My name is Sanzhar and I am 25 years old. I worked for 4 years in a large cleaning company in Bishkek. There I gained experience and soon decided to start my own furniture dry cleaning business. But I encountered many difficulties in promoting the business. I realised that the experience I had gained from my previous company was not enough. After all, there I was working with ready-made clients. In my own business, I had to start everything myself: I had to find clients, negotiate and place orders.

Much-needed support

One day, I happened to see an advertisement on Facebook for a UNDP SME support contest. At the time, I had plans to rent free premises to increase my orders, providing not only onsite services, but also setting up shop. Having fulfilled all the requirements, I took part in a training session organised by John Gault. It was there that I was able to gain useful knowledge from leading experts in business promotion.

I was lucky enough to receive grant support worth 70,000 soms. These funds were used to buy a rotary machine and an ozone box to carry out field orders. With the money from the second grant of 4 thousand dollars, we bought a centrifuge machine to carry out field orders.

Today I can say with certainty that our business is growing rapidly. We offer the following types of services: dry cleaning of carpets, furniture, mattresses, tables and chairs, tiles, facades and curtains. We promote our business mainly through social networks. I do a regular analysis of clients and study which communication channels they used to find us. The demand for dry cleaning services is growing rapidly. We receive up to 20 orders per month.

Future plans

We were able to create 6 jobs and we have a 50% share from each job going to staff salaries. We have big plans for the future and lots of work to do! 

Economic empowerment of young people, especially those from vulnerable groups, is a priority for UNDP. Sanjar Abdimalikov Small Business Funding is one of a number of other socio-economic initiatives made possible by the UNDP project 'Strengthening Community Resilience and Regional Cooperation to Prevent Violent Extremism in Central Asia', with financial support from the Government of Japan and advisory support from business accelerator John Galt.