Streamlining E-Commerce in Uzbekistan and Regional Cooperation: Agriculture, Light Industries, and Digital Services

Tatiana Proskuryakova is the World Bank’s Regional Director for the Central Asia region that encompasses five countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Prior to this appointment, she served as the Country Manager for Romania and Hungary during 2017-2021, Country Manager in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro based in Sarajevo since 2015, Country Manager in North Macedonia during 2013-14, and Country Operations Adviser for Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay during 2010-13.

Timothy Achille Torlot is a British diplomat serving as His Majesty’s Ambassador to Uzbekistan since August 2019. Prior to his current appointment, he served as the Head of Litigation Unit in the Arabian Peninsula and Iran Department of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) which he led after completing his term as the Head of EU Delegation to Bolivia. Since first joining the FCO in 1981, Mr. Torlot conducted his diplomatic service over the course of thirty nine years, during which he worked in Muscat, Santiago, Baghdad (Deputy Head of Mission), Yemen (Her Majesty’s Ambassador), as well as held various senior management roles within the FCO.

Marco Mantovanelli, an Italian national, became the World Bank Country Manager for Uzbekistan on July 1, 2020. Mr. Mantovanelli is an economic development professional with more than 20 years of experience in Latin America, Africa and Europe. Before joining the World Bank, he was an economic research consultant in Europe and the USA, as well as served as an officer in the Italian navy. Throughout his career in the World Bank, Mr. Mantovanelli held various positions both at the headquarters in Washington, D.C., and in various country offices of the World Bank. In 2016, Mr. Mantovanelli occupied the post of the World Bank Country Manager for Kosovo and North Macedonia. Mr. Mantovanelli earned a master’s degree in International Relations and Political Science from the University of Bologna (Italy), and a master’s degree in International Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (USA).

Zafar was an analyst, Operations Officer, Deputy Project Manager and Project Manager in several IFC Advisory projects in Uzbekistan and Central Asia (Central Asia Leasing, Central Asia Mortgage, Uzbekistan Investment Climate, PPP Advisory in Central Asia). Zafar had various operational and managerial positions in National Bank of Foreign Economic Activities of Republic of Uzbekistan (NBU). He holds a BA in International Currency/Credit Relations and diploma in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics. Tashkent State University.

Rita K. Almeida is a Manager with the World Bank's Education Global Practice, covering the Europe and Central Asia region. Prior to this, Rita was the lead economist and human development program leader for Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama). In this position, Rita oversees the human development program across the six countries.

Mikhail Bunchuk is Senior Digital Development Specialist at the World Bank. He supports lending projects and analytical work in Central Asia covering such areas as broadband development, rollout of government digital services, improvement of legal and regulatory frameworks and enhancing digital literacy and skills. Since joining the World Bank in 2000, Mr. Bunchuk has been involved in World Bank-supported projects focusing on digital economy, digital government, IT industry development, open data, technology commercialization in the CIS and Eastern Europe countries. Mr. Bunchuk co-authored a number of World Bank analytical reports on digital development issues and supported capacity-building programs for government officials in this area. Mikhail Bunchuk graduated with a degree in international economic relations from the Plekhanov Russian Economic Academy and received Master’s degree in economics from the University of Notre Dame (USA).

Dr. Niu is an Economist at the World Bank Europe and Central Asia unit based in Washington DC. He leads the E-commerce programs under the Effective Governance for Economic Development (EGED) project in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan. His team conducted the Central Asia E-commerce Diagnostic which provided e-commerce readiness and strategies on the subnational level. In 2018, he co-led the China Rural E-commerce project with Alibaba Group and Peking University. Besides E-commerce, he is leading the World Bank flagship analytical works such as the Systematic Country Diagnostic in Tajikistan and Poverty Assessment in Uzbekistan.

In 2023 Pekos Oleg Andreevich was appointed to the post of First Deputy Minister of Digital Technologies. Until that time, he worked as director of the branch "Telecommunication transport networks" of JSC "Uzbektelecom". Mr. Pekos in the course of his professional activities also worked in various senior positions in JSC "Uzbektelecom". Graduated from St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunications named after M.A. Bonch-Bruevich in the direction of "Faculty of Information Systems and Technologies".

Sarvar Butunov is the Head of Department for the Development of Digital Education. Previously he was the Head of Department for the Implementation of ICT projects at the Ministry of Public Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan. During that time, he coordinated the project “One Million Uzbek Coders” in the schools (uzbekcoders.uz). The goal of the project is an implementation of distance learning methodology of the Udacity platform in schools within the framework of   the “One Million Uzbek Coders” project.  The latest projects are improvement of the Digital and Soft skills of young people who will work for the foreign BPO and KPO companies in Uzbekistan and creation of new digital remote jobs in global markets for Uzbek young people who can work remotely for developed foreign countries with highly paid salary.

Ilhom Norkulov is the Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan from February 2023. He started his career as Leading Specialist of the Department of Forecasting and Monitoring of the Foreign Trade Balance of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2004 and prior to his current position he was the First Deputy Minister of Economy and Poverty Reduction and the First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan. He has holds Master degree from the University of Glasgow, UK.

Eugen Osmochescu has applied his 28 years expertise in market creation, investment attraction, regulatory reform, international law, commercial and tax law, inspection related matters, and good governance to projects for several national and international bodies. The World Bank Group experience includes design and delivery across several industry verticals, collaborating with other regions and global practices, including cross cutting themes: green & blue agenda, gender, and inclusion. He currently acts, as of October 2018, as program manager within the IFC, Belgrade Office for Central & South-East Europe. There he overseas investment climate related activities as well as a flagship supply chain development program in 5 active member countries, including FCS/IDA – Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

Tarik Sahovic is Senior private sector development specialist with International Finance Corporation, a private sector arm of the World Bank Group (WBG). Tarik has been with the WBG over 15 years now focusing on private sector development, competitiveness, and investment climate work.  Tarik has been working in Western Balkans, former CIS countries, Eastern Europe, South Asia and Africa.  Tarik holds a Master degree in Finance from the City University (Bayes Business School) London, UK.

Mikheil earned MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a Member of the Harvard Business School Advisory Board for the Middle East and North Africa. Mikheil was also named Kazakhstan's Best CEO in surveys conducted by Forbes and PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 2019-2021. He is also a member of the Commission on Implementation of Digitalization under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Mithat has been working for Mastercard in various roles since 2016 and he leads Mastercard’s Digital Payments related products and solutions for Turkiye and CIS countries. Mithat holds more than 14 years of experience in the payment and telecommunication industries with special focus on new product development & management, new business development and account management. Prior to joining Mastercard, he held various management roles within the payment and telecommunication industries. Mithat holds a BS degree in Electronic Engineering and MBA Degree in Business Administration from Boğaziçi University.

Tahir recently moved to his current role responsible for PayPal’s Sales and Market Development efforts in 81 markets across Middle East and Africa with a large reservoir of untapped online buyers. Prior to joining PayPal, Emrah co-founded Gourmet Marketing, an online marketing agency in New York, NY. Served as Branch Manager at American International Group, leading the largest AIG branch in the Tri-state area for 5 years and prior to that worked for J.P. Morgan Chase.

Fabian has dedicated his career to developing e-commerce in emerging countries. He was the driving force behind the strategic partnership linking eBay and the International Trade Centre - a joint UN and WTO agency. Following 8 years at eBay's European and emerging markets team Fabian founded e-traid, a company that focuses on providing small businesses in emerging markets with access to global e-commerce. He led e-commerce projects across Africa, Latin America, and Central Asia, helping over 250 SME's - many of them women led - make their first international sales. Fabian holds a M.A. in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies at the University of Geneva.

2010-2015 - co-founder of Independent Inspection Services, www.iis.uz, services for pre-shipment inspection of the quantity, quality and prices of exported and imported goods. The first company in Central Asia and the second in the CIS to become a full member of the International Federation of Inspection Agencies. In 2015, he established an online store of Uzbek textiles www.mato.uz, which aims to develop cross-border trade in textile goods produced in Uzbekistan. Starting from January 2018 Mr. Azamov is a Chairman of the E-commerce Association of Uzbekistan.

Dora is the founder of "Teodora Goods" export company that supplies agricultural products to CIS countries and Europe for more than 5 years. At the end of 2020 Dildora together with specialists in the field of implementation of IT solutions developed the concept of “Dalatek" digital platform creation and implementation, aimed at creating an ecosystem in the agroexport chain in the form of an application. Dora also conducts author courses on export, where she teaches students the processes of the correct technological chain in export.

Zhong is the Vice President and Secretary General of China Association for Trade in Services (CATIS). He commits to the research on industry standards of service sector, the construction of service trade disciplines, and the research and promotion of cultural trade. Before joining CATIS, he worked at the University of International Business and Economics and served as the Secretary General of the WTO and China Academic Annual Conference and the Executive Deputy Editor of the Journal of WTO and China. He participated in editing and publishing the series of "WTO and China's Economy", "Service Outsourcing", etc.

Chen is the Director in charge of e-commerce works in Yangling Agricultural High-tech Industry Demonstration Zone, Shaanxi Province of China. He is also an invited expert at the China International Electronic Commerce Center (CIECC) and the Taobao University of Alibaba Group. In Wugong County, Chen developed and operated one of the eight key models of e-commerce in China county areas, during which time he helped achieved a profound growth of e-commerce sales from 55 million to 538 million US dollars in 3 years. It made Wugong the top one e-commerce county in Northwest China. For his contribution to agricultural e-commerce, Chen received letters of thanks from the World Food Programme of the United Nations, Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Agriculture of China, and the Alibaba Group. His lectures on e-commerce poverty alleviation are displayed as excellent courses on CIECC’s online training platform.

Li Runqing is the General Manager of Yangling Runmei Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., which runs a leading horticulture e-shop GF Orchard on Alibaba’s Taobao platform. The company works with contract farmers and rural cooperatives to manage sales, improve standardization of agricultural products, digitalize sales and marketing models, and build geographical brands. The business reached sales volume of 154 million US dollars in 2020 and drove about 2,000 rural surplus labor force. Li also focuses on supply chain management and value chain upgrading of agricultural products. He promoted the application of new agricultural technologies in sowing, planting, pretreatment, cold chain logistics, etc.

Svetlana is experienced Business Development Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the international trade and development work. Skilled and oriented in SME business support, digital transformation, e-commerce, business model innovation, program design, business planning and analytical thinking.  Strong program and project management professional with a Master degree in Digital Business and Innovation. Svetlana is responsible for assisting SMEs in light manufacturing and other cross sectors to employ computer-integrated manufacturing tools and processes that offer high levels of adaptability and productivity, rapid design changes, leverages digital information technology, innovation adoption and facilitates technical workforce training.

Kateryna Konashchuk has ten years in Grain Trading and Large-Scale farm Commerce. She holds MBA and is a Board Member of TerraMet LLC and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Trend&Hedge Clud was established by her 7 years ago as a Ukrainian local club, it became an international community with participants from more than 10 countries. Through peer exchange, collaborations, and capacity building, Club Members and a team of agriculture experts (producers, exporters, analysts, inputs suppliers, financial institutions, etc.) - aimed to ensure that all market players have equal access to knowledge and information.

Rita has a business strategic background and an experience of worldwide business collaborations. Rita is leading tradomatic.io. She is looking to update agriculture industry.

Apaar is the Founder and CEO of The Design Cart. He finished his MBA from IMT- Ghaziabad in 2014 and has worked for 4+ years in startups where he helped build multiple revenue streams from scratch. He started his company in 2018. The Design Cart helps creative entrepreneurs like fashion & jewelry designers source their raw materials like fabrics, textiles, beads, trims and accessories via an online store and works worked with some of the biggest designers & apparel exporters in the country. The company is currently in the process of building an ecosystem for the creative entrepreneurs to bring commerce, content and services together.

Aikanysh is the General Manager of Glovo in Kyrgyzstan, the co-founder, and former president of the e-commerce Association of the Kyrgyz Republic. Aikanysh is strongly skilled in attracting international investments to the local market, managing the full cycle of FoodTech startups, and high-level negotiations with different types of partnerships. She has received her master's degree in e-business management at the University of Warwick, UK.

Gilbert Mwale is a patinate entrepreneur, lecturer, preacher, family man and He calls himself a "life-long student". He is a co-founder of an agricultural e-commerce company called eMsika that has continued to transform the way farmers in Zambia access farm inputs and advisory services via eCommerce and E-learning platforms. He is a part-time lecturer at the University of Lusaka, where He enjoys building the capacity of young people with theoretical and practical wisdom that helps one to thrive not only in academics, but also in society. Author of a book titled: "Developing the Genius in You" meant for students of all levels.

Maumo is a Project Manager at BongoHive, Zambia's first entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation hub that helps businesses that are at the idea stage right through to the investment stage. She works with project teams across BongoHive's business units to ensure that projects are successfully implemented. She also works in the design, sourcing, and acquisition of projects at BongoHive. She has more than six years of experience designing and implementing programmes in both NGO and private sector organisations to assist companies and small businesses in achieving their goals. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The Hague University of Applied Sciences and a Master of Science in International Business Management and Business Analytics from Hult International Business School.

Afshon Wallace Ngige has been instrumental to the success of startups in sectors such as e-commerce and transport and logistics in five African nations.  Wallace currently runs the leading e-commerce platform in Zambia under the AfriOnline group that offers a 360 degrees solution for retailers and manufacturers to the homes and offices of thousands of end users in the southern African region.

Nikko is a solutions consultant at Coursera responsible for helping leaders maximize their learning investment and prepare their workforce for digital transformation. She works primarily with government organizations and multinational corporations in APAC to curate learning solutions, future-proof individuals, and build institutional capacity. Prior to her current role, she was a policymaker with the Singapore central bank involved in fostering a skilled and adaptable financial sector workforce.

Ilya is a Graduate of the EMBA program Haas School of Business - UC Berkeley and Candidate of Economic Sciences. Ilya has more than 10 years of management experience in technology and investment companies: Director for NTI Market Development of RVC JSC, member of the NTI Project Committee since 2019, Director of the Educational Business of the Aktion Group (Aktion University) since August 2020, a leader in professional online education in the corporate segment and CEO of Yandex Practicum in Russia since 2022. Over the years, Ilya participated in the work of non-profit organizations and initiatives. Ilya is laureate of international professional awards including IPRA Golden World Awards (2014), IABC Gold Quill (2015).

Kate is a business development professional, digital and innovation development expert. She works with innovative ideas and emerging technologies to help developing countries to leapfrog their development. Kate has vast experience supporting emerging technology and innovation development for the private sector, government relations, and product development initiatives. She worked for more than 15 years at the intersection of economics, law, technology, and entrepreneurship development in corporates and public enterprises including Microsoft, and Adobe Systems. Today she also runs digital economy country assessments to help governments identify gaps and opportunities for digital growth. Kate is a co-author of Gender Digital Divide Index.

Kate has worked on business and digital development projects in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Reyn is a digital development specialist and excellent project manager. She loves building and working with teams of great people who can bring innovative solutions to clients’ toughest challenges. Reyn has a broad range of experience, from a global corporate and competition law practice to local government advocacy work, from innovative social entrepreneurship to international digital development. She brings more than 25 years of multi-disciplinary knowledge and perspective across the private, public and non-profit sectors to help clients identify their challenges and find solutions. She advises on digital leadership, effective institutional structures, organizational change management, legal and regulatory frameworks, policies and procedures.

Murod Khusanov is a founder and co-CEO of the company Calypso Intelligent Solutions that accelerates social entrepreneurial startups working on sustainable agriculture, waste recycling and women economic empowerment. The company who’s mission is to align its businesses with SDGs launches startups that aim to tackle the most actual challenges and already were awarded with several grants and awards including by Coca-Cola Foundation. Those startups include Women Self-Employment Platform Coozin, CleanTech startup Wasteless addressing waste collection and sorting at the restaurants, free-advisory platform for smallholder farmers Agromart that is focused on sustainable agriculture practices and agricultural machinery sharing platform between smallholder farmers Trator. With an extensive project management and consultancy experience through the international organizations such as the World Bank, OSCE, OECD, and FAO Murod helped the governments and societies in addressing climate change challenges, gender disparities and governance issues.

Aibek is a digital entrepreneur, expert and consultant in the digital economy. Aibek has more than 10 years of experience in the digital economy and telecommunications sector and initiated and participated in the development of many legal acts in the field of e-commerce, communications and telecommunications, banking, information security, development of a digital transformation strategy. Aibek is a co-author of the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic "On Electronic Commerce", the strategy for the development of the telecommunications sector and the roadmap for the development of electronic commerce and a founder and co-organizer of public organizations (PF Digital Academy), popular events and awards on the above topics (First Telecommunication Forum, Digital Fest, Digital Awards and E-commerce EXPO).

Muna Shukurova is a Head of Operations in the fintech industry with a background in project management and business development. Currently working at Alif in Uzbekistan, Muna has played a key role in optimizing processes, identifying new opportunities, and driving growth.  Muna has also been actively involved in volunteering efforts. As a part of the Steering Committee at a youth organization IPPF European Union, she worked with young people in less developed countries to help them advocate for their basic human rights, with a particular focus on equality. This experience has given Muna a unique perspective on the importance of social responsibility and community engagement in business.

Céleste Laporte Talamon is a Policy Analyst in the Eurasia division of the OECD Global Relations Secretariat. She has experience on economic policy advisory work with governments of the region, including Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Prior to joining the OECD, Ms. Laporte Talamon gained extensive experience in the public sector, including in policy advice and SME export support at the French public investment bank (Bpifrance). She also worked as the economic attaché of the French embassy in Uzbekistan. She holds a MSc of Development Management (Development Economics) from the London School of Economics, and is a graduate of University College London (BA in Economics, Business and East European studies). Ms. Laporte Talamon speaks French, English, Russian.

Anton is responsible for Business Enabling Environment component of USAID’s FGI. He is dealing with Central Asia Countries on different topics targeted to improve business environment, including ecommerce sector. Mr. Zinovyev has over 15 years of professional experience working as a legal advisor and providing technical assistance and support for implementation of OSCE, EBRD, UNDP and USAID funded projects in Central Asia region aimed to reform laws and regulations in different sectors of economy. Anton holds LL.M in International Law and two Bachelor degrees – LL.B in Civil Law and BBA in Management.

Mr. Narbayev is a Master of Business Administration (marketing) and an international trade specialist. Mr. Narbayev is supervising the implementation of the USAID TCA’s firm-to-firm connectivity activities to strengthen the ecosystem of trade promotion service providers to deliver certification, marketing, finance, transport/logistics, and other necessary services to export.

Не has over twenty years of experience in the education and private sectors and Kazakhstan’s business support organizations, including internship programs in the U.S., Malaysian, and Korean trade promotion agencies.

Mr. Abdushukurov graduated from Westminster International University in Tashkent with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance. After graduation, he launched his career in the public sector by joining the State Investments Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan in April 2018, which in January 2019 was transformed into the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Since October 2022, he has been working as a national Connectivity Associate in USAID’s Trade Central Asia (TCA) activity, where his main responsibility is to contribute to the implementation of TCA activities in Uzbekistan at the national level.

Mirmukhsin graduated from Westminster International University in Tashkent. He worked in various senior positions in the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Since 2022, he has been the first deputy of the Uztekstilprom Association.

Navruza founded the Agrotech startup Fermopolis in 2019 after completing her master’s program at Innopolis University. Fermopolis is designed to provide farmers with the necessary resources from the first stages of growing products, as well as effective marketing channels, for consumers - access to quality and fresh farm products at competitive prices.

Launched a joint venture knitting factory (Russia) in Andijan from scratch to export to neighboring countries. She improved her qualifications in Tomsk. The products that I control are always of the highest quality and are often exported to countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan. She takes an active part in local and international exhibitions in Tashkent, Almaty on textile products. She graduated from Tashkent Institute of Textile and Light Industry and Tashkent Institute of National Economy.

Adil is the First Deputy CEO of TechGarden in Kazakhstan. Adil worked in quasi-government institutions on investment projects, was engaged in corporate innovation issues in JSC Astana and subsidiaries. Prior to that Adil was involved in the private sector in the ICT field. Adil supervised data center issues on IaaS and colocation services at Transtelecom JSC. Adil holds Master of Economics and Bachelor in Information Technology.

Pavitra Agarwal is Program Management leader for Last Mile operations with Amazon India. She heads a team of program managers to design and implement operations strategy and processes. Having a blended experience of working with startups and well-established organizations such as Blinkit (Grofers), Unilever and Schlumberger, Pavitra has gained the expertise of leading innovations, building and scaling teams and managing business operations.

Mr. Sulaymon started his career as a specialist of the Credit Department at the regional branch of local commercial bank in 2007. In 2021 he became Deputy Director of the Center for Investment Coordination and Project Management of the Joint-Stock Commercial People's Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan - Head of the Division for Investment Projects Management and Work with Financial Institutions. During 2021-2022 he was a consultant at UNDP Project “Improved public Service Delivery and Enhanced Governance in Rural Uzbekistan” funded by EU as national consultant on introduction of KPI system on project Improved Public Service Delivery and Enhanced Governance in Rural Uzbekistan.

Having a practical experience as a lead economist in JSC Uzbektelecom, Bekzod dedicates work ethics. Prior to the Ministry, he was working as International Affairs Manager in IT Park Uzbekistan since June of 2022. At this position he strengthens forecasting political, economic, and social trends as well as analyzing possible causes and consequences of international issues and develop possible solutions. Bekzod holds a BSc in Economics with Finance from the Westminster International University in Tashkent.

Yaroslav Eferin has over five years of experience working with the World Bank and USAID on topics related to digital economy, e-commerce, data policy, digital platforms, digital strategies, digital ethics. Before joining the World Bank, Yaroslav worked for Russian Venture Company in Moscow and for the Centre for Social Innovation in Vienna where he analyzed science, technology and innovation policies in developed and emerging countries. He also worked for the Higher School of Economics on a broad-spectrum regional development themes.

Bokhodir Ayupov is the Head of IT Park University in Uzbekistan. Mr. Ayupov holds degrees from Tashkent State University of Economics, the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK and a PhD degree from University of Westminster.

Jahangir Radjabov is a Deputy Director of IT Park Uzbekistan in IT Park of Uzbekistan. Mr. Radjabov has been working with IT Park for many years. He holds degrees from Tashkent Branch of Moscow State University. She speaks Uzbek, Russian and English.

Madina is a Head of the Digital Transformation Department in IT Park of Uzbekistan. She is been working with IT Park for three years. She has a degree from Tashkent University of Information Technologies.

Elvira is a Chief Manager of Incubation Development in IT Park of Uzbekistan. She is been working with IT Park for three years. She holds a degree from Tashkent University of Information Technologies. She speaks Russian and English.

Versatile Payments professional with key deliveries across ZoodPay BNPL projects. More than 11 years of experience in payments industry and proven track of business deliverables at MasterCard Worldwide, ABN AMRO, RBS, Alfa Bank in Central Asia. His personal portfolio includes first NFC and P2P products, launched in Kazakhstan under his leadership. Last 4 years was concentrated in building ZoodPay Fintech ecosystem in Uzbekistan and became one of the market leaders.

Umida is an experienced leader in fintech, marketing, and business development as well as an acclaimed strategist. She is the Country Manager of fintech company Freedom Pay Uzbekistan and on the Steering Committee of Fintech Association Uzbekistan. Umida is an expert in corporate communications with a demonstrated success record in the telecommunications and finance industry.

Using her outstanding communication, networking and interpersonal skills, Umida has been building and maintaining profitable partnerships with key stakeholders. She is passionate about helping women entrepreneurs and young girls trying to build their career in IT and fintech.

Ms Muntyan worked in e-com projects of Yandex and Sber, where she was responsible for the development of the Home Goods category, increased the turnover of the category by 2.5 times, increasing the number of unique products from 300 thousand to 1.5 million, within Uzum she is responsible for the whole direction of non-food, which includes 8 categories: from auto products to books and stationery.

Experienced manager of successful CRM automation projects, billing system developments. Successfully launched large projects such as Cash Payment Gateway, CashBack project. Behzod today runs a large electronic payment company "UPAY" in Uzbekistan. Managed projects for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry for the Development of Information Technologies and Communications of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Expert in automation, e-commerce, payment innovations.

Elena is passionate about all thing’s tech, digital and innovative. Strong believer and supporter of "Women in Tech” and professional mentorship projects for girls, youth and startups. Elena has worked with startups since 2013 and aims to improve the IT & Tech startup ecosystem in Uzbekistan by co-organizing startup programs and mentoring startups in various acceleration programs and hackathons. She collaborates with partners in managing the first in Uzbekistan accelerator for science startups, C.A.T. Science Accelerator and first in the country acceleration program for women-led cleantech startups in Karakalpakstan. Since 2019 Elena is co-founder of Tech4Impact NGO, working in the sphere of innovations, information technologies, startups, human capital, green technologies, youth and women's entrepreneurship in Uzbekistan and the Central Asian region. Together with Tech4Impact colleagues, Elena has started the Technovation Girls (the world's largest technology entrepreneurship program for girls) chapter in Uzbekistan in 2016 and expanded the program in Uzbekistan to 2500+ participants and 7 regions.

Saodat Tursunbayeva is a recognized leader of the social movement in Uzbekistan, her scientific and creative activity has received wide recognition and has become the basis for the election of Saodat Tursunbayeva as a deputy of the Kengash of the Tashkent region. Founder and permanent leader of the International Women's Public Fund "Sharq Ayoli" - "Woman of East" since 1999. Expert in the field of intellectual property, digital commerce, ecology. Member of the expert groups of the committee of the legislative chamber of the Oliy Majlis and two committees of the highest state authority - the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Head of the international project "Women and the Digital Economy". Professional in the field of public diplomacy, specialist in international relations. In 2007 she was included in the list of "Famous Women of Central Asia" by UNESCO International Organization.

She is the author and coordinator of a number of innovative and socially significant projects in the field of ICT, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, education, scientific developments in the field of bio- and nanotechnologies.

30 years of experience in economic and statistical bodies, tourism and other government, non-governmental, non-profit organizations, business, participated in international projects of the Eurasia Foundation, Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, NANNO Uzbekistan, in UNDP waste projects, UNEP, UNWTO, CAREC, TACIS, DVV International on environmental education, eco-tourism, the project “Think globally, act locally”, the World Bank on financial instruments, the Eurasia Foundation “Ratings of industrial enterprises of Uzbekistan”, etc. He was the project manager: TACIS “Foreign trade”, UNWTO “On the improvement of tourism statistics”, ARGO “The role of innovation in the development of agroecotourism”. He took internship courses at leading UN institutions, JICA, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the ARE, the World Bank, Eurostat, etc. Author of more than 50 articles in newspapers and magazines on various agricultural topics, incl. crop production, fruit growing, as well as economic topics.

Azamat has more than 10 years of experience in export-import operations and everything related to customs clearance. He worked in the textile sector, in the production of finished products and was engaged in exporting to Europe. In 2016, he opened an online store and closed it on time. Then he realized that it was necessary to develop the logistics sector in the country and thus the idea of creating Fargo appeared. In 2022 Fargo has become part of a large Swiss IT company OrientSwiss SA, thanks to which Fargo has new opportunities for the development of a Fulfillment center.

Mr. Akhrarov holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Higher School of Business at the Academy of State and Public Construction under the President of Uzbekistan. At the current time, he runs two textile companies and manages several online marketplaces for textile products. In addition, he is a co-founder of the E-Commerce Association of Uzbekistan and provides advisory services to Chairman of Uzbek Textile and Garment Association. In the capacity of Samarkand Province Congress Member, he also contributes to the implementation of the tasks of socio-economic development common to Samarkand region and ensures communication between government and citizens’ self-governing bodies.

Mr. Sirojiddinov holds a master's degree from the Aegean University in Turkey and a PhD from the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan. He has more than 20 years of experience in the private sector, particularly managing various companies in the construction and textile industries. He worked as Deputy General Director of “Tashjilinveststroy” Corporation between 1999 and 2001. Besides, from 2001 to 2003, he was Deputy Director of the Tashkent branch of “Bursel Inshaat A.Sh.”. Since 2003, Mr. Sirojiddinov has been managing the Joint Venture “UZTEX GROUP” LLC.

Kaiyrzhan Kozhaly is the Tribe lead of Fintech in Beeline Uzbekistan. Prior to that Mr.  Kozhaly worked as a CPO Beepul and CTO Magnum Uzbekistan (Kaspi Group).

Alexey Sapon joined the Ozon team in November 2021 to implement the company's strategic projects and initiatives related to the development of Ozon's logistics operations. Since February 2023, Alexey has also become responsible for Ozon business development in the CIS countries. Alexey's career has long been associated with logistics - he has been working in this industry for over 20 years. He began his career at the Coca-Cola Company, where he worked in different cities in various positions. He held the position of Director of the Logistics Development and Support Department, Eldorado, where he was responsible for improving the efficiency of the supply chain, developing the logistics function, as well as for the operational activities of the warehouse network, and was also responsible for the development of logistics at AliExpress Russia. Alexey Sapon graduated from the Krasnoyarsk State University of Nonferrous Metals and Gold with a degree in quality management system.

Natalia Loza joined Yandex in 2019 and became the head of commercial in the Yandex Eats. A few years later, she became the head of the international business of the service that currently encompasses 4 countries: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Belarus. Prior to this Natalia held leadership positions in food retail for 12 years. She was head of purchasing and marketing in Metro Cash&Carry Russia, for 2 years managed the global category management projects of Metro AG at the group's HQ in Germany.

Mr. Paracha is currently the Unit Head, Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation program. His work supports regional cooperation priority clusters under CAREC 2030 strategy and includes economic and financial stability, trade, tourism, economic corridors, infrastructure and connectivity, agriculture and water, and human development with gender, digitalization, climate change as core cross-cutting themes. He has over 25 years’ experience in development finance, project preparation and management, cofinancing, regional cooperation, policy dialogue, and sectoral work focusing on public service delivery and trade facilitation. Since 2008, he has worked with many of ADB’s client countries preparing and managing projects and developing country strategies. He has supported cofinancing for multisector projects in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Georgia, India, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan while managing relationships with diverse financing partners. Prior to joining ADB, he worked for the USAID managing a portfolio of around $100 million focusing on governance and economic growth. He started his career with the Government of Pakistan where he held various positions in the Ministries of Finance, Economic Affairs, and Industries with a predominant focus on policies and strategies relating to development finance.

Over the ten years in Journalism and activism on issues relating to children, girls and women: she worked in BBC Kyrgyz Service as a journalist for 6 years; she has been working in “Roza Otunbaeva Initiative” international foundation as a media-expert and now she is a media-expert in Internet Society Kyrgyz Chapter.

Ma Shiping is the Deputy Governor of Xiushan County, Chongqing, China, and Member of the Party Leadership Group. He is responsible for commerce, foreign economic and trade, cultural and tourism development, foreign affairs, etc.

Economist with experience in the implementation of environmental and innovation projects. Currently, he is leading Regional Digitalization project in agriculture and vulnerable communities, implementing pilot technological solutions in 12 countries in Latin America and Caribbean. He has worked in different multilateral agencies such as the ECLAC, IDB, UNDP, GIZ and FAO. Leonel holds a M.A. in Economics from San Francisco State University and a bachelor´s degree in Economics from San Jose State University (California).

The company's team is a recognized expert in the field of digital business transformation, with extensive knowledge and many years of experience in the successful implementation of a wide range of projects in banking, manufacturing, mining, retail, stock exchanges and other industries. The company transforms the business of partners, ensuring that each client receives an individual approach adapted to industry specific. Anabasys operates in the markets of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Latin America, Europe and other countries. Svetlana has more than 10 years of experience in employee training, induction in IT and marketing, and development of IT employees in sales. Svetlana graduated from the Russian Plekhanov University and the Belarusian State University.

Vlad is an e-commerce entrepreneur who founded my first online store, Widras.com, in 2014. I started my first online business out of my apartment while living in the US, with just a few products imported from China, selling on Amazon and has since grown into a thriving online retailer in Europe with a wide range of offerings. 

Company's success can be attributed to a keen understanding of customer needs, the ability to adapt to changing market trends and 100% dedication to providing top-notch customer service. His team is known for using innovative marketing strategies, which have helped my online businesses stand out in a crowded marketplace. Over the years, he faced many challenges, including intense competition and the need to constantly stay on top of new technologies and industry developments.  But through hard work, determination, and a commitment to excellence, he built a successful and profitable e-commerce business that continues to thrive to this day.

Aleksandar Medjedovic is a Senior Expert for Client Engagement and Platform Development at the International Finance Corporation IFC. An Economist by education, he has 30 years experience in working with both the public and private sectors, with geographical experience in the EU, Asian, US and Turkish markets.

Alba Murra is a New Sales Representative at Achilles Information Ltd. Her role is to provide supply chain solutions to businesses. For over three decades, Achilles has been collecting, managing and validating supplier data and mitigating risks globally. This data-driven approach creates insights to builds more secure, sustainable, better performing supply chains.

Igor Vijatov is the Director of the Automotive Cluster in Serbia. With 58 members, the AC Serbia serves as a network which aims to provide support in strengthening the competitiveness of Serbian automotive companies within the supplier value chain of international car producers. Its mission is to create energy and impact for the enhancement of the economic situation within the whole automotive supplier sector.

Dan is an American entrepreneur with deep experience in agriculture, distribution, healthcare, logistics and technology. Since 2018, Dan has been diligently working and proving research and development on his farm in Uzbekistan with a keen focus on modernizing agriculture and digitizing the cotton harvest at the field level for machine verifiable tracking and tracing of cotton sourcing. Dan brings a heightened awareness of sustainability strategies to his farm practices as well as to community development projects. Dan lives by the adage “You cannot manage what you do not measure;” therefore, digitalization gives you the most efficient means to create command and control over your practices.

Usmon Rakhimdzhanov is a deputy manager of the Inclusive Employment Program, United Nations Development Program in Uzbekistan, Coordinator of the Startup Initiative Support Program. Usmon is Trainer, mentor and jury member of many national and foreign startup business incubators and accelerators, member of two and chairman of one science-technical council under the Agency for innovative development (former ministry of innovative development).

Nana Adjoa A. Sifa is a Ghanaian Social Entrepreneur helping Female Agribusiness Founders to make impact and income. Through Guzakuza, a company she founded, she has inspired and nurtured over 7,000 young women from 30 countries to build game-changing Agribusinesses in Africa. She has 10+ years of expertise in driving explosive impact growth, brand awareness, lead generation, operational excellence and inspiring growth in the Agribusiness industry in Africa and the diaspora. In addition to being a founder, a trainer, and a consultant, she also serves as a member of the UN Women’s Economic Empowerment Reference Group in East and Southern Africa and a jury member for the German Corporation’s Game Changers -Women in Agriculture Programme. She is a Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum, British Councils’ Active Citizen, a fellow at the New York University’s GWSLP and a member of the Association of Women in Agribusiness.