Duration:  August 2014 – June 2018

Budget: $20.2 million

Implementing Partner:  Deloitte Consulting, Inc.

Key Partners:  Kyrgyz apparel, tour-ism and construction materials firms, business associations, consulting firms and NGOs, Government Minis-tries and Agencies

Activity Locations: Nationwide

A four-year project strengthening the competitiveness of Kyrgyz businesses by providing firm sector-level sales and technical assistance.

MAJOR FOCUS AREAS

The project works with individual firms and stakeholders in the apparel, tourism and construction materials sectors to improve access to markets and increase sales, expand product offerings, and improve productivity, quality controls and financial management, as well as build other critical capacities to make them competitive in both domestic and international markets. It also seeks to improve access to working capital and equipment finance for value chain firms and provides matching capital to help private-sector partners invest in their businesses by upgrading their production equipment and facilities, management capacities and product and service offerings. 

EXPECTED RESULTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

APPAREL

• Promoted Kyrgyz manufacturers to new buyers resulting in five firms signing export contracts worth $1.5 million with several fashion retailers.
• Generated requests from retailers for more than 200 sample garments and price quotations.  These requests are a critical precursor to obtaining actual sales contracts.
• Undertook sales missions to eleven fashion retailers in Europe and hosted buying missions from seven fashion retailers, each with over 300 stores.
• Completed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) assessments of nine apparel firms, five of which completed over 50 percent of corrective actions.
• Co-invested for equipment at Apparel Innovation Centers in Bishkek and Osh to support smaller apparel workshops with modern pattern-making, cutting, and embroidery services.

TOURISM

• Upgraded to guest houses in Osh/Sary Tash and Jyrgalan, doubling guest house capacity in Jyrgalan and improving facility quality and guest comfort.
• Trained guest house managers in Karakol and Osh in hospitality operations and marketing, helping them increase the number of tourist overnights by nearly 50% in 2016.
• Sponsored Kyrgyz tourism exhibitors in Madrid, Berlin, London, Istanbul, and Almaty that greatly increased awareness of Kyrgyzstan and developed new contracts for Kyrgyz tour operators by
• Conducted a Kyrgyz cultural program in Istanbul that engaged more than 12,000 people to attract more Turkish visitors to enjoy their cultural/historical ties to Kyrgyzstan.
• Hosted 14 international travel bloggers for a familiarization tour including participation in the 2016 World Nomad Games.  These bloggers have more than 1 million readers and their original posts generated more than 120,000 additional social media and blog posts.
• Supported social media promotion of the World Nomad Games (WNG) that increased the number of subscribers to WNG social media platforms by nearly 43%.
• Installed 86 directional signs to tourist destinations across the country and four pedestrian maps for tourists in both Osh and Karakol.
• Conducted a capacity development program for 17 museums throughout Kyrgyzstan to strengthen their contribution to enhance tourist experiences.

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

• Helped Kyrgyz decorative stone producers form a new business association to promote export market access, branding and quality standards.
• Identified opportunities to promote and develop new export markets for value-added Kyrgyz decorative stone with a focus on Central Asian and Middle Eastern markets.