From qurut to mobile apps: Can grassroots startups boost family incomes in Tajikistan?

Family-run qurut production, the revival of traditional pottery, modern sewing workshops, digital services and small-scale agricultural equipment are among dozens of business ideas emerging across Tajikistan.
The authors of the most promising projects have presented their ideas through state business incubators, hoping to secure grants and turn them into sustainable enterprises.
Using Sughd Province as an example, Asia-Plus examines the ideas being proposed by local entrepreneurs and the obstacles preventing many of them from becoming viable businesses.
Nearly 100 ideas submitted in Panjakent
The state business incubator in Panjakent, which has been operating for less than a year, has received nearly 100 business proposals. Fourteen were selected for a three-day entrepreneurship training program.
According to Shohrukh Karimi, head of the Zarafshan Valley branch of Tajikistan’s State Institution for the Formation and Development of Entrepreneurship, most applications concern agriculture, food processing and traditional crafts.
He said the main challenge facing project authors was a lack of funding.
«The center told us that Panjakent is very active. We submitted nearly 100 ideas, and 14 passed the selection process. When people ask what the main problem facing young people is, the answer is money and investment,» Karimi said.
«We are reaching out to the European Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Aga Khan Foundation. They have promised to support the ideas of our young people.»
The participants hope to receive grants to launch or expand their businesses.
«If even five or six people receive support, that will be a good result for our institution,» Karimi said.
A family business producing qurut
One participant proposed expanding her family’s production of qurut, a traditional hard dried dairy product made from fermented milk.
The woman attended the business incubator with her two young children and explained that the whole family currently makes qurut by hand at home.
«The father, mother and children are all involved. She asked for help purchasing equipment that would shape and dry the product. The qurut could then be vacuum-packed, branded and sold under its own label,» Karimi said.
According to him, the family has developed its own production method.
«The preparation method and ingredients are a family secret. We registered the application and hope she receives a grant,» he added.
Cheaper filtered water for apartment residents
Another participant proposed installing Aqua Life vending machines offering filtered drinking water near apartment buildings.
«A person could leave their building with a five- or ten-litre container, insert a coin and fill it with water. If bottled water costs 10 somoni in a shop, this water could be sold for three somoni,» Karimi explained.
The project’s author linked the initiative to residents’ growing concerns about the quality of drinking water.
«Our region has industrial deposits and gold-mining operations. People are less willing to drink the spring and tap water they used before. I liked this idea, and it passed the selection,» Karimi said.
Reviving the pottery traditions of the Zarafshan Valley
Another selected project involves producing ceramic tableware and souvenirs.
Karimi said some ceramic products sold to restaurants and souvenir shops are currently imported from Samarkand.
«Pottery was a traditional craft in the Zarafshan Valley, dating back to ancient Sarazm and old Panjakent. Today, it has almost disappeared,» he said.
«A woman approached us who knows the craft but does not have equipment or a workshop. Her application was also selected.»
Other ideas include a psychological support centre for young people and a sports and educational space for children.
One participant wants to open a Kids Gym offering age-appropriate sports and play programmes for infants and preschool children.
«He already has premises. He wants to involve children in sports during school holidays. He is a teacher at a sports university,» business incubator staff said.

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