The Intervale Center Welcomes Entrepreneurs from Kyrgyzstan

The Intervale Center Welcomes Entrepreneurs from Kyrgyzstan

The Intervale Center increasingly serves as a model for communities throughout the world as a way to increase farm viability and access to locally produced food. As a result, we often host an incredible cohort of visitors from around the world here in Vermont, including a recent group of entrepreneurs from the Kyrgyz Republic.

The group came to Vermont through the International Visitor Leadership Program, a federally-funded program which welcomes hundreds of global visitors every year.  The Vermont Council on Foreign Affairs worked with the U.S. Department of State to design the visitors’ program, focused on women and entrepreneurship.

While here, the women from the Kyrgyz Republic took a tour of the Intervale, visiting the farms on site, the community garden, the Intervale Conservation Nursery, and the Intervale Center administrative offices. By talking with members of our staff and learning about our organization we hope these women will be able to use ideas from our programs and adapt them to the needs of their own communities.

In the group were Begaiym Beknazarova, founder of Maral Chapan Clothing Company, Mubarak Dzhamalova, a business development manager at Bai Tushum Bank, Chynara Ibraimova, director at FNT Asset Management Financial Company, and Zharkynai Kamashova, an entrepreneur in the industrial greenhouse industry.

The visit to the Intervale Center was included in the itinerary primarily for Ms. Dzhamalova and Ms. Kamashova, who are both actively involved in the Agricultural sector and were interested in the Intervale Center’s work. Ms. Kamashova manages business operations at Industrial Greenhouse, from funding and construction, to production and sales. She has been a leading voice in the United Kyrgyz Greenhouses Association. As a business development manager at Bai Tushum Bank, Ms. Dzhamalova coordinates and implements a joint project between Bai Tushim Bank and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the USAID Agro Horizon Project. This project proposes solutions for financing agriculture value chains, from farmers to processors.

Of the visit, James Gunger, the Program Coordinator at Vermont Council on Foreign Affairs said, “I hope that they have a valuable exchange of ideas and experiences and that they gain a broader understanding of the value of the Intervale [Center] and what it brings to the community, and maybe that value [or] benefit it brings can also be realized internationally. I hope that the Intervale [Center] receives some benefit as well because they will bring different perspective than Vermonters have.”