The results of the second stage of the project “3.2.1. Start!”

On June 20, during the final project presentations, the names of three winners of the "3.2.1. Start!" project were announced. Throughout the day, the ten finalists presented their ideas to the competition committee, which decided who will receive a grant from the organizers of the project.

The winners were:

• Kuanysh Maden from Shymkent with his project on using a robot chimney to sweep clean pipes;

• Dinmukhamed Kumargazin from the village of Karaul of the Abay district of the East Kazakhstan region with his project on opening of a dance and fitness studio as part of the village youth center; and

• Alina Degtereva from Almaty with her project on opening a sewing workshop for sewing children's clothes.

The authors of the three best business ideas will receive grants in the amount of one million tenge for the implementation of their projects. These funds will be used to purchase the necessary equipment and equipment that will allow the winners to implement their social initiatives.

In March 2017, CCI Kazakhstan, together with the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia (EFCA), the Zhas Otan youth wing of the Nur Otan party, and the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs launched a large-scale project called "3.2.1. Start!" aimed at identifying and supporting youth initiatives in the field of solving specific social and environmental problems in various regions of Kazakhstan.

Applications were accepted from mid-March to the end of April. As part of young people’s familiarization with the conditions of participation, representatives of Zhas Otan held a series of meetings with students in all regions of Kazakhstan. As a result, ten finalists were selected by the competition committee out of over 80 projects submitted for consideration. The jury, which consisted of the project organizers, representatives of various ministries, and independent media, was guided by the following criteria:

realism – a solution to the specific problems of the region;

innovation – a new approach to problem solving;

possibility to extend the project to other regions;

sustainability-the project can be self-supporting in the future;

social and economic effect.

"Of course, it is very difficult to choose among such a number of applications the ten most interesting, and most importantly, promising ideas, - said the Director of the corporate and public relations Department of CCI Kazakhstan, Alima Isembayeva, - clearly formulated selection criteria, of course, helped to determine the finalists. However, we all understood that every project presented by the living people, and people are not indifferent, responding to the problems of society and wishing to make a contribution to the development of our Republic. Therefore, on behalf of the members of the Competition Committee, I would like to thank all participants of the project without exception and wish them success in their future life".

According to the results of the second stage of the project, the authors of the 10 best ideas were:

1. Vitaly Sheming, Petropavlovsk

2. Olzhas Tolegen, NKR, Zhambyl district, Presnovka village

3. Aidana Zhumagulova, Aktobe

4. Kuanysh Maden, Shymkent

5. Akbota Auken, Tekeli

6. Asel Sadykova, Taldykorgan

7. Dinmukhamed Kumarsain, EKR, the Abay district, Karaul village

8. Madina Akasheva, Astana

9. Alina Degtereva, Almaty

10. Nurbek Karimzhanov, Tekeli

A number of webinars were held with all finalists from the NGO "Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia", which were aimed at teaching the basics of entrepreneurship, social design, and planning. So, the first webinar was on the basics of business planning, leading by a well-known business coach Galym Jusupbaev. The second webinar was prepared by Rinad Temirbekov (EFCA), who told about the technology of sales on the Internet. Azura Kamil, marketing Director of CCI Kazakhstan, shared her knowledge about the basics of business marketing with the participants. The final webinar on PR communications was held by Anastasia Blok, head of communications and public relations Department of EFCA.

After the training programs, participants had to prepare the final presentations, which they made today before the members of the Competition Committee. Not long ago participants took part in a master class of Anastasia Blok on effective presentation and oratory skills to prepare for the speech.

According to the plans of the project organizers, the final presentation will be held in November 2017, at which the first concrete results of the three winning projects will be presented to the public.