In the right place at the right time!

There is no public transportation in Kuryk village, so it is hard to get to the regional center of Aktau. At the same time, the village is constantly growing, and the weather is not propitious. There were about dozens of taxis in the village, and its residents had to call all of them to find a free machine.

Villagers generally supported the idea of ​​Azanov brothers to open a taxi service. The business idea had to solve many problems of residents related to transportation, save a lot of time for searching a transport and provide all-day access to the taxi service. Meanwhile, knowledge and skills in the field of entrepreneurship, as well as financial resources were needed to start the project.

In 2013, the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia with the support of ERSAI Caspian Contractor LLC launched the program "Development of entrepreneurial capacity in Kuryk village". Through joining the project, Azanov brothers learned what it takes to succeed, how to reduce risks to the minimum, learned the basics of marketing, as well acquired skills of various researches and analyses needed for launching and developing a project, and to ensure its sustainability.

Through business trainings, organized by the EFCA with the support of ERSAI Caspian Contractor LLC, Azanov brothers not only acquired the necessary knowledge, but also developed a high-quality business plan, which won a grant from the company ERSAI Caspian Contractor LLC in 2014. The grant was used to purchase the necessary equipment for the taxi service office.

To date, the taxi service has been working successfully, and the company has been developing rapidly. Thus, according to the business plan, it was planned to hire one dispatcher and two drivers with private cars, but the demand for taxi service was very high. Today the company has provided the work for ten people, including four dispatchers and six drivers. In addition, Azanov brothers have began to expand their own car park. Currently the company has own four cars, while hiring only two drivers with personal vehicles.

The program "Development of entrepreneurial capacity in Kuryk village" was aimed at the creation of alternative jobs through business development and support for the local community business initiatives. During the project 60 people were taught the basics of business and business plan writing. As a result of the trainings 120 necessary for the village business ideas had been generated, 24 people had prepared business plans and participated in the competition for a small a grant from the company ERSAI Caspian Contractor LLC. The program provided 8 grants totaling 7 364 142 tenge to support existing businesses and start-up projects.