Social entrepreneurship week in Kazakhstan

From June 23 to July 4, Social Entrepreneurship Week will be held in three cities of Kazakhstan – Almaty, Astana, Atyrau, in order to raise awareness of the General public about the problems and successful examples of social entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan. Social entrepreneurship week will be held with the participation of the British Council in Kazakhstan, “Reach for Change” and the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia (EFCA) with the support of Chevron.

The week will include meetings with social entrepreneurs and organizations supporting social entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan. The program of the week also includes the presentation of successful cases and exchange of experience between beginners and practicing entrepreneurs. International and Kazakhstan experts and practitioners will take part in the events of the Week of Social Entrepreneurship.

"Programmes of social investment, Chevron has supported the development of social entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan for several years", - said the representative of the company Leila Aitmuhanova. "We believe in the high potential of Kazakhstan, so we create opportunities for its most complete disclosure." 

"Foreign experience shows that social entrepreneurship not only effectively solves social issues, but also contributes to the development of the economy – through the creation of enterprises and jobs, providing quality and affordable services to the general population. We hope that the Week of social entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan will become one of the platforms for the promotion and development of this direction", – shared his vision Rinad Temirbekov, Executive Director of EFCA.

The British Council will hold a positive debate "To Be or not to Be" on whether to become a social entrepreneur. The event is primarily intended for young people who are planning to engage in social entrepreneurship.

The international Fund “Reach for Change” will hold a transformational team-building game “Change Leader Day” for social entrepreneurs, partner organizations and journalists and a discussion on the problems of social entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan.

Within the framework of the Impact Hub Almaty project,  EFCA together with “Reach for Change” Foundation will present successful cases of social entrepreneurship at the master class "Social entrepreneurship or James Bond cocktail" with Vladimir Weiner and Tatyana Burmistrova (Russia). Speakers will highlight the issues of positioning and effective tools and approaches, access to the market of goods and services of social entrepreneurs. The event will be relevant for social entrepreneurs from different sectors.

Also, a series of events within the existing projects are timed to the week – master classes within the framework of the project "I-Seed" of the British Council (Almaty), and the award ceremony of the winners within the framework of the "Zharkyra" program of EFCA (Atyrau).

Social entrepreneurship week is held in Kazakhstan for the first time. The organizers hope that this event will become an annual tradition not only in three cities, but also throughout Kazakhstan, and will attract the attention of the general public to this area.