22.10.2024

Senators and Damu Fund discuss expanding support for SMEs

On October 21, Astana hosted a meeting between the Committee on Economic Policy, Innovative Development, and Entrepreneurship of the Senate of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the leadership of the Damu Fund. The event started with an opening speech by Rustam Karagoishin, Chairman of the Board at Baiterek Holding. The discussions centered on strengthening state support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Gaukhar Buribayeva, Chair of the Damu Fund, delivered a detailed report on the Fund’s performance for 2023-2024, highlighting strategic plans for future growth.

“To date, the Damu Fund has financed over 217,000 projects with a total value of 13.2 trillion tenge. From 2010 to 2023, entrepreneurs who received our support have produced goods worth 104.5 trillion tenge, created 211,000 new jobs, and contributed 7.3 trillion tenge in taxes. This represents a 7.1-fold return on budgetary investments – each tenge invested generates 7.1 tenge in taxes,” noted Buribayeva.

The Fund has also secured more than 1 billion tenge from international financial institutions to enhance SME financing. With 100% digitalization of the Fund’s business processes, interactions with clients are now seamless, and all operations are fully transparent.

At the close of the meeting, participants proposed new initiatives for advancing SME support programs, which will be evaluated for implementation shortly.