Join the upcoming panel discussion on IT Investment Funds in Eurasia on May 27 at 09:00 EST | 15:00 CET | 17:00 GMT+4 | 18:00 GMT+5 | 19:00 GMT+6
The IT investment market in Eurasian countries is developing in different ways: in some countries, it is completely given over to the private entities, in others the state invests in IT companies and startups. Is there a “more correct” way, or could these models be reconciled? How do IT investment funds in Eurasia countries make money today? What are the latest trends in investment ideas? This will be discussed at the StrategEast.Live panel discussion “IT Investment Funds in Eurasia”, broadcased live to StrategEast Facebook page.
The panel discussion will be moderated by Dilshod Zufarov, CEO of Uzbekistan Venture Capital Association.
Panel participants:
- Maria Barsuk, Investor at EBRD Technology Venture Capital team;
- Kheyraddin Mehdi Zada, Senior Engineer of the Department of Strategic Development of SOCAR, Azerbaijan;
- Ruslan Rakymbay, Investment Director at Quest Ventures, Kazakhstan;
- Andre Tikhomirov, Partner at Kolos Ventures, Belarus.
The main issues to be discussed:
- What are the features of the activities of investment funds in Eurasia?
- How does regulation in the field of intellectual property protection in Eurasia affect the activities of investment funds?
- What are the main objections that local investment funds face when trying to attract investments to the region from large Western funds?
- Several states in Eurasia have established their own venture capital funds. Is this a competition or help for private foundations?
- What can be the role of international financial institutions in the development of venture entrepreneurship in Eurasia?
StrategEast.Live is a series of online panel discussions launched by StrategEast in 2020 to continue the conversation on how technology can lead to an overall transformation in Eurasia. During these events, the esteemed guests put forward ideas that facilitate the further development of a knowledge-driven economy in the region.
To ask the panelist your question or find out more about the project contact praskovja.bystrova@new.strategeast.org.
Learn more about the participants.
Dilshod Zufarov, CEO of Uzbekistan Venture Capital Association.
Currently, Dilshod holds the position of CEO of Uzbekistan Venture Capital Association; Chief innovation officer at Uzbekistan FinTech Accelerator, Uzcard Ventures, and a Consultant at the Supporting Startup Ecosystem in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Region. Before that, he was a Chief investment officer at IT-Park Uzbekistan, B2O director at Uztelecom and the Head of credit debt, trade finance at Asia Alliance Bank.
Mr. Zufarov holds a Bachelor’s in the international economy and a Master’s in world economy and geopolitics from the University of World Economy and Diplomacy of Uzbekistan and a Master’s in international finances from the University Toulouse I, France. He is fluent in Uzbek, Russian, French and English languages.
Dilshod has a membership in the following Professional Associations: Senator for Uzbekistan at World Business Angels Forums (WBAF); Co-founder and member of Central Asian angel investors club; Head of Uzbekistan venture capital association; Member at Russian business angels’ network (Angelsdeck); Member at Expert commission for IT-Park Uzbekistan.
Maria Barsuk, Investor at EBRD Technology Venture Capital team.
Maria focuses on high-growth software and internet companies in the EBRD region which includes CEE, Central Asia, Turkey, Greece and Northern Africa countries. She works with the companies throughout the investment cycle – from sourcing and deal execution to advising portfolio companies on strategy, next fundraising rounds and exit. Maria is ex-CEO of Depositphotos – one of the most successful tech start-ups out of Ukraine and the fifth largest microstock agency in the world. Her other experience includes Private Equity, Corporate Finance in the Telecom sector and PWC. She holds an Executive MBA from London Business School.
Kheyraddin Mehdi Zada, Senior Engineer of the Department of Strategic Development of SOCAR, Azerbaijan.
Kheyraddin Mehdi Zada has been a senior engineer in the Strategic Development of SOCAR for the past four years. His main areas of specialization are Strategic Road Map, Innovation Development and Startup, Corporate Strategy and Venture Capital.
Kheyraddin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, and is currently pursuing the Operational Management MBA at the Azerbaijan State Oil Industry University.
Ruslan Rakymbay, Investment Director at Quest Ventures, Kazakhstan.
Ruslan Rakymbay is the Investment Director of Quest Ventures, a leading venture fund for technology companies that have scalability and replicability in large internet communities. He is also responsible for investment activities in Kazakhstan and for market access initiatives for key markets in Central Asia.
Ruslan is a founding member of QazAngels, Kazakhstan’s earliest and growing angel investment network. He was also the founder and CEO of Smart Advisory, a B2B and B2G consultancy for the transfer of technologies globally to Central Asia. Prior to this, he was CEO of Primus Power Kazakhstan; CFO of Tomiris-RE; Head of Legal division at Kazakhstan’s National Railway Company’s subsidiary; and Attache at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan.
He is a member of the Project Management Institute in Kazakhstan; a member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan; a member of the Association of Renewable Energy of Kazakhstan. Ruslan is a Bolashak Presidential Scholarship recipient, a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and received an MSc in Energy Economics from the University of Dundee, UK. Ruslan speaks Mandarin Chinese and spent two years at CUEB and BLCU in Beijing, China. He is also an International Law Specialist (MA-equivalent) from the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.
Andre Tikhomirov, Partner at Kolos Ventures, Belarus.
Andre has 25 years of practical experience in managing institutional and family office private equity, venture capital and real estate programs in Eurasia: Agribusiness Partners International, Russia Partners, EBRD and Aton Capital Partners, executing a number of successful exits in challenging investment environments. Recently, he has been involved in the formation of a venture capital company in Minsk, Belarus, focusing on startups and scaleups with global ambitions from various subsectors of the IT industry in the former Soviet Union countries/Central and Eastern Europe.
Mr. Tikhomirov holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from the Moscow Financial Institute.
