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Study tour gives leader new model for business, government cooperation
Collaboration is Key to Entrepreneurship
Photo: Business Entrepreneurs Association/Gulnara Uralova
Petr Sukhinin discovered how business, associations and governmental bodies can benefit from collaboration after participating in a USAID study tour in Oregon.
Petr Sukhinin of the Business Entrepreneurs Association said, “It’s important for entrepreneurs to have the basic knowledge to run their businesses successfully.”
Using a management model that he witnessed in the United States, Petr Sukhinin completely restructured the Business Entrepreneurs Association of Kostanai Province, Kazakhstan. The restructured association has since become recognized as an expert on small business development in the region.
Sukhinin, the association’s president, and nine other Kazakh business leaders traveled to Oregon on a USAID-study tour focused on small and medium enterprise development. In describing how the tour affected his work and outlook, Sukhinin said, “It was good to see how businesses, associations, and government bodies interact with each other and collaborate. This has helped us in Kostanai to work together and share information, which is key for developing local entrepreneurship.”
Prior to the study tour, his association lacked access to information and did not have much cooperation with government agencies or officials. Now the association works closely with the Kostanai mayor’s office and with the local branch of the department of entrepreneurship and business. The association lobbies for improvements to legislation concerning the development of small and medium business, such as competitiveness and the export of goods.
In cooperation with regional-level government officials, the association also analyzes new businesses in the region to identify those that fit most closely with the region’s needs for services. Such businesses then receive the association’s support with the legal aspects of starting a business.
Using models adapted from the study tour, the association designed business training courses that have already trained over 240 entrepreneurs. “It’s important for entrepreneurs to have the basic knowledge to run their businesses successfully,” Sukhinin said.
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