A Recipe for Success

Every woman has her own definition of “success”. Some define the term in the domestic sphere, in their roles as daughters, wives, and mothers. Others define the term through professional growth and career accolades. For a growing number of women, however, success is the ability to balance a family and a career. For Maral and Jahan of Turkmenistan, success is having the support of their families and colleagues to succeed in all their roles.

Maral Seyitniyazova found that success requires overcoming doubts and fears. After excelling in school, she first worked as a teacher before transitioning to the private sector as a sales and customer service specialist, and later as a lead recruiter. When she was offered a leadership role with the Orlan Consulting Company, she was nervous about making a mistake and not living up to expectations, but she was excited about the professional opportunity.

Orlan’s mission is to support skill-building within the labor market. When she joined the company, Maral made it her goal to establish innovative opportunities and partnerships. In particular, she sought out new ways to help young people and women build entrepreneurial skills. So, when Orlan was asked to serve as a mentor company for a new Startup Ecosystem program coordinated by USAID’s Future Growth Initiative, the USAID Enriching Youth for Tomorrow program, and the Union of Economists of Turkmenistan, Maral and her team immediately agreed.

By this time, they had gained considerable experience supporting youth employment and entrepreneurship skill-building programs, in part due to a productive partnership with USAID’s Enriching Youth for Tomorrow program. Maral notes that her family inspires her every day to seek professional growth.

“With a strong team, you can tackle even the most complex problems. When you have the support of people who share your goals, anything is possible,” says Maral.

Her colleague Jahan Khanova agrees. Over the course of her 18-year career, Jahan has served in many roles across multiple sectors, always looking for opportunities to learn and exercise her creative impulse. When she was tasked with creating a positive environment for the development of business startups, Jahan was up to the challenge and wasted no time in stepping in to manage a business incubator. She recalls that everything was new for her at first, even the very concepts of startup, business incubator, mentorship, and business angels.

Together, Maral, Jahan, and their colleague Maria Kim got to work designing the program and recruiting participants. They received extensive support from USAID and national and international experts on best practices in business acceleration and networking opportunities to build new business partnerships locally and world-wide. “We interacted with them during the whole project and often had to correspond until late in the evening because of the time difference,” recalls Jahan. “It was our motivation and belief in the success of our startups that kept us motivated.”

“Demo Day”–the final presentation of innovative projects and business ideas supported by mentor companies–was a testament to the team’s commitment. A number of projects supported by Orlan entered the market and found external investor support. Two finalists from Orlan even won awards.

A total of 122 individuals with business ideas and 42 start-up teams completed the Startup Ecosystem Program, and 13 start-ups from the program with products or services are already on the market. An additional 12 start-ups are waiting for COVID-19 restrictions to be lifted before they can be launched.

Today, Maral and Jahan both believe they have found their mission–seeing talented young people and women flourish in their entrepreneurial endeavors through mentorship. After their positive experience with the Startup Ecosystem program, Maral and Jahan are determined to continue the company’s efforts to support budding youth and women entrepreneurs.

In mid-March, Orlan and Kazakhstan-based MOST Business Incubator will hold the first Startup Weekend in Turkmenistan, supported by the USAID’s Future Growth Initiative. The winners will be invited to participate in a regional Central Asian ‘startup weekend’. In addition, Orlan will launch a startup incubator in March for women entrepreneurs to coordinate online sales of handicrafts on global e-commerce platforms, attracting artisans from across the country in the first project of its kind in Turkmenistan.

“We are pleased to congratulate Turkmen women and, first of all, ourselves with this gift for International Women’s Day,” Maral and Jahan declare, practically in unison. “We are very grateful to our loved ones–our husbands and children as well as our colleagues and project partners for supporting our business ideas and helping young women entrepreneurs become more confident in boldly seeking success.”