Digitalisation is a strategic priority in Turkmenistan. Digital transformation is becoming more and more popular among Turkmen enterprises regardless of their location, in main cities or rural areas, with a focus on communication technology and e-commerce.
Here, the EU together with the EBRD is funding the project – “Advice for Small Businesses in Turkmenistan”, which started in December 2020 supporting the local entrepreneur Polat Kanayev. The project is funded within the Investment Facility for Central Asia (IFCA) and will run until 2025.
Under this project, the EU and the EBRD seek to boost the competitiveness of small and medium in Turkmenistan by strengthening business management, encouraging innovation and addressing skills gaps through the delivery of business advice and training.
Polat runs a camel farm with an area of 140 hectares in Akhal region of Turkmenistan. He produces the fermented milk products from camel milk – chal and agaran.
He started his business in 2014. The following year he founded a cattle and camel breeding farm in Geokdepe, Akhal region of Turkmenistan. Later on, he expanded his business, launching a workshop for production of chal and agaran with a capacity of 4 tons of chal per day. Since then the entrepreneur has worked to improve his product quality.
In 2020, Polat applied for the EBRD Advice for Small Businesses programme in order to automate managerial accounting and improve management of the company's resources.
The project focused on the installation and implementation of Management Information System (MIS) and training of the farm’s staff on how to use this system. As a result, the company managed to improve management effectiveness and reports became more informative, providing better conditions for an efficient decision-making process.
