With the support of CJSC Microfinance Bank “Bai-Tushum and Partners” Startup Weekend was held in Bishkek for the first time

Within the framework of the Startup Weekend, which took place from 9 to 11 November, with the support of Microfinance Bank “Bai-Tushum and Partners”, 15 businessmen beginners discussed their projects with the best experts from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, the UAE and the USA.

“Our Bank is always ready to support young, active and ambitious people who see their future in business. By supporting business projects of young people, we promote the formation of a layer of “new” young and progressive entrepreneurs who can successfully create and implement business projects and do business effectively in the current pipeline”, – said Gulnara Shamshieva, General Manager of the Microfinance Bank “Bai-Tushum and Partners”.

For three days the participants of Startup Weekend Bishkek attended workshop sessions of top local and foreign experts and learnt how to prepare a business plan. Of 164 applications received to the contest, 15 projects were in final. The winners were defined by a professional jury consisting of businessmen, investors and employees of large companies.

Startup Weekend winner was Lucky Frame project on installation of photo booths in shopping malls and entertainment centers of Bishkek. In these photo booths everyone can take a picture for passport, and print unique gift cards and photos from any storage device. The team received $ 2,000 from the Bishkek Business Club as a prize.

The second best was GSS project, the authors of which are planning to design apps for smart phones, which will enable to find lost phones and other gadgets. According to the authors-programmers, the application will be integrated with Internet services, which will provide access to maps of cities in Kyrgyzstan. When the gadget is lost the application will remotely delete all data and information that is stored in phone or gadget. International Youth Foundation with the support of USAID presented $ 1500 to the winners for the project development.

No. 3 was Mega Service project. The idea of the project is to install a machine in universities, with the help of which, the students will be able to copy, print, scan, and download the necessary material for study. In addition, electronic library, which will enable to print the information from the e-books will be available in the terminal. The first Microfinance Bank “Bai-Tushum and Partners” presented $ 1000as a prize for team.