain range – Issekeshev addressed a lecture hall packed with local innovators and investors.
“For our Kazakh startups we consider this an excellent opportunity to put forward our best businesspeople so that in the future they may work across the whole of the post-Soviet region,” Issekeshkov said.
“It’s very important that our work with Skolkovo and the Almaty Tech Garden can open up truly global networking opportunities – especially against the backdrop of high global competition,” he added.
Almaty Tech Garden is a co-organizer of the Startup Tour in the city.
“It’s very important that Almaty takes part in the global innovations process and becomes a major hub of its own,” Issekeshkov noted.
The sun-soaked venue, the Almarty Management University. Photo: sk.ru
Skolkovo’s senior vice president for innovations, Vasily Belov, noted the “superb atmosphere” for doing business at the management school before outlining what he hopes the tour to achieve.
“The single economic zone that exists between our countries provides a good basis for the development of a common program to support innovation and business,” he said.
“We at Skolkovo are very excited to be able to provide the instruments to achieve this: Tax benefits, acceleration programs, investment from our investors that’s available to all Skolkovo residents including those from Kazakhstan,” Belov added.
He proceeded to invite all of the entrepreneurs, innovators and investors present to the Startup Village at the Skolkovo Innovation Center in June.
After the pleasantries, Pekka Viljakainen, Skolkovo’s top expert on startups and advisor to president Victor Vekselberg, spoke frankly about the tour’s goals in a new era of globalized business.
“We are here to make sure and to find the best companies on the planet,” he said. “We want to hear about your companies and we want to share with you everything we have done right and wrong,” he added, before signing off with typical flamboyance: “Like we say in Finland, rock n’ roll.”
A road sign on entering Almaty. Photo: sk.ru
Perhaps fittingly, Almaty marks the half-way stage as the sixth stop in the 12-city tour, which began in Rostov-on-Don last month and ends in the Moscow region in April.
As usual, the two-day event is split into the educational section, with panel discussions and master-classes, and the pitch competition.
The winners get to compete at Startup Village in Moscow on June 2-3 for financing and possible residency.
The Russian Startup Tour is the country’s biggest initiative to encourage entrepreneurship and commercialize innovations. It visits 10 cities across Russia, Almaty and Minsk, Belarus.