Distinguished Alumni
Kuanysh Maden
How Movie Posters Are Made Three designers explain the ideas behind posters for Oscar-winning and Kazakhstani films The Oscars do not have a category for “Best Movie Poster,” nor do they have a category for “Best Title Sequence,” which was included at the very first ceremony in 1929 but disappeared as early as 1930. That is why, in 2025, we decided to conduct an experiment: we provided Kazakhstani designers with all the posters of the films nominated for the 2025 Oscars and asked them to choose the best ones. Creating a poster is an art of conveying an entire film universe through a single visual image. A successful poster becomes part of the film’s history and stays with us long after we leave the cinema. As designer Kuanysh Maden, who worked on posters for the films “My Name is Kozha,” “Patrol,” and “Shulamah,” notes, the process of creating them often takes place under tight deadlines and with limited resources. “Quite often, you have to build posters from screenshots because filming ended a long time ago. Improving image quality and adding effects takes a lot of time,” he says. Asem Ramazanova, who created posters for “Mergen,” “The Black, Black Man,” and “Summer of 1941,” draws attention to the role of typography: “A font is not just text; it is an important element of visual style. In Western movie posters, you can notice a trend toward experimental, handwritten, or minimalist typefaces that help convey the mood of a film.” Igor Yug, the author of posters for “Taraz,” “Yolki 8,” and “Zhauap Ber,” speaks about the main approach used by Kazakhstani movie designers: “It is important that the viewer immediately understands the genre of the film and feels its emotion. In Kazakhstan, posters are more often focused on recognizability: large portraits of actors and an easily understandable color scheme.” While the global film industry continues to embrace complex compositions with numerous details, depth, and expressive visual techniques, Kazakhstan tends to favor simplicity and clarity.
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Kamila Saken
Founder of WeGlobal AI, a Kazakhstan-based EDTECH startup that uses artificial intelligence to identify high-risk teenagers in schools and automate psychological and academic support for students. The project aims to expand across schools throughout Kazakhstan and eventually enter the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. We See More Than a School: How AI Helps Identify At-Risk Teenagers At Digital Bridge 2025, the Kazakhstan-developed WeGlobal AI platform was presented during the final stage of Astana Hub Battle. The platform combines psychological and academic support for school students, helping identify teenagers experiencing depression or a crisis at an early stage. According to co-founder Kamila Saken, the idea for the startup was inspired by a real-life case. At a small school, a 15-year-old student named Aruzhan appeared no different from her peers on the outside. However, she was suffering from severe depression and had even made suicide attempts. Neither the teachers nor the school psychologist knew about her condition. Like psychologists in many educational institutions, the school counselor was responsible for hundreds of students at the same time. The problem was identified only after the platform was introduced. The school psychologist noticed warning signs and invited the girl for a conversation, during which they discovered scars on her wrist. “In just one district where we operate, the system identified 539 students with severe depression whom the schools had no idea about,” Kamila emphasized. The WeGlobal AI platform works through a mobile application provided to students after their school subscribes to the service. Students complete psychological assessments, share their educational plans, and report academic difficulties. The system analyzes this data and generates recommendations for educators, helping identify students who may need additional support. At the same time, much of the administrative and paperwork burden is automated. The startup also offers additional educational products through its academic platform, including English-language courses and preparation programs for university admission and the SAT. This upselling mechanism has become a key part of the startup’s business model. According to the startup, its own online school currently generates approximately $330,000 per month, while a recent offline event for subscribed schools in Almaty generated an additional $42,000, with a 22% conversion rate. Operating since late 2023, the startup began in Kazakhstan and increased the number of its school clients from 8 to 800 within one year. The team’s next goal is to expand into the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, where the potential market is estimated at $2 billion. “We want not only to identify children who are at risk, but also to build an entire support ecosystem where teenagers have the tools they need for both psychological well-being and academic growth,” Kamila added.
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Dias Kozhantayev
Creative Producer at Warner Bros. Discovery, creating viral video content for Max and Eurosport. In 2025, three of his projects were nominated for the GEMA Awards. He is also active as an actor and appeared in Dune: Part Two.
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Adiya Makhambetova
A quantitative analyst at Fidelity Investments, where she develops mathematical models for portfolio management across trillion-dollar markets. She was named to Forbes Kazakhstan’s “30 Under 30” list as one of the country’s leading young professionals in finance. Adiya has loved mathematics since childhood. She graduated from the first Nazarbayev Intellectual School with a physics and mathematics focus in Astana and later earned a degree in Mathematics from Nazarbayev University. She subsequently obtained a master’s degree in Financial Engineering from Boston University. Today, Adiya works as a Quantitative Research Analyst at Fidelity Investments, one of the world’s largest investment companies. The firm has $13.7 trillion in assets under administration and $5.2 trillion in assets under management, serving approximately 50 million customers. A quant is a highly specialized professional in the financial industry whose work combines mathematics, programming, and finance. A quant’s role is to identify investment opportunities where the potential return significantly outweighs the associated risk. “Our group conducts mathematical research that serves as the foundation for mathematical models and algorithms used to create investment products. One example of such a product is an Exchange-Traded Fund, or ETF. We also help portfolio managers achieve stronger performance. They turn to quants to analyze the level of risk in their investment portfolios and evaluate the returns of investment operations against a benchmark index. In this way, we help maintain balanced portfolios that comply with strict contractual requirements, particularly when managing the funds of large institutional clients,” Adiya explains. Adiya is also responsible for thematic research at the company. One of her most recent projects focused on finding ways to attract younger investors to the company. “We want to attract not only university students, but even teenagers. This is one of the company’s strategic goals. In a few years, they will go to university and then enter the workforce. Once they have disposable income they want to invest, they will most likely trust us with their money,” Adiya explains. In addition, the Kazakhstani professional manages a lineup of 13 thematic Solo FidFolio portfolios, a product that gives individual investors access to direct indexing.
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Alnur Akchurin
Living Water: How a School Student from Nur-Sultan Invented a Way to Increase Crop Yields Severalfold When Alnur Akchurin, a school student from the capital, presented his innovative agricultural hydrogel designed to increase crop yields as part of the incubation program of Nazarbayev University’s Innovation Cluster, he was only 17 years old. — I was the youngest participant, and many people probably did not take either the project or me seriously, — recalls Alnur, now a student at Northwestern University in the United States, a future specialist in applied mathematics and computer science, and a member of Forbes Kazakhstan’s “30 Under 30” ranking. Nearly two years later, his age had not prevented him from becoming the winner of the program, while his invention attracted the attention of specialists. Chemistry and Life According to Alnur, it all began with his interest in chemistry at school and his desire to try his hand at serious scientific research. In the 10th grade, he began looking for a professional who could help him take his first steps in science. In 2017, Professor Erlan Zhatkambayev of the Kazakh University of Technology and Business took on the role of his mentor, which eventually developed into a business partnership. At the time, the professor was working on a polyacrylate hydrogel designed to moisturize sandy and low-fertility soils. Similar products were already being used in agriculture in China, Europe, and the United States, but they had not yet been applied in Kazakhstan. — It is difficult to grow a good crop on sandy, low-fertility soils. A significant part of Kazakhstan’s soil is located in arid regions, where the amount of moisture lost through evaporation exceeds the amount received. We thought that we could develop different types of gels — both moisturizing gels and gels synthesized with fertilizers. After being applied, these gels decompose in the soil, supplying plant roots with moisture and nutrients. When fertilizers are applied directly to the soil, it is impossible to ensure the same concentration across different areas: some places receive more, others less. With a gel, it is possible to determine not only the ideal dosage but also the optimal ratio of fertilizers for different crops, — Alnur explains. The main component of the gel is potassium polyacrylate, which dissolves very well in water, has a high moisture-absorption capacity and viscosity, and is resistant to high temperatures. The gel can be granulated and applied to the soil in dry form together with seeds. Over time, plant roots grow around the granules, while the gel nourishes them: it releases moisture during periods of drought and absorbs water again during rainfall. One gram of the gel can absorb up to 100 grams of water. Against Nature The first trials conducted at the Krasnovodopad Agricultural Experimental Station showed that using 50 kg of gel per hectare increased crop yields by 180%. Experiments also demonstrated that hydrogel could reduce water consumption as well as the amount of fertilizer applied to the soil. According to Alnur, rice, for example, requires a significant amount of water, and approximately 90 kg of fertilizer is used per hectare. — When fertilizer-enriched hydrogel is located directly next to plant roots, the fertilizers themselves work more efficiently. This method also has significant environmental advantages: fertilizers are not washed away by rain or irrigation and do not contaminate the soil or bodies of water, — Alnur explains. After the polyacrylate gel project participated in Nazarbayev University’s startup acceleration program in 2018, the developers signed a memorandum with the Aktobe Region regarding the potential use of the technology in the region’s agriculture. According to Alnur, the Aktobe Region appeared to be an ideal testing ground because of its natural and climatic conditions. — There is always an element of luck in any project. We were fortunate at that point to find people who were willing to support our idea, because there are also conservative farmers who find it difficult to embrace new solutions, — he says. The project’s initiators also received an opportunity to collaborate with the Nuclear Technology Park in Kurchatov, which provided equipment for testing and production. In early 2019, Alnur and his team began working on a project to produce mineral-enriched agricultural hydrogel based on chitosan. The chitosan base provides additional antibacterial properties. After several years, chitosan decomposes in the soil without harming it. Its production is also less expensive than the production of cellulose used in foreign agricultural hydrogels. Shell Kazakhstan provided 500,000 tenge for the project as part of its sponsorship of the Nazarbayev University Innovation Cluster’s incubation program. — The cellulose synthesis process is quite costly because it requires a constant supply of raw materials, making imported gels expensive. Chitosan, meanwhile, is obtained from chitin, which occurs naturally in the cell walls of certain types of fungi as well as in the shells of crustaceans and insects. In our case, raw materials could be obtained either by creating an industrial insect farm or a mushroom farm on the territory of the Nuclear Technology Park. The latter option is more attractive financially because it provides a higher chitosan yield compared with using insects and makes it possible to organize an almost closed production cycle, — Alnur says. According to the inventor, agricultural hydrogels can be used to grow virtually any crop, including crops considered exotic for Kazakhstan. The key is to create the appropriate soil structure by reproducing it with the minerals and fertilizers “embedded” into the gel’s formula. Unfortunately, the pandemic affected the implementation of the project. At the time, a patent application was being processed in Nur-Sultan. However, after a state of emergency was declared in March 2020, the developers lost the opportunity to conduct experiments and test the hydrogel under field conditions. Without this stage, it was impossible to plan mass production. At the end of the previous year, the East Kazakhstan Region experienced a high level of illness, and local authorities introduced strict quarantine measures. This complicated the work of personnel involved in the production of the first type of gel in Kurchatov. — In fact, all we have left is to conduct the experiments. But because of the coronavirus restrictions, we cannot do so, even though we have land plots available for testing and agreements with private companies. As for producing chitosan-based agricultural hydrogel, there are agricultural companies willing to support our research. They are interested in creating mushroom farms or insect farms to obtain the raw materials, but everything depends on the coronavirus situation. For now, we plan to start working in the summer, but we are trying not to give anyone false hope, — Alnur says with a sigh. The Road to Knowledge The force majeure did not prevent the young scientist from launching a new project in an area less affected by the pandemic than agriculture. His new project, Impact, aims to help talented young people gain admission to foreign universities when their families either lack the financial resources to send them abroad or do not know how to properly organize the application process. According to Alnur, Impact was preceded by a career-guidance project in Kazakhstan that he worked on with his friends. — After coming to the United States to study, I realized that there are enormous opportunities here to gain knowledge. I also realized that many young people from the CIS countries simply do not believe that they are capable of getting into an American university. Some do not know where to start preparing for exams, many have limited financial resources, and some face health-related challenges. But we live in a time and in a world where the circumstances of your origin matter less and less. Your background should not be a reason to stop developing, — Alnur believes. The project was launched in July 2020, and the team consists of 17 people. Through Impact, more than 1,000 students have already received informational support, primarily high school students from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. Currently, 15 people use Impact’s consulting services, while another 80 are enrolled in an informational course that Alnur and his colleagues launched at the end of the previous year. As part of the course, students receive access to a platform with recorded lessons and webinars, while their homework completion is monitored. The program also includes exam preparation and preparation for the SAT, the standardized test used for admission to higher education institutions in the United States. The team’s plans include creating an ecosystem that combines an educational platform, consulting services, and a fund designed to provide financial support to young people seeking a quality education at American universities. — If we compare the cost of our services with the cost of IELTS preparation, for the same 50,000–60,000 tenge per month, we provide access to the educational materials accumulated on our platform as well as classes with instructors,— Alnur says. — There is nothing impossible about obtaining higher education abroad, even if the coronavirus means you may not be able to enter a university classroom anytime soon. You simply need to prepare seriously for the exams and thoroughly study the legal aspects of the application process. At the same time, Alnur emphasizes that he has never viewed studying abroad as a step toward permanently leaving his home country. — After receiving my degree, I will most likely work in the United States for a couple of years. Our university has strong connections with local companies, and failing to take advantage of such an opportunity for career growth would be, at the very least, short-sighted. But in the long term, I plan to return to Kazakhstan, contribute to its development, and share the knowledge I have gained. Our Impact project is not about leaving forever either. It is about returning home stronger than before, — Alnur says.
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Asel Ibadulla
Research Fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, named among China’s Top 10 Social Entrepreneurs after founding the Mind Matters startup Asel Ibadulla is one of only two international students admitted to Stanford University’s doctoral program in healthcare technology effectiveness modeling. She is the first representative of Kazakhstan to receive the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship, which provides full funding for her education and research, worth the equivalent of 350 million KZT. “Many people think I simply spent a year preparing and then got admitted. In reality, it was at least 10 years of consistent, purposeful work,” says Asel, who was featured in the ranking. Asel’s story begins in Shymkent. Her father worked as a crane operator at a metallurgical plant, while her mother was a teacher. Despite their modest professional backgrounds, academic achievement was always highly valued in the family. Until the 7th grade, Asel dreamed of becoming a doctor — a dream largely inspired by conversations with her mother, who had also wanted to pursue a career in medicine when she was young. A turning point came when Asel was admitted to a Nazarbayev Intellectual School. After the 9th grade, she traveled to Boston with other students to attend two-week courses at universities. It was during this trip that Asel developed a clear goal of studying abroad. However, her parents were not ready to let their 16-year-old daughter leave the country, so she enrolled at Nazarbayev University, majoring in Biological Sciences. There, she became involved in research and launched her first startup, Mind Matters — a digital assistant designed to help diagnose mental health conditions. The project earned Asel a place among China’s Top 10 Social Entrepreneurs. However, she later made a conscious decision to put the startup on hold after realizing that she did not yet have sufficient expertise in the field. Around the same time, Asel realized that clinical medicine was not the path for her. Instead, she decided she wanted to work in medicine as a researcher. She went on to pursue a master’s degree at Yale University, where she studied the health of ethnic minorities, including Kazakhs in re-education camps in China. She also participated in projects led by the World Health Organization (WHO). Today, Asel works at Harvard in the Health Systems Innovation Lab, focusing on healthcare reforms, including changes to the way medical services are financed and reimbursed. Alongside her academic work, she is developing Aspire Admissions, a project that helps students from Central Asia gain admission to leading universities around the world. “Many young people in Kazakhstan don’t get into Harvard or Stanford simply because they don’t believe in themselves. We want to change that,” concludes Asel, who was featured in the ranking.
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Anton Morgunov
MIT graduate and researcher with a PhD in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry from Yale University, and a gold medalist at the International Chemistry Olympiad and the Mendeleev Chemistry Olympiad. His main area of research is the application of artificial intelligence in chemistry. He develops algorithms for molecular design, retrosynthesis planning, and the development of new medicines.
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Erasyl Tauekel
Kazakhstani Startup Kwaaka Raises Funding to Expand Its Business Across Five Countries Investors provided the company with an additional $100,000 in funding. Kwaaka, a platform focused on improving online food delivery for restaurants, has raised an additional $100,000 investment from MOST Ventures. According to the company’s press service, the funds will be used to launch new products and build teams in Uzbekistan and Georgia. The startup is currently focused on scaling its business internationally. Kwaaka has begun operating in five countries: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, and Armenia. The company has also recently opened two new offices in Tashkent and Tbilisi. “We decided to provide the startup with additional funding to accelerate its expansion into new markets,” said Alim Khamitov, Managing Partner at MOST Ventures, commenting on the deal. Kwaaka has introduced two new products that allow restaurants to launch their own delivery service with a website, mobile application, and couriers with just one click. “We were welcomed well in the new markets. There are certainly challenges, but overall, our growth is ahead of schedule. In some countries, more than 200 restaurants are already waiting to connect to Kwaaka,” said Nabi Muratbek, co-founder of the company. The platform currently has more than 1,300 active restaurants. Previously, the startup had raised more than $800,000 in investments from Murat Abdrakhmanov, venture funds MOST Ventures and Big Sky Capital, the Shanyraq.vc syndicate, as well as business angels Madiyar Tuleuov, Olzhas Akbayev, and Aman Alimbayev.
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Nabi Muratbek
How a Kazakhstani Integrator Is Helping Develop Online Sales for the Restaurant Business Kwaaka, a cloud-based solution that integrates delivery services with restaurants’ POS systems, entered the market in May 2022. Today, less than two years after its launch, the company works with 1,200 restaurants in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Armenia and is preparing to enter the Georgian market. The Kazakhstani startup owes its unusual name to the quokka, a unique Australian marsupial known for its distinctive “smile,” which appears as a result of the relaxation of its jaw muscles. “We want to see the employees of restaurants and aggregator companies, as well as our partners, happy and smiling. If our product makes their work easier, minimizes errors, and saves time, then the end users will be satisfied, and so will we,” explain the project’s co-founders, Nabi Muratbek and Maksat Kadyrov. An Open Niche By the time Kwaaka was founded, both entrepreneurs already had experience working in startups. Nabi, a 24-year-old native of Zhezkazgan, moved to Karaganda with his parents at an early age and grew up in the country’s mining capital. After completing his first year at Nazarbayev University majoring in mathematics, he decided to build his future in IT. At the same time, he became interested in the startup industry and, several months later, joined Rakhmet, a project of the Chocofamily holding, as a data analyst. Although his time at one of Kazakhstan’s first major and successful startups was relatively short, it proved to be a valuable learning experience. During his second year, Nabi joined one of the Big Four companies and simultaneously launched his own HR project, Recruitment.ai, which Forbes Kazakhstan covered in its No. 10 issue in 2020. The project lasted a little over a year and eventually shut down for a reason common among startups: it ran out of money. “We didn’t have enough funding to find the right business model. I was considering other projects and seriously thinking about moving to Canada. I spoke with people who had experience living and working abroad. That’s how I met Maksat, who had spent seven years in the United States and several months in Canada,” Nabi recalls. Thirty-year-old Aktobe native Maksat Kadyrov, a graduate of L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, left Kazakhstan in 2016. He earned a master’s degree in Computer Information Systems from California University of Management and Sciences. After an unsuccessful experience with an AI startup, he joined a company developing websites for real estate agents. Eventually, however, he left a stable job with the prospect of obtaining a green card sponsored by his employer and joined a startup founded by entrepreneurs from the CIS. The project’s mission attracted him: providing access to justice for people with low or no income. But the startup eventually shut down. After experiencing his own story of bankruptcy in the United States, Maksat returned to Kazakhstan. Some time later, he went back to the US with his wife. After a month of unsuccessful job searching, the Kazakhstani received three offers from American companies at once. He chose LinkedIn, where he worked for three years as a senior software engineer. In 2021, he met Nabi. “There is an expression in English that describes a feeling of belonging to a place — somewhere I belong. Unfortunately, during the seven years I spent in the United States, I never developed that feeling. There was certainly an element of madness in leaving a prestigious position at a major international company, but I really wanted to return to Kazakhstan,” Maksat admits. The idea of creating a solution for managing food delivery seemed the most viable of all the ideas they had at the time. The niche for similar products was practically empty, so the entrepreneurs began developing Kwaaka. To better understand the problems restaurant owners faced, Nabi and Maksat went “into the field” themselves: they worked behind restaurant counters and in call centers. This hands-on approach paid off. They gained a deeper understanding of the processes and learned what mattered most to cashiers and administrators. “We have never built a product based on illusions. We relied on actual market needs, and that is our main value,” the founders emphasize. For a long time, delivery was not considered a particularly important source of revenue for Kazakhstan’s restaurant industry. A few orders a day did not make much difference to overall revenue. The arrival of international aggregators changed everything, followed by the pandemic and lockdowns, when properly organized delivery became, without exaggeration, a matter of survival for restaurants. Escaping the Chaos When a restaurant agrees to work with a delivery aggregator, it receives a dedicated tablet. If the establishment works with several aggregators, it needs several tablets. Before Kwaaka, restaurant employees had to manually enter orders from these tablets into the restaurant’s POS system, Nabi explains. If a restaurant receives only a couple of orders a day, this does not create major difficulties. But as order volumes increase, so-called “tablet chaos” inevitably appears. This leads to errors, canceled orders, and lost revenue. Another important advantage is time savings. Before Kwaaka was connected, it could take 10–15 minutes from the moment a customer placed an order until that order reached the kitchen. After integration, the process takes only a matter of seconds. Everyone benefits. Customers do not have to wait an additional 15 minutes, while restaurants reduce their operational costs. Many aggregators also have a time limit for accepting orders. If a restaurant fails to accept an order within five minutes, the order is canceled and the restaurant has to pay a penalty. Kwaaka also makes stop-list management — the list of temporarily unavailable dishes — much more efficient. Changes to a restaurant’s menu appear in the aggregators’ systems almost immediately. This reduces the likelihood that a restaurant will receive an order for a dish it cannot prepare, eliminating the need to contact the customer and make changes to the order. As a result, customers are less likely to be disappointed with the restaurant. Kwaaka also automatically fills in product descriptions. According to the project’s founders, product descriptions can account for up to 40% of sales in the restaurant business. From a technical perspective, Maksat, the project’s CTO, describes Kwaaka as a kind of “invisible hero.” The integration is seamless: there is no need to retrain employees or purchase additional hardware. Restaurant staff continue working with the POS system they already know, but orders from delivery aggregators now appear there automatically. “Previously, a cashier could spend up to five hours a day transferring orders from an aggregator’s tablet into the restaurant’s POS system. With us, they have time to focus on more creative and less monotonous work. The error rate in order processing falls to 0.1–0.2%. Of course, you cannot completely eliminate human error, and the quality of the internet connection is also extremely important. But we noticed that after Kwaaka is implemented, the quality of offline service in restaurants improves because employees have more time to listen carefully to guests’ requests and think about ways to increase customer loyalty,” says Maksat. Kwaaka’s first clients were the FARSH and Rumi restaurant chains. “We looked for our first clients using the same principle startups use when looking for their first investments — friends, family, fools. We are very grateful to the delivery director of FARSH for allowing us to test our solution at the Abu-Dhabi Plaza location. Then we began working with Rumi, where we launched at three locations and realized that the problems our startup was designed to solve were, to some extent, common to all restaurants,” Nabi recalls. Negotiations with international delivery aggregators were conducted at the headquarters level — in Barcelona, Helsinki, and Moscow, respectively. Today, Kwaaka works with Glovo, Wolt, and Yandex Eats in Kazakhstan. The negotiation process took time. By entrusting an integrator with the processing of a large volume of orders, an aggregator takes on a certain degree of risk, so it needs to be confident that the IT solution is reliable. “If aggregators developed solutions like ours themselves, they would have to maintain large teams of developers in every country where they operate. That is not cheap. Integrators can also handle the task more effectively. We conducted numerous tests and eventually agreed that each side should focus on what it does best: aggregators deliver food, while we make sure orders are processed quickly, accurately, and without cancellations,” Nabi explains. One of Kwaaka’s Kazakhstani partners is EMENU, a delivery aggregator from Karaganda. For regional players like EMENU, minimizing order-processing errors and saving time are critical when competing with large international aggregators. That is why they are generally open to cooperation. The major advantage of local aggregators is their flexibility and willingness to work together with Kwaaka to identify areas for mutual growth. “We have had attempts to build partnerships with aggregators that were not particularly interested in integration, and most of those attempts went nowhere. If both sides are genuinely interested in the partnership, anything is possible. There are many problems, and you need patience to solve them,” Maksat comments. Made in Kazakhstan The service operates under a SaaS model. Integrating one location costs 25,000 tenge per month and takes approximately one week on average. “Many similar solutions leave the integration process to the restaurant itself. As a result, the process becomes expensive and time-consuming. Restaurant owners are busy people: a manager has to deal with accounting, marketing, and many other issues. We offer a simple solution that is easy to connect and use, while remaining affordable,” Nabi explains. The founders of Kwaaka see their mission as giving restaurant owners a complete picture of how their businesses operate. The product will soon be expanded with analytics tools designed to help restaurants make better decisions. Most restaurants, with the exception of large chains, cannot afford to hire analytics or data science specialists. However, the need for such solutions exists, and Kwaaka aims to address it. According to Maksat, the company also plans to expand into other sectors of q-commerce. Kwaaka’s current clients include Small supermarkets, Nauryz-market, and the Sadykhan pharmacy chain. Initially, the founders invested a relatively small amount of their own money into the project. Remembering his previous startup experience, Nabi decided not to seek outside investment until the company had achieved stable sales. Once it became clear that the solution was in demand, the team approached potential investors. “The strategy worked. We attracted our first investors literally within a week because we had a clear understanding of how we would sell and scale the product,” Nabi says. At the first stage, the project raised $50,000. This was followed by a $235,000 round, during which the team attracted investment from venture fund Big Sky Capital, Murat Abdrakhmanov, Arman Shokparov, and MOST Ventures. In July of the previous year, the startup closed a $600,000 funding round. Its investors included Murat Abdrakhmanov, Big Sky Capital, Madiyar Tuleuov, Olzhas Akbayev, and Aman Alimbayev. The funds were intended to strengthen the company’s position in the Central Asian and Caucasus markets and launch its first restaurants in the Middle East. The founders never intended to limit Kwaaka to the Kazakhstani market. Less than six months after Kwaaka launched, Nabi traveled to Azerbaijan. His choice was based on a simple calculation: a flight from Almaty to Baku was cheaper than to other cities, while two major aggregators were already operating in the country and the startup needed new partners. Ultimately, the company was unable to establish itself in Azerbaijan. The first countries on Kwaaka’s international map were Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, followed later by Uzbekistan, where the Kazakhstani startup works with major local player Express24. At the beginning of the previous year, the founders set a goal of making Kwaaka the leading integrator in Central Asia and the Caucasus. “The Uzbek market is very attractive to us. This year, we plan to open an office in Tashkent and launch one of the most interesting integrations together with Express24. Another promising market is Georgia, where two major regional integrators are already operating. Trying our strength in a competitive market with large regional players is a challenge for Kwaaka. We also plan to open an office in Tbilisi. We are studying the Middle Eastern markets — the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The UAE, for example, is an extremely competitive market with five major players, including two unicorns with enormous budgets. Entering such a market and competing there is a major challenge for us,” Nabi says. According to him, Kwaaka has already managed to push one of its competitors out of the domestic market, primarily thanks to the quality of its solution and customer support. Today, the project employs just over 40 people. The Almaty office is responsible for customer support, onboarding, sales, and marketing, while developers, designers, and the product team are based in the capital. From a development perspective, Maksat emphasizes, Kwaaka is a 100% Kazakhstani product — something its founders are particularly proud of. “We want our people to grow together with Kwaaka. Without that, there is no point in building a company. We are currently hiring teams to work in Uzbekistan and Georgia, and we do not rule out having citizens of those countries on those teams who understand the local language and mentality. However, top management and development will remain in the hands of Kazakhstani specialists,” Maksat says. Kwaaka’s goal for 2024 was to connect 2,500–3,500 users. The growth dynamics at the beginning of the year suggested that this target was achievable, while the maximum goal was 5,000 users. In terms of geography, the company planned to add another two or three markets, primarily in the CIS and potentially in the MENA region — the Middle East and North Africa. In the longer term, the team also planned to enter one of the Eastern European markets. “Kwaaka is currently the largest integrator in our region. We will actively increase our market penetration. Once we have built a large customer base in Central Asia and the Caucasus, we will begin entering more competitive markets,” Nabi and Maksat say of the future of their company.
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Bekin Omar
The youngest recipient of the "Xalyq alǵysy" medal in Kazakhstan is a 17-year-old volunteer from Kokshetau The youngest recipient of the "Xalyq alǵysy" (People's Gratitude) medal in Kazakhstan is Omar Bekin, a 17-year-old volunteer from the city of Kokshetau. The young volunteer shared with a Kazinform correspondent what motivated him to help those around him and spoke about his future plans. Currently, Omar is a 12th-grade student at the Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Kokshetau. He has no issues with his academic performance. He is passionate about computer science, mathematics, and programming, while spending all his free time helping people. "When I was in the 10th grade, our school hosted meetings with young people. Representatives from various organizations came to visit us, including members of the 'Duman' pedagogical squad. Overall, my first steps into community service began right with this squad. I underwent camp counselor training there and spent the entire past summer in children's camps. Starting in September 2019, my interest in volunteering grew even stronger. I joined the 'Jas Otan' youth wing and have been part of the organization ever since," Omar told the Kazinform correspondent. The scope of their work is extensive: ranging from helping elderly people who cannot clean their homes or go to the grocery store, to supporting children with health issues. The youth are implementing a special project called "Qamqor," visiting medico-social facilities and assisting the Center for the Adaptation of Minors. "Unfortunately, all these activities came to a halt during the quarantine. However, I believe we will resume this work at the first opportunity. In addition, we frequently clean the city streets. Personally, my friends from NIS and I cleaned up the yard near our school. We often walked past it and noticed how dirty it was. One day, we decided to clean it up ourselves to set an example for the residents," the volunteer continued. Today, Omar serves as the head of the Kokshetau city branch of the "Jas Otan" youth wing under the "Nur Otan" party,senior counselor of the Akmola Regional "Duman" Pedagogical Squad, and a member of the Academy of Young Patriots of Kazakhstan. Recently, by Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, he was awarded the "Xalyq alǵysy" medal. "I still remember the moment they told me I was being nominated for this award. I had originally gone to the party simply to help out with whatever was needed. Then they started asking for my personal details. At first, I didn't think it was anything major. But when I was told that Kassym-Jomart Tokayev himself would be presenting the medal, I was deeply surprised and felt a bit embarrassed. After all, there are so many young people working as volunteers. Yet, for some reason, they nominated me and three others. I didn't expect this because I always considered my volunteer work as something I did for myself, without expecting any rewards," Omar says. However, this is not the young man's only honor. For his efforts during the coronavirus pandemic, he was awarded a Letter of Gratitude from the First President of Kazakhstan, N. A. Nazarbayev, as well as a Letter of Gratitude from Galym Bekmagambetov, First Deputy Chairman of the Akmola Regional Branch of the party. When the "Biz Birgemiz" (We Are Together) campaign was launched at the initiative of Elbasy, Omar spent several months delivering food and essential supplies every single day. He personally delivered over 500 boxes to local residents. "I would define my life goal like this: I want to change the world for the better. I know that sounds ambitious. For now, I don't know for sure which university I will attend. But even if I study abroad, I will definitely return home. I have clearly decided that for myself. I want to get a good education and apply the experience of other countries toward the development of Kazakhstan. Right now, I am considering two paths: international relations or computer science.However, I feel I am leaning more toward political activity," Omar shares. According to the young volunteer, the timely support and trust of his parents, along with the guidance of his mentor—Sultanbek Bekeshev, Chairman of the Akmola Regional Branch of the "Jas Otan" youth wing—played a major role in his achievements today. "The emotion you feel when helping someone is impossible to describe in words. It isn't just joy or a sense of satisfaction.A very special warmth appears inside you. You realize that through a simple act, you were able to make someone else's life much better. Perhaps that person will change their perspective on certain things after that. I have one request for all readers. Right now is a very difficult time for our country. But there are many influential people who have the means to help others. Why not provide that help? As Elbasy said, 'Biz Birgemiz.' When we are together,overcoming any hardship becomes much easier. There is no need to criticize or judge people who are trying to help in one way or another. Try to look at situations from different angles and, if you have the opportunity, strive to become a volunteer," Omar concluded.
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Meruert Bizhanova
A graduate of Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Aktau, Teaching Fellow and doctoral student at the University of Oxford. She previously served as President of the Student Assembly. She studied at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), where she became the first Kazakhstani recipient of the prestigious Penn Global Student Citizenship Award. • At the age of 24, became a doctoral student and Teaching Fellow at the University of Oxford, one of the world’s leading universities. • The first Kazakhstani to receive the Penn Global Student Citizenship Award in the 284-year history of the University of Pennsylvania. • Served as President of the Graduate & Professional Student Assembly (GAPSA), representing the interests of more than 20,000 graduate and professional students at the University of Pennsylvania. • Recipient of several prestigious international awards for academic leadership and contributions to the development of higher education. • Represents Kazakhstan on the global academic stage, advancing research in higher education and international education policy.
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Ulan Kairalasov
Kazakh creative industry professional and co-founder of the creative collective “Irina Kairatovna.” Within the group, he works as an improviser and line producer. Founded in Astana in 2017, the collective grew from comedy sketches into music, film, and other media projects. Ulan has also worked as an actor in Kazakh film projects.
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Nurym Kudaibergen
A pioneer of Kazakhstan’s speedcubing scene and an IT specialist, Nurym Kudaibergen was named to Forbes Kazakhstan’s “30 Under 30” list for his outstanding achievements in speedcubing, international records, and professional experience developing web products used by millions of people through his work at leading technology companies. Speedcubing is an unofficial sport that has nevertheless captured the hearts of hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts around the world. In Kazakhstan, one of the biggest names in the speedcubing community is Nurym. He was born in Shymkent but moved to Astana with his parents before starting school. His father is a mathematician who devoted his life to science, while his mother is a teacher of Russian language and literature. Nurym recalls that from the age of four, he dreamed of creating computer games and was an avid gamer himself. He was first introduced to programming at the age of 10 through Garry’s Mod, a sandbox game where players can automate the construction of virtual worlds using the Lua programming language. After completing fourth grade, he enrolled in Nazarbayev Intellectual School, which had only recently opened in the capital in 2009. While at school, Nurym became fascinated with speedcubing. He was drawn to the essence of the discipline: trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube faster than anyone else. He achieved results impressive enough to travel to Las Vegas in 2013, where he reached the final stages of the World Championship in the 4×4, 5×5 and 6×6 cube events. Among 580 competitors, he ranked 11th, 13th and 15th in the world respectively. In the 4×4 event, Nurym achieved the 12th-fastest time in the world at that point, covering the period from 1982 to 2013. His time was just 30.19 seconds! Over the course of his speedcubing career, he won four gold, 10 silver and 11 bronze medals at international and national competitions, while setting 121 national records across 13 different disciplines. In 2016, Nurym enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he studied Computer Science and graduated in 2020. During his studies, he worked as an engineer on Silicon Valley startup teams at Taylr and Princeton Chat. At 18, he became the lead mobile developer at All Square, a Luxembourg-based social network for golfers. At 21, he worked as a developer at HENNGE in Tokyo and FanAI in Los Angeles. Nurym considers his work at the renowned fintech company Robinhood from 2020 to 2022 his first major professional achievement. There, he had the opportunity to launch web projects used by millions of people while learning the craft from some of the best professionals in the industry. He was responsible for the entire technical side of Robinhood Snacks, a popular financial newsletter with 40 million subscribers. “My main goal in life is to build a software product from scratch that will be used by one billion people around the world,” Nurym says.
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Abai Loran
Atyrau city’s Nazarbayev Intellectual School student Abai Loran Almakhmbetov has developed a device that can extinguish fire using sound, reports say. “I can extinguish fire using high-amplitude sound waves. The distinctive feature of this device is that the sound waves compress the air around the fire, reducing the amount of oxygen. And without oxygen, fire cannot burn,” said Abai Loran. The student from Atyrau presented his project as part of the “Uly Dala Muraгерleri” exhibition, where the achievements of Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools were showcased for the first time. The exhibition featured handmade works by students in traditional crafts, fine arts, tapestry, panels, and other applied arts, as well as projects they developed in robotics, space technology, the oil and gas industry, infrastructure, and manufacturing. Master classes for teachers were also organized as part of the event. For example, another student from the Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Atyrau, Sattygali Zholdasbai, made a “smart skullcap” for his grandfather. Meanwhile, Adil Ordaev, a student from the Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Semey, taught his robots to dance the traditional Kazakh dance “Karazhorga.” It is worth noting that the technology of extinguishing fires with sound was also demonstrated two years earlier by students from George Mason University in the United States. They based their work on a video produced by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
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Almukhamed Amitov
Students Almukhamed Amitov and Alimzhan Kasabayev claim to have developed an AI system capable of detecting cancer in seven minutes. One of the developers spoke to a NUR.KZ correspondent about the project. Alimzhan Kasabayev is pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, while Almukhamed Amitov studies at KBTU. The idea for their startup came about by chance. Alimzhan, who studies bioengineering, received a CT scan from his professor along with a simple assignment: “Make something interesting.” A brainstorming session combined with scientific curiosity eventually led the students to develop an AI system for cancer detection. “We accelerate the CT scanning process from three weeks to seven minutes: a doctor uploads a CT scan to a web platform, and the neural network analyzes it within seven minutes and provides a result. We compared the two approaches: an average oncologist can spend two to three weeks analyzing a CT scan manually, while we reduce the process to seven minutes,” says Almukhamed Amitov. The developers upload CT scans and “train” the neural network by visually showing it every layer of the scan, while also indicating where the tumor is located and what percentage of the area it covers. “Initially, when we did not have partnerships with hospitals, we worked with open-source data. But there were only 200 patients, which is far too little for a neural network. Even now, when we have agreements with six hospitals, we still need more data. We trained the neural network using CT scans from publicly available sources. After we won IT Fest and NURIS, six clinics immediately approached us. We are now training the neural network using local data. These six clinics want to test our development as a pilot project,” Almukhamed Amitov explains. According to the developers, the neural network can currently detect liver tumors as small as 0.1 mm. By March, the students planned to train it to work with all types of gastrointestinal cancers. This was requested by the same six clinics they are collaborating with. After that, the students say, the neural network will eventually be able to work with the entire human body. “There are many legal and technical requirements. We are working on them now: we speak with lawyers every day to resolve these issues. We are also applying for a patent and a license. We were given a list of requirements. It will take approximately one to two years to fully meet all of them,” says Almukhamed. In addition to Almukhamed and Alimzhan, the team currently includes four developers, all of them Kazakhstani students, as well as three oncologists. Initially, the students planned to create an application that would allow patients to upload their own CT scans and check them for signs of cancer. However, they have put that idea on hold for now. “After reviewing the requirements and the legislation, we decided that it would not be entirely appropriate to give people such a medical tool. They could misinterpret the results. This should be handled exclusively by a doctor. However, we are still considering the idea depending on what the legislation allows,” Almukhamed notes. At present, the neural network works only with CT results. However, the team plans to train it to analyze MRI scans, blood tests, DNA, and chromosome data in the near future. A doctor would create a patient profile and upload all of this information. According to the developers, the neural network could then potentially identify a person’s predisposition to oncological diseases. NUR.KZ also asked oncologists about the development during an RSK briefing. Raikhan Bolatbekova, head of the oncogynecology department at the Almaty Oncology Center, said they were aware of the project aimed at detecting cancer at an early stage. “We wish our IT specialists success and congratulate them on such a development. However, it is still a project. In my opinion, it is not yet fully developed and has not been released for widespread use,” Raikhan Bolatbekova said. Earlier, during a government meeting, Minister of Science Sayasat Nurbek announced that Kazakhstan was developing an anti-cancer drug that had no analogues in the world. Nurbek also said that the government planned to bring the drug to market within the following year.
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Aisha Orymbayeva
Kazakhstani entrepreneur and founder of Element programming school. She opened her first branch at the age of 20 and was named to Forbes Kazakhstan’s “30 Under 30” list in the Education category. Aisha Orymbayeva’s schools operate in Aktobe, Atyrau, Aktau, Shymkent, Pavlodar, Oral, Nur-Sultan and Almaty. Aisha Orymbayeva, a 23-year-old honoree of Forbes Kazakhstan’s “30 Under 30” ranking, was born into an ordinary family in Taraz: her mother was a schoolteacher, while her father was an entrepreneur. After enrolling at a local Nazarbayev Intellectual School, Aisha immediately planned to move to Almaty, continue her education at Suleyman Demirel University and eventually pursue programming. At some point, however, she began wondering why children in Kazakhstan were not taught programming from an early age, despite it being such a promising field. The idea stayed with her for a long time. By her third year at SDU, Aisha decided to launch her own programming school, Element. Too ambitious? Today, schools under the Element name operate in Aktobe, Atyrau, Aktau, Shymkent, Pavlodar, Oral, Nur-Sultan and Almaty. Before the pandemic, they served around 500 students, while the monthly revenue of each school ranged from 750,000 to 2 million tenge. After the pandemic caused revenues to fall by almost three times, it became clear that the existing business model of offline schools would inevitably have to transform. Learning from Experience While studying at university, Aisha worked part-time for three months at the programming school Love to Code. There, she studied the educational methodologies used by similar schools. Her experience at Nazarbayev Intellectual School also proved valuable when creating Element, as Aisha became a strong advocate of the Cambridge teaching methodology. Armed with this knowledge, in October 2017, 20-year-old Aisha registered her company and began developing the school’s educational and methodological foundation in preparation for the official launch. The project officially began operating in February 2018. “My very first clients were two girls whom I taught on weekends. Every week, the number of students doubled — all thanks to advertising on Instagram. At the time, parents were not particularly familiar with programming schools, so they became interested in Element’s offer. Within a few months, the number of students reached 40, and we started renting our own office,” Aisha recalls. At first, she taught the classes herself. A little later, several of her university classmates joined the team. In September of the same year, Aisha decided to improve her SMM skills in order to reach more potential customers through social media, so she enrolled in a specialized course. Each participant talked about their project and how they planned to develop it. After hearing Aisha speak about Element, one of the women in the audience became interested in the project. After the class, she approached Aisha and asked whether she would consider opening a school in Pavlodar. Without giving it much thought, Aisha replied: “Maybe you could buy a franchise? I don’t have any contacts in Pavlodar or the opportunity to travel there and launch a school myself.” “At that time, I had absolutely no experience in franchising. I didn’t know how to sell a franchise or what terms to offer,” Aisha laughs. She invited her new acquaintance to the Almaty office, showed her the school and explained the business model. They then reached an agreement, and the first franchise was sold to Pavlodar for 2 million tenge. “Only later did I realize how much work was ahead of me — bringing in lawyers and franchising specialists, packaging the project properly and handling the launch and implementation,” Aisha admits. According to her, she never tried to persuade anyone to buy a franchise. The key factor was that people could see how passionate the founder was about popularizing programming among children. “For example, my partner in Aktobe says she joined the project mainly because of me. But there were also people who simply liked the business model itself,” Aisha says. Over two years, nine franchises were sold in different cities across Kazakhstan. Moving Online Today, Element’s schools have significantly fewer students than they did during the summer. “Our schools in Shymkent, Oral and Pavlodar closed until next year because of the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic,” Aisha says with a sigh. “The devaluation of the tenge also reduced people’s purchasing power. Clients started saying, ‘We want to study, but later, when all of this is over.’” Franchise sales were also put on hold. “This is partly because we are now moving completely online and our entire team is focused on that. We want to change our business model. First of all, this is obviously driven by the pandemic, but we also want to stay on top of the trend. From a business perspective, it is a powerful way to scale not only across Kazakhstan but also into other countries,” Aisha explains. To gradually restore the business, Element schools give customers a choice: remain offline where possible or switch to online learning. According to Aisha, she planned to close the Almaty offline school that year and focus entirely on moving online, while her franchise partners planned to open a new school in Almaty starting in 2021. The team’s previous work on automating educational processes and building its own online platform proved particularly valuable in this transition. Software Created by Children “Our children don’t play games — they create them themselves” is the slogan displayed in large letters on the homepage of the Element online platform. According to Aisha, her main mission is to create a platform for children in Kazakhstan where they can acquire the IT skills they need and eventually become competitive in the international job market. Learning through the platform allows children not only to gain basic knowledge of computer science but also to expand their skills in mathematics and English. In addition, teachers help students build portfolios of projects for university applications. The Element online school offers nine learning packages in total. The youngest students, aged five to seven, can learn programming through LightBot. Children aged six to 15 can explore robotics, create games using the visual programming language Scratch, program in Minecraft, and solve more than 400 logic and mathematics problems on CodeMonkey. Older students study Python and JavaScript, build websites and create Android applications. Each student has a personal account and an individualized learning program, while teachers are available to answer any questions. One of the key features of the Element platform is that the learning process is based on gamification — the use of game mechanics in non-game contexts. The approach incorporates elements such as goal-setting, feedback, levels and creativity. Experience has shown that this approach can significantly improve the effectiveness of the educational process. For example, students receive points for every completed course, and accumulated points can be exchanged for the platform’s internal currency, “terrabucks.” These can later be used to purchase useful toys or even gadgets.
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