In 2009, Nurzhan Tursunakunova and her husband were looking for a kindergarten for their three-year-old daughter but found a shortage of affordable kindergartens that had openings. Eventually, relatives helped them gain admission to the public kindergarten. However, the kindergarten had 45-50 children in each class, and Nurzhan observed that teachers were not able to cope with that many children. Across the Kyrgyz Republic, there continues to be a shortage of kindergartens with available seats.
Nurzhan reflected on these challenges and realized that her child, along with many other children would not be able to learn to the best of their ability because of the crowded kindergartens. She started to research early childhood development and found out that the demand for private kindergartens was expected to only increase in the future. That’s when the idea of opening a kindergarten came to Nurzhan.
It took several years for Nurzhan to persuade her family and husband to support her business idea and start a kindergarten. In 2015, she achieved her dream and opened Kids Pro, a kindergarten serving 150 children and families with an average class size of 20. Soon after opening her kindergarten, Nurzhan experienced some challenges facing kindergartens in the country. “I did not think that there would be a shortage of professional personnel in this area, which I faced in the first year,” she remembered. “I came to a new field for me with a great enthusiasm, but without a pedagogical education. I thought that after the opening of the kindergarten I would quickly recruit teachers and children.”
Nurzhan remained committed to providing quality early childhood development services to children in the Kyrgyz Republic, but she needed help overcoming the challenges she faced in operating the kindergarten.
Accelerating Business Growth
Looking to improve her business skills, Nurzhan applied for a business acceleration program supported by the Aga Khan Foundation and USAID’s Local Impact project. Local Impact is partnering with Accelerate Prosperity to offer acceleration programs for small and medium businesses in the Kyrgyz Republic that provide technical expertise, learning and networking opportunities, and investments up to 50,000 USD.
In March 2021, Nurzhan participated in the acceleration program with 22 other businesses. Through the program, Nurzhan met international experts in the field and realized that early childhood development in the Kyrgyz Republic did not use modern methodologies to educate children.
Nurzhan was also paired with a business coach who helped Nurzhan ask critical questions that helped her better understand her business challenges. Nurzhan realized that she spent a lot of time on administrative tasks, which did not leave her time to organize and develop her business. The coach helped Nurzhan see that she needed an administrator who is now in charge of internal affairs under Nurzhan’s supervision.
Nurzhan’s determination and passion to help children enabled her to become a finalist in the pitch competition held at the end of the acceleration program, allowing her to access USD $50,000 in investments. She used the investment to buy a Montessori Teacher Training program that she had wanted to use since 2019. Nurzhan has now trained her staff using the program, and has already noticed an improvement in their teaching.
“I did not even expect and did not imagine that I would get into the top six finalists,” Nurzhan reflected. “When they called me and told me that they were ready to invest, I was shocked and could not believe it for a long time. Now, reflecting on how much I have gained from this program, I am so glad that I was able to not only open a kindergarten, but I also managed to run it efficiently with the help of trained staff and using internationally recognized methodologies like Montessori training program.”
Accelerate Prosperity is an initiative of the Aga Khan Development Organization (AKDN) and is co-financed by the USAID Kyrgyz Republic and the Aga Khan Foundation under the Local Impact project that aims to grow inclusive economic growth, build local capacity to meet development challenges, and promote social cohesion to foster stability and prosperity in the region.
The Local Impact: A Transformative Partnership in Asia and Africa project is implemented by the agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network and is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF).
Credits:
Accelerate Prosperity Kyrgyzstan