2024, January 30
Share this articleAs part of the “Social Impact 2023” competition among the NU community organized by the “Social Development Fund” Corporate Fund on January 25, 2024 an official announcement of grantees of social entrepreneurship projects took place.
To cultivate future social entrepreneurs in the NU community, the Social Development Fund organized the “Impact Camp” held from October 18, 2023, to January 17, 2024, with conduction of 19 trainings in online and offline formats for various topics in project development, a Hackathon on solving social business problems and 197 meetings with mentors and advisors.
A prerequisite to the competition was completing “Fundamentals of Social Entrepreneurship” Online Course of the Social Development Fund. Based on the results of the completed work, the participants finalized their projects, defined the social impact and target audience, tested hypotheses, and developed business models for their social enterprises.
Based on the results of the “Impact Camp” held on January 17, 2024, the Pitching of 14 social entrepreneurship projects of students and graduates of
NU took place, where the experts assessed the projects according to the following criteria - Social Impact, Business Model, Resources and Innovativeness:
Nurlykhan Alzhanova – Deputy Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship Development of NU Graduate School of Business.
Gulmira Parmysheva – Social Entrepreneur, Founder of the Kazakh brand of educational toys and Inclusive Workshop “Global Kishkentai” " winner of the Social Development Fund Grant for Social Entrepreneurship in 2021, Vice-President of the Association of Social Innovators, Deputy Chairman of Special Commission for the Register of Social Entrepreneurship entities in Almaty.
Bolat Sultangazin has more than 15 years of experience in the innovation field, implemented more than 10 projects and programs in Kazakhstan and Central Asian countries, created and developed the innovation ecosystem of NU, Director of the NURIS Business Accelerator.
Finalists for Social Entrepreneurship Projects:
«AI-YM: Kazakh Sign Language Dictionary» Project – a platform that will help children with hearing impairments in the process of learning in the Kazakh language. Project Leader is Medet Mukushev, a PhD Student of the School of Engineering and Digital Sciences at NU.
«QluQva» Project – production of affordable alternative nutrition for people with different dietary needs. Project Leader is Alina Zakharova, a Graduate of the School of Engineering and Digital Sciences of NU.
«PECS for Autism» Project – an online platform of an alternative communication system through pictures for non-speaking children in Russian and Kazakh languages. Project Leader is Issa Ilyas, a Graduate of the School of Engineering and Digital Sciences of NU.
The Social Development Fund plans to continue supporting social entrepreneurship projects focusing on the needs of the University community. The implementation of projects will not only contribute to solving social problems of the society but will also be part of the NU ecosystem with each representative implementing social initiatives, developing project management skills, and interacting with various categories of people and leadership.
