This September young entrepreneurs from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan will have a unique opportunity to present their business ideas at Central Asia’s biggest investment competition – Get in the Ring: Bishkek. The contest is the final event in Kyrgyzstan’s 2014 Startup Weekend event series that took place earlier this year. The project is implemented by Kompanion Financial Group, the Central Asia Free Market Institute (CAFMI), Startup Invest and ICCO Cooperation in South and Central Asia (ICCO).

The event was first launched by the Erasmus Center for Entrepreneurship in 2009 to connect the most promising entrepreneurs from Europe to connect with potential partners and investors. This year the competition will be organized in over 64 countries, including Kyrgyzstan, and will host 2000 of the world’s most promising startup businesses.

A distinctive feature of Get in the Ring is the format of the competitions – the participants pitch their ideas in the style of a boxing match. During five rounds of competition, the participants, one by one, should convince the jury that their idea is the best one. In a series of rounds the competitors will be “knocked out” of the ring by investors and judges, by the end of the day only one startup idea remains. The winning team from Kyrgyzstan will compete against the best startup teams from around the world at the final competition Get in the Ring in Netherlands on November 21. The winner will win up to € 1 000 000 prize to realize their business idea.

Kompanion Financial Group Social Business Specialist Emily Youatt noted that this event is important for Kyrgyz entrepreneurs because it provides a direct link between Central Asian entrepreneurs and the international business sector and to potential business investors.

“The organizers of this year's event are providing entrepreneurs in Central Asia with the chance to change their lives; all they have to do is sign up and work hard - we will provide the rest. Get in the Ring is an opportunity for Kyrgyzstan's business community that should not go to waste - there are thousands of dollars in prizes, priceless networking opportunities and the chance for one team to travel and pitch their business idea to international investors in the Netherlands in November. It's really the opportunity of a lifetime,” Youatt added.

The organizers invite all entrepreneurs from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to participate and to pitch their business idea to investors and the Central Asian business sector.

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