On March 31 of this year, the conference “Development of Entrepreneurs of the Kostanay Region” was held in Kostanay with the participation of representatives of the akimat, portfolio companies of the Samruk-Kazyna Foundation, the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of the Republic of Kazakhstan “Atameken” and the business community of the city and region. Measures to support the launch of projects and changes in the Fund’s procurement, as well as the difficulties of entrepreneurs were discussed during the meeting.
Supporting entrepreneurship is a necessary measure for the development of the Kostanay region. A similar conference has already been held in the Mangistau region, Semey and Atyrau. Now in Kostanay, representatives of the portfolio companies of the Samruk-Kazyna Fund and the Atameken NPP presented mechanisms for supporting domestic producers.
“The head of state, during the opening of the first session of the Parliament of the VIII convocation, noted that it is necessary to strengthen the position of our country as a key regional investment hub and provide an opportunity for the development of entrepreneurship within the country”
In order to develop and support the business, Deputy General Director of Samruk-Kazyna Invest LLP Erbol Abdrazakov spoke about the investment conditions and how Samruk-Kazyna Invest LLP participates in investment projects. It was also noted that the main goal of Samruk-Kazyna Invest LLP is to diversify the Fund’s assets and develop non-resource sectors of the economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In particular, such sectors as mechanical engineering, food and light industries were identified as priorities.
Further, in his report, Deputy General Director of Samruk-Kazyna Contract LLP Darkhan Ramazanov emphasized that “one of the effective mechanisms for supporting domestic manufacturers is the import substitution program, which stimulates the creation of new production facilities in Kazakhstan.” Thus, as part of the implementation of the Import Substitution Program for the period 2018 – 2022, 285 offtake contracts were concluded for a total amount of more than 93 billion tenge.
“This event is taking place within the framework of the instructions of the Head of State to inform businesses about the procurement procedures of the procurement system of the Samruk-Kazyna Fund. Supporting domestic entrepreneurs and commodity producers is the Fund’s main priority. In order to provide Kazakhstani business with orders, as well as support, this year we, together with the Atameken Chamber, have made significant changes in the Fund’s procurement system. Firstly, all documents were unified. Now, instead of 9 multi-level documents, a single Procedure has been approved, which contains a description of all procedures."
Let us recall that the offtake contract is the main tool for attracting financing on favorable terms. The Samruk-Kazyna Fund was the first to introduce such contracts in regulated procurement.
The event program included a series of seminars, during which experts from Samruk-Kazyna Contract LLP presented tools to support domestic manufacturers and talked about what an entrepreneur needs to know in order to become a Samruk-Kazyna supplier. Following the conference, Kazakh businessmen, representing their companies, emphasized their readiness to actively participate in joint projects of national and regional significance.