Rethinking Jurisdictions for the Global Technology Economy

[00:03:21]Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Rethinking Jurisdictions for the global technology economy. It is a great pleasure to have you all with us today. In today's session, we're going to have a round of beautiful and interesting presentations, and we're going to lead and end with the panel discussion and the signing ceremonies.

[00:03:43]To set the stage for today's discussion, please turn your attention to the screen. Thank you.

[00:03:56]>> Long-term planning?

[00:03:58]That's a luxury.

[00:04:00]That's a luxury now.

[00:04:03]The world moves faster than any business can adapt.

[00:04:06]Geopolitical stability matters more than ever business can adapt. Cross-border business is facing growing restrictions.

[00:04:13]While the world is becoming more uncertain, Uzbekistan was moving in a different direction, transforming its economy, digitizing government, building a digital platform for global business.

[00:04:27]Then, we asked the bigger question, what would [music] it take to make certainty possible again?

[00:04:33]That's why we built a new system.

[00:04:41]Enterprise Uzbekistan, >> [music] >> an entire economic environment running on English common law, locked in through 2100 for every kind of technology business, IT exporters, tech startups, data centers, infrastructural investors, institutional investors.

[00:05:08]We turned 100 doors, >> [music] >> banking, visas, registration, into one.

[00:05:13]While AI regulation is tightening worldwide, Enterprise Uzbekistan [music] offers a dedicated sandbox for testing, deploying, and scaling frontier AI under legal protection. Your legal conditions frozen from day one.

[00:05:30]Foreign exchange, capital movement, fully free.

[00:05:35]>> [music] >> Your investments are protected.

[00:05:41]Relocating? We [music] made that simple, too.

[00:05:44]Because building something reliable leaves no room for compromise.

[00:05:48]Enterprise Uzbekistan designed for [music] global tech.

[00:05:58]>> Our first speaker in today's session leads global business development for one of Uzbekistan's key investment institutions driving the partnerships putting this country on a global technology map. Please welcome the vice president of global business development at Enterprise Uzbekistan, Mr. Bokhodir Ayupov.

[00:06:32]>> You wake up one day and you realize that you are the CEO of a global technology company.

[00:06:43]That little startup that you were starting many years ago in your basement.

[00:06:50]Not basement, such a cliche.

[00:06:52]Let's say your your room, you know, the typical teenager room stinking with socks and pizza has finally turned into a global technology company.

[00:07:07]How the hell did that happen?

[00:07:09]You know, you stand there for a bit reminisce a bit, you know, tap your yourself on the shoulder think how proud your mom and daddy must be of you.

[00:07:19]And then you go back to the reality.

[00:07:23]The reality which is full of problems.

[00:07:28]These problems.

[00:07:31]Your company is global, but the operating environment is not. Your customers are in Brazil, Gulf, Australia. Your investors is investor is in Malaysia, your legal structure is in Delaware, your cloud infrastructure is in Frankfurt, and your engineering team is scattered across Poland, Central Asia, India, and your legal team is asking questions about AI regulations, about data localization, about cybersecurity, about exposure of your company to sanctions, and about cross-border compliance.

[00:08:12]Your company is global, but the operating environment isn't. And that is the new reality that many global technology companies face today.

[00:08:22]Now, for decades, globalization created an assumption that the world would one day be very interconnected, predictable, and very integrated.

[00:08:36]And that you could build in one place, hire from another, and scale with relatively less friction.

[00:08:44]That assumption, ladies and gentlemen, does not hold anymore.

[00:08:50]Companies are having to increasingly work in a very fragmented world, across fragmented legal systems, fragmented regulatory frameworks, fragmented data environment, and increasingly fragmented geopolitical realities.

[00:09:15]Now, with the world changing, the systems that these companies were relying on must evolve, too.

[00:09:35]Many of the known global jurisdictions were created for something else.

[00:09:41]They were created for a different era, I would say.

[00:09:47]An era where capital was the main driving force behind globalization.

[00:09:53]The era before artificial intelligence, before hyperscale cloud infrastructure, before globally distributed teams became a norm.

[00:10:07]And before, ladies and gentlemen, technology became intertwined with geopolitics.

[00:10:15]Think about it.

[00:10:17]Now, don't get me wrong.

[00:10:19]Those existing global jurisdictions are very successful. But when it comes to global tech companies, they are being forced into trade-offs.

[00:10:33]They are having to choose between flexibility and credibility.

[00:10:41]Do I choose innovation or compliance? Do I choose, you know, speed or regulatory certainty? Do I speed Do I choose experimentation or institutional constraints?

[00:10:56]As a result, these tech companies are having to, you know, get get stuck in managing these complexities instead of working on their products and services.

[00:11:07]So, all in all, if you think about it, technological strategy is no longer about products and services and markets. It is increasingly about adaptability, resilience, and operational certainty.

[00:11:26]So, the question, the big question now, becomes what would a jurisdiction look like if it were designed specifically for technology business?

[00:11:42]Enterprise Uzbekistan is our answer to that question, ladies and gentlemen.

[00:11:48]We describe it as the new category of global jurisdiction for tech companies.

[00:11:55]Not a technology park, not a free economic zone, not a financial center retrofitted to tech, no. Enterprise Uzbekistan was architecture from the very beginning around the needs of technology companies.

[00:12:15]And what is the purpose?

[00:12:17]Purpose is quite simple.

[00:12:20]To create an environment, a very predictable and globally connected environment for the next generation of technology business. That is the purpose.

[00:12:35]Now, any business leader will tell you that uh innovation starts with a trust.

[00:12:43]Before companies ask questions about tax incentives, about office spaces, about uh you know, operational benefits, they first ask a more important question.

[00:12:55]Can I trust this system?

[00:13:00]This is why Enterprise Uzbekistan is built on the three main foundational principles.

[00:13:07]First, principles and elements of English and Welsh common law, which provides a legal environment very familiar for international investors and companies. Second, constitutional guarantees that provide a long-term legal stability and predictability all the way through the year 2100 that outlasts the horizon of even the most complicated investments.

[00:13:38]>> [snorts] >> And very strong investor protection clauses including protection from retrospective harm that ensures that any future changes will not undermine the rights and benefits provided to our residents.

[00:13:56]That is very important.

[00:13:58]You know, you can never eliminate business risk.

[00:14:02]Markets change, technology is always evolve.

[00:14:06]Competition never stops, but you can definitely and significantly reduce jurisdictional risk.

[00:14:13]That is exactly what Enterprise Uzbekistan was designed to achieve.

[00:14:20]And of course, you know, trust being the foundation um of course companies need an environment flexible enough and built for where innovation is going.

[00:14:35]Ladies and gentlemen, you know very well that um artificial intelligence is um changing industries faster than any regulatory system can adapt. Governments are asking questions.

[00:14:51]How can we regulate artificial intelligence? We asked a different question.

[00:14:59]How do we create a jurisdiction that is well-designed for the artificial intelligence era?

[00:15:08]And that thinking of ours is very well reflected across the whole framework of Enterprise Uzbekistan.

[00:15:15]The regulatory sandboxes we provide enables companies to test and deploy their frontier technologies under a full legal protection.

[00:15:26]And of course, the special regime under Enterprise Uzbekistan provides the necessary operational freedom through freedom of foreign exchange freedom through you know, very competitive tax mechanisms um talent attraction tools, remote registration mechanisms and one-stop-shop based principle of access to government service all in one place. Now folks the objective is not simply to attract companies. No.

[00:16:04]The objective is to create an environment where tech companies, investors, innovators and the digital infrastructure operators can create, work, build, innovate create value with very few barriers.

[00:16:22]Now the last question a very important one if we step back and look at the whole picture in one is why Uzbekistan?

[00:16:33]Why are we doing this in Uzbekistan?

[00:16:37]>> [snorts] >> Because legal architecture alone is never enough.

[00:16:41]Every successful technology jurisdiction requires the right national foundation.

[00:16:47]And Uzbekistan offers that right combination of aspects and characteristics that an increasing number of tech companies are valuing.

[00:17:00]To start with, for example >> [snorts] >> a very strategic location of this country with a very good connectivity connecting different major markets and regions and opportunities. You know, among the 3,500 I would say over 3,500 uh uh residents of IT Park. Many companies came to Uzbekistan not because of the tax incentives incentives or operational benefits that we're offering them, but because they view Uzbekistan as the great gateway to access the CIS countries countries and other regions.

[00:17:39]I'm not even talking about the language landscape that this country provides to ease and access.

[00:17:48]And also a very often under estimated benefit of time zones.

[00:17:54]Because from Uzbekistan a lot of companies they actually relegate to Uzbekistan to serve markets of the United States, Europe, Eastern countries within the 24 hours range. That is that is huge for many companies outsourcing being outsourced many business services from their global clients.

[00:18:20]Another very important aspect that we provide is a very how would I put it? Balanced and pragmatic international posture.

[00:18:32]We have a very well-balanced geopolitical stability here.

[00:18:43]One of many achievements that our current president is definitely go down in in history is because of his ability to restore and strengthen the relationship with our neighboring countries and the major powers of the world. We're friends with everyone. We have excellent relationship both economic and trade and political with everyone. We don't take sides.

[00:19:07]We don't go into conflicts. We're in excellent relationship with everyone that provides this long-term geopolitical stability that is increasingly becoming very, very important for global tech companies.

[00:19:21]Pretty much for everyone now.

[00:19:25]Which brings me to another very important aspect, which is safety.

[00:19:29]Now, despite these stereotypes that many people have about Uzbekistan or stan countries, especially those that those that have never been to Uzbekistan and make an assumption about this country's safety because of its proximity with the southern neighbor, Uzbekistan is one of the safest countries in the world.

[00:19:50]The safest country in Eurasia, that is for sure.

[00:19:55]You will see that in ratings of many charts.

[00:19:59]Um That is that is very important. That is increasingly important. And young and growing talent pool, you know, again, many companies come to Uzbekistan because of this young uh population. Over 60% of our population constituted by youth under 30.

[00:20:22]With families investing more and more into education. Just to give an example, several years ago we launched the largest educational program in Central Asia called 1 Million Uzbek Coders.

[00:20:34]1 million, ladies and gentlemen, it was called.

[00:20:38]But 2 and 1/2 million young people went through this program. 2 and 1/2 million.

[00:20:42]You know, of course, nobody expects all of these people to become coders, but the expectation was even if 5% of those folks, you know, start pursuing career in IT, that's going to be a really good you know, boost for us. That is exactly what happened.

[00:20:58]But that is to show an example of an increasing attention of families of the society to education.

[00:21:05]1 million babies born last year, ladies and gentlemen. We work very well not only with our hands and heads.

[00:21:13]God, I wish I hadn't said that.

[00:21:16]Let's just switch to economic indicators.

[00:21:19]Uh [snorts] one of the fastest developing countries in the world.

[00:21:26]Especially if you look at the tech industry.

[00:21:29]The growth is exponential.

[00:21:32]600 thousand dollars of IT export 10 years ago has now become what over $1 million. Uh 147 companies we started with 10 years ago is now over 3,500.

[00:21:50]Over 1,000 of these companies with foreign capital about 900 of them came to Uzbekistan to open their offices to export from here, considering all the benefits we'll provide for export orientation.

[00:22:06]Now, you know, uh the history shows that uh one of the greatest opportunities out there emerge before markets become known to everyone else.

[00:22:26]That is important important. But, the most important fact here is that Uzbekistan is still early in its transformation journey.

[00:22:35]So, ladies and gentlemen, the question is not whether technology business will continue to evolve. It already is. The question is where technology businesses of the next generation will choose to build, create, and innovate.

[00:22:57]And Enterprise Uzbekistan provides one answer.

[00:23:03]Global jurisdiction designed for technology.

[00:23:11]Created for global business.

[00:23:14]Architectured for the opportunities of the decades ahead.

[00:23:19]Ladies and gentlemen, we invite the technology companies, investors, innovators, and digital infrastructure operators, and other strategic partners from around the world to join our wonderful and very ambitious journey.

[00:23:36]Thank you very much.

[00:23:44]>> Mr. Ipol, thank you so much for such a phenomenal delivery like always.

[00:23:49]Thank you so much. So, our next speaker comes from StartupBlink, the world's most comprehensive startup ecosystem map and research center. Working with over 100 governments worldwide, she leads their flagship global startup ecosystem index. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Çağgül Enginsoy.

[00:24:12]>> Hello everyone. It's It's great to be here.

[00:24:16]Um and today basically what I'm going to do is I'll make previous presentation with some data as well. So, let's begin. As introduced, uh we are StartupBlink, so we are a global research center that is ranking the startup ecosystems, um and basically giving insights to ecosystem developers around the world uh about achieving their innovation goals, um promoting their ecosystem, and also supporting their innovators.

[00:24:46]So, we are a research center, as I said, so we are working with data and not with opinions. That's why we have global data partners like Crunchbase, SEMrush, and MIT REAP, which are backing our research. So, our research is basically not based on opinions or surveys and yeah, that will explain why why my presentation is quite factual in the sense of talking about Uzbekistan.

[00:25:13]So, just to give a bit more idea about what I'm going to talk about.

[00:25:18]So, the lens that I'm going to look at today is the global startup ecosystem index which is our research covering the cities around the world more than 1,500 and also more than 120 countries. And the analysis that we make is basically based on thousands of location thousands of data points that are assessing those locations.

[00:25:39]As I said, this is not based on surveys or opinions and the big achievement here is that this year we named Uzbekistan the country of the year in 2026.

[00:25:54]And I'll again this is not based on opinions. This is based on facts because we are research center. So, we didn't do voting. We didn't do interviews to come to this achievement, but we look at the data and data basically showed us that this year Uzbekistan is the country that grew its total score most which means that it grew it grew the startup startup ecosystem most in the world. And if I go to my next next slide, you will see that this momentum is not a one-year momentum, but it's a continued momentum.

[00:26:26]So, if you look at the years starting from 2022, we don't even see Uzbekistan in the top 100 and then we are getting closer there and only last year Uzbekistan Uzbekistan entered to the top 100 and this year is growing even faster to get the fastest growing growth rate.

[00:26:50]So, that's a pretty amazing achievement.

[00:26:53]And if I go even further to the cities as well, we look at Tashkent and we see a massive jump there as well.

[00:27:00]Um, just getting into the top 250.

[00:27:04]Um, and now it is the Central Asia's top startup hub, basically. Um, leading countries in the region. And even more impressive, I should say like I was I was looking at the data and I saw that Uzbekistan had 10 cities this year, which is an amazing achievement. Because usually countries enter to the rankings and then they have one or two cities ranked in the next year coming. But in the case of Uzbekistan, we are seeing 10 cities this year that has been made into the rankings. And that's impressive and that's quite important as well. Because if your ecosystem is centralized in one city, then at some point you will struggle because all your resources are in the one city. But in the case of Uzbekistan, we are already seeing Samarkand and Fergana also making it to the top 1,000. And we have lots of emerging cities coming from the bottom.

[00:27:55]And I'm almost sure that we are going to see more cities in the top 1,000 next year as well.

[00:28:00]Um, So, how do we measure this? As I said, we are research center, so we look at data and our data consists of three things. Um, so we are looking at quantity. How active is the ecosystem?

[00:28:14]So, this is basically the measure of um, numbers. So, we are looking at how many startups you have, how many investors, how many co-working spaces. And this is one of the areas that Uzbekistan is growing really strong. So, we are seeing a really really strong activity here and that's the main driver of the growth as well. And then the second phase is quality, which we look at the success of this activity. Like how well the conversion is. And that's the time that requires a bit of patience. Like you build your infrastructure and then you see startups growing into unicorns, exits, also creating employment. Um so this is our second parameter. And the last parameter is the most important one, which lays the infrastructure basically, which is business environment. So we do look at the business environment in terms of the cost and ease of doing business, tax rates, cross-border banking access, and all those stuff that makes it easier to um launch and establish a business.

[00:29:12]Um and in that case, I'll circle back to my um growth metric basically. So the growth we measure is not in terms of a single parameter or funding or anything else, but basically the growth we're measuring is the change in the total score looking at all of these parameters. So we can easily say that Uzbekistan didn't grow in one parameter, but it has a massive growth in across all the parameters. And it's also worth noting that we have more than 40 parameters we look, and this is just the the half of it because of the presentation. I didn't want it to become too text-heavy.

[00:29:47]So, where did the rise came from?

[00:29:50]Um of course, we can look at many, many parameters, but I'm not going to get into the details and bore you. But what the data show is, first of all, in order for you to measure something, you need to map it really well. So we need to see we need to see the data. So for the last 2 years, we we really work closely with IT Park in terms of mapping the ecosystem and revealing the true true potential here. Um and also what the country does, which which is constantly improving their business conditions and promoting the ecosystem. Like people sometimes ask us, "When is the right time to promote my ecosystem?" And our advice is as soon as possible, because reality will catch up once you start promoting your ecosystem. Um so more startup activity basically created not only new support startups, but also supporting stakeholders that make the ecosystem work like an engine.

[00:30:44]And now I'm showing you the top 10 startup ecosystems in the world. These are specifically the countries.

[00:30:51]You will realize one thing. Most of these ecosystems are stable. So, apart from Switzerland and Australia, you're not seeing any ranking movements. And unlike Uzbekistan, you don't also see a massive growth here. Of course, the reason is these ecosystems are now more mature. So, they don't grow as much as a emerging ecosystem, which connects to the point of the opportunities here are more utilized than the growing markets. So, that is one thing noting. Like, usually people, when they are setting their businesses, they look at the top-ranked countries.

[00:31:25]But actually, the the secret is in the countries that are rising the most because you have lots of opportunities to grab there that hasn't been fully utilized yet.

[00:31:36]So, what's next for Uzbekistan? I think that's already in the first presentation that you listened. But I would say like when we give advice, we say like improve the business conditions, which is something that has been already done is done and continuing to be done in Uzbekistan. So, if you improve your business conditions, if it's become easier for your people to launch and build their startups, then your ecosystem will sure become successful because you already have the talent.

[00:32:04]Second is promoting the ecosystem because we shouldn't build for ourselves or we shouldn't build for our market, but we should build for our for the world that will become scalable. So, promote the ecosystem, continue these events, continue having more events, um and celebrate your results everywhere will make sure that Uzbekistan is more visible.

[00:32:24]And last thing, as I said, trust the talent because you have lots of talented people here. And in the end, they're the ones that are innovating. So, our roles as ecosystem builders and ecosystem developers is opening the way for them and making sure they have all the infrastructure that that they need in order to succeed.

[00:32:44]So, that's about my presentation.

[00:32:47]Uh thank you for listening and probably everyone that has been involved in the in the success of Uzbekistan in terms of the growth should be congratulated here.

[00:32:57]Um so, if you have any question about our our research, feel free to email me at [email protected].

[00:33:02]And yes, thank you SO MUCH.

[00:33:12]>> SINGAL, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR A very insightful presentation.

[00:33:16]Uh we now come to the highlight of today's program, our panel session, and I'd like to first welcome our moderator, Mr. John Kilmartin of Saviday, a firm that has worked very closely with IT Park Uzbekistan and Enterprise Uzbekistan in shaping its technology and investment strategy.

[00:33:42]And joining him on the panel, Mr. Sean McCauley, the lead for IDA Ireland's in the Middle East. Please welcome.

[00:33:53]Mr. Bakhtiyar Ayupov, the Vice President of Global Business Development at Enterprise Uzbekistan.

[00:34:03]Professor Mark Beer, Order of the British Empire, the chairman of the Medius Institute, and the co-founder of Oxford University DeepTech Dispute Resolution Lab.

[00:34:18]And finally, Mr. Michael Lynch, the founding partner for Middle East and North Africa at Golden Gate Ventures.

[00:34:26]Please give them a warm welcome as they take their seats.

[00:34:33]John, the floor is yours. Thank you.

[00:34:41]Hello.

[00:34:42]Yeah.

[00:34:48]No speaker.

[00:34:52]Perfect.

[00:34:54]Thank you very much. Um Good morning, everybody. And um Yeah, it's probably better.

[00:35:10]Great.

[00:35:11]Salam alaykum.

[00:35:13]Um Good morning, everybody. Uh I I want to give commemorations to uh Uzbekistan on on the loss. That's much better. Thanks.

[00:35:27]Good.

[00:35:28]Technical issues out of the way.

[00:35:30]Um commemorations on on the the loss earlier on, but I think we can all uh um join in in congratulating the team for for for a a very valid performance.

[00:35:43]Um and I guess just really impressed by the presentations so far by Kadir Sangul.

[00:35:53]Um I I think we can build this panel on a lot of the information that we've already heard. Um the panel today is is titled around um uh rethinking jurisdictions. So, the arc that we're trying to to get across here uh and particularly through Mark and and Shawn is around what have other jurisdictions done? What have we seen that has worked? What is the concept?

[00:36:23]Um we'll then turn to uh Bakadir around uh Enterprise Uzbekistan. We've heard an awful lot of uh of the plans so far, but maybe picking up on some of the themes.

[00:36:35]And and then we have Michael joining from which I'm going to say is the most important party.

[00:36:42]Ultimately, you're you're giving the investor approach. So, you're hearing what the concept looks like.

[00:36:49]You're hearing what the plans look like.

[00:36:51]And then it's a okay, how does that come across to a technology company and and how how interesting it is it is. Before we get into the questions, I might just ask each of the panelists just to maybe give a little bit more of a of an intro.

[00:37:08]But also maybe speak a little bit about your experience of Uzbekistan. Maybe Bakhtiyor, we we we we we we know you're here, but the other gentlemen are are um not Uzbeks. So, how long they've been coming here, what their impressions are of the of the environment so far. So, maybe Mark I could start with you, please.

[00:37:32]>> Sure. Mark Beer. I work with Institute. And as we say, you know, there isn't an international financial center. There isn't a good international financial center that we haven't been involved in building. So, what we do is we we work with the dreamers on what a financial center should be.

[00:37:48]We then design it and we take it through to launch. That's what we do. And it's fascinating. You know, the number one priority of the president yesterday was the creation of this specialist zone.

[00:38:01]And here we are talking about, you know, a common law jurisdiction. We're talking about certainty. We're talking about credibility and a brilliant presentation that we heard earlier. And exactly it's this drive to attract capital to become a capital magnet that we're seeing Uzbekistan do so well. And and part of your presentation giving investors that confidence, that trust that the system is there to protect them, that their capital is safe. And that's what's really impressive about what's happening here.

[00:38:36]You well, I've enjoyed probably the rest of you.

[00:38:40]And I've been coming here for a number of years on different on different projects. It's a sensational place. It's an exciting place. And people always ask me, you know, when when I'm back in Oxford, um and we've got a beautiful house on the coast in in Devon, which if you've ever been to Devon, it's it's about 150 years behind the rest of the world. Not in a bad way, in a really good way. We still don't have a mobile signal in our village. And they say, "What's it like when you're visiting, you know, Uzbekistan?"

[00:39:06]And I say, "Well, look, when I'm at home in Oxford, generally I'm given one thing to do one thing to do per day, and I mostly get it done.

[00:39:16]When I go to Devon, I'm given one thing to do per week, and I rarely get it done.

[00:39:24]When I land in Tashkent, I have 10 things to do before I get off the plane.

[00:39:29]And that's how fast-paced it is here.

[00:39:31]That's why it's delivering. The president is about delivery. You know, he talks, you know, he doesn't he extensively. Dream it, design it, deliver it. It's not good enough to have a PowerPoint. I want to see it. I want to touch it. I want to feel it. I want to know that it exists. And it's that focus that's cascading through Enterprise Uzbekistan and its team to deliver this incredible outcome. It's that delivery focus, that commitment to producing something beyond the PowerPoint that I think is really exciting.

[00:40:07]>> I'm just going to make couple of additions. I know it doesn't make any sense for me to talk about Uzbekistan, what I think about it, but one thing uh I want to Okay, couple of things that I wanted to add.

[00:40:19]Um, just to continue your wonderful thought about the pace, the usual pace here. Just two examples.

[00:40:27]Um, couple of days ago, just one day before the start of this forum, we were sitting with our team, um, and, um, Jamila, um, said, "We need to print out, you know, that huge flag with Enterprise Ukraine logo.

[00:40:52]And the forum is starting tomorrow.

[00:40:53]We're sitting there at, what was it, like 8:00 in the evening before going home?"

[00:41:00]And I said, "Okay, yeah, I mean, it's it's starting in the morning." I come to our pavilion in the morning, that flag is there.

[00:41:11]How? I still don't know how you you guys did it, but it's one example.

[00:41:16]Another example is, uh, several years ago, when we first introduced IT Visa.

[00:41:25]Uh, it it was what, 2022, yeah.

[00:41:29]Um, I remember that evening when we were contemplating over different ideas and somebody came up with this idea, "Why don't we Why don't we introduce this IT Visa?" We discussed this and within, what was it, within 2 weeks from that conversation, uh, signature of the president was on the paper.

[00:41:52]The process that usually takes at least half a year, you know, it's you're talking about national security, you're talking about all those procedures, but when it comes to tech industry, when it comes to, you know, bringing, uh, bringing, uh, the, um, the the economy forward, it's a priority number one and we are enjoying a very, very strong political will from day one. Thank you.

[00:42:15]>> Really interesting. Just before I go on to you, Sean, that's an aspect that you just that that speed of movement linked with stability cuz we talk about the two of them. So, we're going to pick up that theme later on on on how we can deal with it. Sean, if you if you will >> Um Yeah, I've been coming to Uzbekistan for probably the last 6 7 years. Um Uh a lot of my work is is not only within with IDA Ireland but with the governments all around the world, particularly in the GCC and Central Asia on economic development and economic development ecosystems.

[00:42:52]I think the thing that is is so impressive to me coming out of an ecosystem that's been very successful in Ireland um and and would have been uh an ecosystem that no one would have thought would be as successful as it is.

[00:43:07]Um I see so much of what made Ireland successful here in Uzbekistan.

[00:43:15]And I see people in the audience that I've I've communicated this to many many times.

[00:43:21]Um a young population hungry for achievement uh innovative and problem solvers whatever the problem may be.

[00:43:30]We don't know yet what the landscape is going to look like. We talk about AI and we talk about tech and we talk about all of these different things.

[00:43:38]Guaranteed there'll be something we don't know is going to happen.

[00:43:42]And I believe this ecosystem uh what the president has done, the policies, initiatives uh like IT Park and Enterprise Uzbekistan are are equipped to deal with those issues as they come and we can get it we'll get into it hopefully a little bit later in in the uh in the discussion.

[00:44:00]But, for me the raw material to be successful is here.

[00:44:06]In particular, the people.

[00:44:09]I and I can't you know say that enough.

[00:44:12]For me it's it's very familiar.

[00:44:15]And and just to put a to quantify it somewhat Ireland as a country that kind of started its journey at 3 million 3 and 1/2 million people is about 5 million people now. Last year when you combine what indigenous industry did with our foreign direct investment we exported north of 500 billion euros.

[00:44:37]For a small small country.

[00:44:40]This is absolutely a target for for Uzbekistan to participate in.

[00:44:47]So that's the that's the benchmark.

[00:44:51]>> Thanks John. And and you do mention talent there and that's an aspect that I'm going to to pick up on later particularly in a changing world media driven around AI and and the future of talent. So that's something we'd like to to deal with. Michael, maybe I can ask you to to to introduce and and give us your experience.

[00:45:10]>> Thank you. Good to be here. It's good to be back.

[00:45:13]I think this is trip number five this year. Um I don't go as far back as as most of my my panel members, but I I enjoy I enjoy coming here.

[00:45:24]Um just briefly about the fund.

[00:45:27]So Golden Gate Ventures we're an an early stage to go fund headquartered in Singapore and with a Mina office in in Qatar. We've been investing for the past 15 years. Um done about 120 investments across different segments. Had a number of IPOs in our portfolio.

[00:45:43]Um and just a a few minutes ago we announced opening up an office in Uzbekistan as well. So all is signed and sealed and we're we're here now and looking forward to be investing here.

[00:45:55]Um on the fund itself we are agnostic, but we have a lot in investments in frontier technology.

[00:46:02]And then we invest across different regions, Asia, MENA region, and now Central Asia as well.

[00:46:08]Um the one thing I would like to add as a start for the for the panel, um I moved to Singapore uh in 2013.

[00:46:16]Uh very early days in the Singapore ecosystem. And I remember that um people were saying, "No, Mike, why would you move to Singapore? You should be moving to Silicon Valley. That's where it's happening." Um if you look at decade later, uh Singapore now has about 532 investment funds.

[00:46:33]Uh when we started our funds in 2011, uh there were like a handful, about 12. So, you kind of see what is possible if you kind of put um execution power behind it.

[00:46:43]Now, fast forward to Doha. Um I now live in Qatar. I moved there 3 years ago. Um same story. We were the first international funds uh to set up shop in in Doha, Qatar.

[00:46:54]Um right after we had the Web Summit, we of course had uh the QIA program. Now, there are 15 VC funds, international VC funds on the ground, incorporated in Qatar. So, you see what is possible when you get the power of execution behind it. And I'm looking forward to do the same here in Uzbekistan as well.

[00:47:11]>> Really impressive. Thank you. I guess we're going to be looking to you to to bring reality to the to the other three panelists uh and in what they come up with. Um so maybe Mark, we we can turn to you uh to to to kick off some of the questions.

[00:47:27]Um and uh I'm I'm really looking at the kind of the legal architecture that that you've been involved in in in other uh jurisdictions.

[00:47:36]Um so so when a a government or a a zone looks to to set up a credible jurisdiction, what are the non-negotiables that have to be uh set up from it from a legal perspective from uh from get-go? Or maybe there are other area other aspects as well.

[00:47:52]>> Well, I think let's start off with the most important question, I suspect, to everybody in this room.

[00:48:02]What's in it for me?

[00:48:06]What does Enterprise Uzbekistan mean for me?

[00:48:09]For my company, for my staff, for my children. What does it mean?

[00:48:15]What are the numbers?

[00:48:19]Well, there's about $60 trillion of value in the technology ecosystem. Maybe more after Space X.

[00:48:27]About $60 trillion of value of capital.

[00:48:32]And capital is like a bird.

[00:48:36]It's like birds in a tree.

[00:48:39]If you provide it the sunshine and the water and the environment, it builds a nest and it grows.

[00:48:49]Shake the tree.

[00:48:53]What happens?

[00:48:54]Some of those birds, they take off.

[00:48:57]Maybe they look for a new tree, new home.

[00:49:02]This is a world of shock.

[00:49:05]Whether you're in the US, whether you're in the Middle East, this is a world that is trembling. And that capital, those birds, has gone up in the air.

[00:49:17]Now, imagine if Enterprise Uzbekistan could capture just 1% 1% of the world's technology capital.

[00:49:27]That's three and a half times Uzbekistan's current GDP.

[00:49:32]And you may say there's no chance we could get 1%. It's impossible.

[00:49:37]Well, in Dubai, they set up a zone very similar to Enterprise Uzbekistan. It has $700 billion US dollars under management. That's more than 1% of 60 trillion.

[00:49:47]It's doable. It's achievable. And even if you took just 1% of 1% for Uzbekistan, that's $6 billion pumped into the economy.

[00:49:56]Creating jobs, creating opportunity, right? This is the prize. This is the what's in it for me. This is why Enterprise Uzbekistan is so exciting.

[00:50:05]So, what are the non-negotiables? What will cause that capital flight to land in Enterprise Uzbekistan's tree?

[00:50:13]And to build a nest.

[00:50:16]You mentioned credibility, right? What's credibility?

[00:50:19]Three things.

[00:50:21]Confidence. You You called it trust.

[00:50:23]But, exactly the same. Confidence, confidence in the system, the [clears throat] three C's, right?

[00:50:28]Confidence, certainty, connectivity.

[00:50:36]So, when Dubai was going out, it was trying to attract capital. It said there's $3.2 trillion.

[00:50:42]And in those days, that was a lot of money, right?

[00:50:44]$3.2 trillion of Middle Eastern money being managed under the streets of Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich, in London, in New York, in Hong Kong, in Singapore. God bless Singapore, amazing place.

[00:50:59]And Abu Dhabi. God bless Abu Dhabi.

[00:51:02]But, there was a lot of Middle Eastern money, and it was being looked after outside of the Middle East. And Dubai went to 5,000 institutions and said, "Listen, why don't you bring some of that money to Dubai?

[00:51:16]$3.2 trillion is a lot of gold bars, right?

[00:51:19]Bring some to Dubai.

[00:51:21]Why?

[00:51:23]Switzerland.

[00:51:25]Now, I loved your your example. Isn't When you spoke, I thought, "Isn't Uzbekistan like the Switzerland of Central Asia? Friends with everybody, neutral, attractive, safe, right?"

[00:51:36]Central Asia, Switzerland. Well, Dubai went out and it said, "Listen, Switzerland has a larger gross domestic product than the whole EU put together.

[00:51:48]Why?

[00:51:51]Is it the cheese with the holes in it? No.

[00:51:55]Is it the watches?

[00:51:57]No.

[00:51:58]Is it the chocolate?

[00:51:59]No.

[00:52:01]Is it the skiing?

[00:52:02]No.

[00:52:04]Switzerland has a larger gross domestic product than the whole EU put together.

[00:52:10]No.

[00:52:13]Because it manages other people's money.

[00:52:16]So they went to 5,000 institutions and said, "Bring some of that money back to the Middle East."

[00:52:21]And the institutions said, "Well, we're not so sure."

[00:52:26]Why?

[00:52:28]Well, we manage our money in London, we manage our money in New York, we manage our money in Singapore, we manage our money in Sydney, manage our money and Dubai said so. And they said, "Well, they get the hint."

[00:52:40]What's the link?

[00:52:42]What language is New York? Well, you might say it's debatable, but English, right? London, English. Singapore, English. Hong Kong, English. Sydney, English.

[00:52:52]What's the legal system? Common law.

[00:52:54]Common law. Common law. Common law. So Dubai said, "If we create an English-language common law environment, will you bring some of the money?"

[00:53:03]They all said yes. And that was the creation of this semi-autonomous zone in Dubai, which has been enormously successful, employs 50,000 people, right? So So that's the confidence.

[00:53:14]certainty Global tech firms, when we interview global tech firms, they rank certainty and predictability over tax incentives and market size.

[00:53:28]Let that sink in. Tax incentives are less important than certainty of the environment.

[00:53:33]And lastly, connectivity. Do you remember it 10 years ago we'd all be talking about proximity, right?

[00:53:39]You got You've got proximate to your market. You got to be proximate to your manufacturing base.

[00:53:44]Technology companies don't need to be proximate to anything. They have a global marketplace.

[00:53:51]So, you've got then that connectivity, connectivity to talent, connectivity connectivity to legal infrastructure, connectivity to a solid regulatory system.

[00:54:00]So, the the non-negotiables are exactly that, confident in the system, English common law, certainty, the legislation that goes behind Enterprise Pakistan, and connectivity to talent and to a legal and regulatory system. Those are the non-negotiables.

[00:54:18]Um just to pick up on the legal part and uh not to get too technical, but um common law you're saying is really important.

[00:54:31]Um I guess there's lots of civil law uh jurisdictions that are quite successful. What is it about common law and specifically then English common law, if if we make that distinction between other common law jurisdictions?

[00:54:46]What is it that makes that so special?

[00:54:48]Is it just the the the acceptance of investors, or is there something more technical in the law? Without I I accept we don't have a legal uh legal audience, but just And there's no fundamentally, if you ask a judge in the civil law system and a judge in the common law system, what's your job?

[00:55:09]Same answer.

[00:55:11]Justice is my job.

[00:55:14]Justice is my job.

[00:55:17]Civil law systems have much better enforcement mechanisms than common law.

[00:55:22]Common law courts, they wait for the parties to move a case forward. Civil law, the judge moves things forward. Both systems have very very good uh bits, right?

[00:55:37]But why common law?

[00:55:40]Because it's familiar.

[00:55:43]Familiarity builds confidence.

[00:55:46]Right?

[00:55:47]We like things that we know. We distrust, especially in today's world, we distrust things we don't know.

[00:55:53]So, if you're a banker in New York, if you're a global tech firm in Silicon Valley, if you are a capital allocator from Ireland, I mean, we just I was just hearing how sensational Ireland is in the tech space.

[00:56:07]If you're in Sydney, if you're, you know, you're familiar with common law.

[00:56:12]If you're HSBC, you're familiar with common law. If you're Facebook, you're familiar with common law. It's what you're used to.

[00:56:21]So, if you create a common law environment in the English language, 80% of the world's financial contracts are signed in English language, including most of the Islamic finance contracts are signed in English. Just create something familiar, because then you're going out, you're saying, "Look, we're not trying to reinvent the wheel here.

[00:56:37]Come to Enterprise Pakistan. It's familiar.

[00:56:40]The system's familiar, the language is familiar, the processes are familiar.

[00:56:44]That familiar feeling familiarity breeds confidence, confidence breeds trust, and capital follows confidence. So, I think that's the benefit. Thank you.

[00:56:55]>> Um I I sure Shawn, I guess maybe turning to you, um are there other aspects, other things that you would you would build on top of that? Um and it's really it's also building, you know, your experiences around delivery. So, it's taking a concept on paper and turning it into reality. Uh from your perspective, are there other um factors that should be taken into account when you're building this jurisdiction?

[00:57:23]>> Well, picking up on what what Mark said that on the confidence piece, it's about transparency.

[00:57:29]Uh so, the ability to be confident in the process.

[00:57:36]So, if someone is clearly is interested in Uzbekistan because of the market size, and they see it as a platform for export and for what else they want to do because of all of the other elements of the value proposition.

[00:57:49]Talent, low cost economy, etc. Um it then becomes about how do you implement that?

[00:57:58]How do you onboard?

[00:57:59]How do you get up and operational? Um and that you know, that journey begins with the confidence that Mark has talked about.

[00:58:09]That there's a clear path.

[00:58:11]I understand what the law is. I understand how I I am going to get established. How I hire my first people.

[00:58:18]How I open my bank account. And a a vehicle in in in enterprises Pakistan it essentially becomes the the pathway for investment to happen. Um and it's what most jurisdictions struggle with. It's why you have them in the Middle East and and Ireland started out with a number of different zones to the point where we've evolved and our system and our ecosystem is essentially one big zone. We don't have zones in Ireland anymore.

[00:58:54]Um we started out with an international financial center. We had Shannon. We had these different zones to attract investment. Why? Because we wanted to create an environment that companies could land get up and operational in a in a transparent and efficient way.

[00:59:14]Because at the end of the day, investors and people who establish internationally they want to do their business.

[00:59:23]They don't want to spend a lot of time figuring out how they do their business.

[00:59:26]They know what they need to do.

[00:59:29]So, the last thing they want to struggle with is the taxi showing up late, Mark.

[00:59:35]Um or how do I open my bank account?

[00:59:39]And what evolves from there, and we've seen this time and time again, and I'll I'll use TikTok as an example of the ecosystem at work. Not any one individual or organization, but the ecosystem.

[00:59:54]TikTok landed into Ireland in the 2019-2020 in the middle of COVID to do a data center.

[01:00:02]And the estimate was maybe 200 people would be employed. Data center, off you go.

[01:00:08]TikTok had 600 people hired before they had an office, and currently employ north of 3,500 people.

[01:00:17]IDA Ireland, the government, nobody did that. The ecosystem did that. They came in, they saw what was happening in the ecosystem, they saw what their peer companies were doing, they saw there was available talent, and they went, "There's other things we can do.

[01:00:34]There's other business units, there's other opportunities.

[01:00:37]We'll do it here."

[01:00:40]And that's what Enterprise Uzbekistan can facilitate.

[01:00:44]An environment that doesn't just have an investment, but has an investment that grows because of the the the ecosystem they're in.

[01:00:55]So, that's in a in a nutshell uh uh you know, what I see as the upside.

[01:01:01]>> And I guess just a follow on, if you put yourself in Enterprise Uzbekistan's shoes right now, what's the operational machinery that they will need to build from day one, taking into account that there's other stakeholders that they engage with as well?

[01:01:18]>> I think for for me is is don't try and solve all the problems.

[01:01:24]Be clear what those challenges and problems are and communicate those.

[01:01:29]Investors are resilient.

[01:01:32]They're like children.

[01:01:33]They're very resilient. You might get concerned, but they're resilient.

[01:01:37]Um they just need to know what the pathway is.

[01:01:42]And if there's 10 steps, tell them there's 10 steps. Don't be nervous and say, "Oh, there's eight. We won't tell them about the other two."

[01:01:49]They don't need to know what that until they get to seven.

[01:01:53]Tell them what the steps are. Be transparent.

[01:01:57]Um people are used to bureaucracy. They're used to having to do things to get their companies up and and going.

[01:02:04]The the the the thing that you must do is be transparent and communicate what the process is.

[01:02:12]Investors will embrace it and thank you for it.

[01:02:15]No matter how complex it is. And by the way, every country is complex.

[01:02:20]Ireland included.

[01:02:22]Even Dubai. I mean, we walk into around Dubai people go, "Oh gosh, this is fantastic, isn't it? Look at this place."

[01:02:27]Believe me, they have their issues.

[01:02:31]But they're clear about what those issues are.

[01:02:35]So, communicating what the steps are and what the process is is critical.

[01:02:40]Thanks, Sean.

[01:02:41]>> Uh back here, uh maybe just um I suppose not a specific question, but just building on what you've heard so far, how will Enterprise Uzbekistan solve some of those problems?

[01:02:56]The the the the second part that that maybe you could look at as well is around I mean, we heard from yourself, I know from IT Park, and we heard from Sanguil about how successful um Uzbekistan has already been in in the tech space. So, how will Enterprise Uzbekistan build on that, evolve that, grow that?

[01:03:23]So, there's there's two questions in there, I guess. Maybe the first part, what's your reaction and and how will Enterprise Uzbekistan solve some of the the issues that you you you hear Mark and Shawn bring up?

[01:03:37]>> Yeah. Thank you. Well, let me start with the fact that uh we're not building this from scratch, guys.

[01:03:48]Because we have 10 years of experience with in working with thousands of companies as part of the IT Park ecosystem.

[01:04:00]So, we are building on something.

[01:04:03]We have faced problems. We have found solutions.

[01:04:07]Um we know the needs of companies.

[01:04:12]Um and from day one of IT Park, we have been serving our residents.

[01:04:20]Um providing them additional an additional opportunities, reducing the bureaucracy, easing their lives, and increasing their space, expanding their their space to focus on their core activities.

[01:04:40]But we've been doing that within the existing legal system of Uzbekistan.

[01:04:47]We uh we came to a point where and when we could no longer move forward with our additional offers staying within the existing legal system, and any further step would require us to go out of the legal system, which is what our president uh has wisely permit permitted us to do, which was the result um of the the the and and Enterprise Uzbekistan is the result of of this decision.

[01:05:23]So, especially when um providing uh support for export-oriented companies. This was a very very important. So, once we were granted this permission, we decided to go beyond, you know, the expectations of our existing resident residents uh um uh willing to scale to other markets. And we started to uh go and research the existing global jurisdictions, talking to other uh global tech companies, you know, uh uh researching on their own and around their needs. And we uh realized that uh many, as I said in my presentation, many uh existing global jurisdictions started with something else, with uh most of them as financial centers. And then uh and and then the tech companies came. The priorities changed uh and that was as a result it was uh many of those global jurisdictions were retrofitted to tech.

[01:06:41]So, we we thought, what do we what what happens if we launch the jurisdiction that was that that is designed for tech companies from the very beginning?

[01:06:53]And uh and I think we hit the spot uh in terms of our current residents' expectations and our uh potential partners and potential residents.

[01:07:06]There's a There's a lot of companies looking at Uzbekistan as a delicious piece of market, but because of the unknown, many unknowns, and and one of them is the existing legal system, um they hesitate.

[01:07:25]There's a lot of things they they're not sure about.

[01:07:30]And things change when we look at them and say, "Look, uh this Enterprise Uzbekistan, it's it's a piece of your home.

[01:07:39]So, what you've been doing What What you're doing there back home, you just come and continue doing. Pretty much the same environment, same conditions, and sometimes it may even may even be better. But, above all, we communicate them one very important point. We maintain our internal regulation flexible enough to continuously match the needs and expectations, changing expectations, of technology world of our residents.

[01:08:12]That is very important for us.

[01:08:14]Um so, with the problems we're trying to solve, as I said in my presentation, one of the things that we realized that tech companies face is trade-offs.

[01:08:27]They want a credibility, but then they face, you know, legal constraints and bureaucracy.

[01:08:35]They want to innovate, but there's this compliance issue. So, there are trade-offs.

[01:08:44]So, we decided to provide a jurisdiction where companies no longer have to choose.

[01:08:52]Of course, we have a long way to go, you know, to optimize this combination of speed and compliance and but we have our partners for that. We have we have a support from great companies our partners from existing jurisdictions and we will continue to do so.

[01:09:21]>> Great.

[01:09:22]I'm going to come back for for everybody with a quick fire on you mentioned the jurisdictions that you benchmarked against. So I'm going to ask each of you once [clears throat] once I give Michael an opportunity to speak around which jurisdictions you would see as as a as good model.

[01:09:42]Michael, maybe I can turn to to you as an investor.

[01:09:47]Um I guess maybe broaden a little bit from the jurisdiction but coming back to that.

[01:09:54]What makes an emerging market somewhere that a company wants to to move into?

[01:10:00]And then when they do make that decision you know, how do they make a a decision on the jurisdiction?

[01:10:07]And and maybe pick up some of what you what you've heard already from the from the panelists.

[01:10:12]>> Yeah, I think the one of the the biggest and most underestimated items is is about talent.

[01:10:19]We we always speak to our portfolio companies and we look at which markets could you expand to.

[01:10:26]We've even had a number of our portfolio companies last year join us on a trip to to Uzbekistan. And the question is always I find a GM, I set up a company here.

[01:10:37]What is next?

[01:10:38]Who are my first 10 hires on the ground?

[01:10:41]Can I find engineers? Can I find good account managers? Can I find a good back office? And that's often times a concern that's underestimated when companies are expanding here. Even if the market is amazing, you want to be able to build a local strong team and then build a narrative. So, I think that is one item where when we look at ecosystems, we want to see how deep is the talent pool.

[01:11:05]Um do people want to move here? It's so important. Um the moment a company expands, you have some of your team members willing to move, help set up shop.

[01:11:14]Um so, that's a very very important item. Um the other thing that is is often underestimated is um when we look at emerging ecosystems and jurisdictions, uh we tend to focus on bringing the big names uh to to the country. We want to have the shiny names, uh the big Wall Street names, you know, in in our country, which is amazing. We should have those.

[01:11:36]But, you'll find a lot of emerging fund managers that are very willing to set up shop in emerging markets because of the opportunity set. And um they're like entrepreneurs, you know, they you know, they go against the grain, they think about new solutions, new fund options, uh new ways to fund companies. So, I think that that is that is important as well.

[01:11:57]Um that you kind of treat all the investors sort of equally in that in that sense.

[01:12:02]Um and then the other thing is around infrastructure. Um I've been working across emerging markets for the past 20 years.

[01:12:09]Every time we set up a new fund or we look at new investments, the one question we get from our investors is, "What is the exit environment? Have you spoken to the local stock exchange? Uh can we list companies uh locally? Um who are the acquiring corporates that are looking to buy companies?" And we always look at the beginning beginning of the funnel. We need to have MVP companies, you need to have accelerators, you need to have pre-seed and seed companies, series A, and then it stops.

[01:12:37]Um it's funny interesting stat.

[01:12:40]The average graduation rate for companies is about 8% from uh pre-seed up to series A.

[01:12:46]So, when you add series A, you want to have enough investors backing all of these companies. And then those series A investors are going to ask, how do these companies graduate to series B and eventually to a to an acquisition? So getting that full sort of financial architecture in place is extremely important. Um in Singapore we've worked with the stock exchange for a very long time to help with local listings. Markets like Indonesia, Malaysia have done have done so as well. Um if you look at benchmarks, I think Japan has done a great job in terms of getting that that companies fairly early on to list on the on the local stock exchanges. So having the ability to not only invest, but at least seeing a rising of exiting a company in next 7 to 8 years is is very important as well.

[01:13:32]Um just want to make one one small comment. Like the I just had to laugh when I heard my colleague speak. I fully agree with everything whatever I said.

[01:13:40]Transparency is important. The one thing we look for when you look at a new fund and a new jurisdiction is how many headaches will we get?

[01:13:49]That is really your checklist. So we then speak to the regulator and say, "Listen, this is our fund structure. This is how we're going to operate.

[01:13:57]How many headaches do you think we're going to get? And how long is this going to take?"

[01:14:03]It it is bureaucracy, but it's sometimes also finding a counter It's sometimes people, yeah.

[01:14:11]Like finding a counterpart that understands what you're building.

[01:14:15]I'll give one example. This is the MAS in Singapore.

[01:14:20]They have their fund managers on WhatsApp.

[01:14:23]So when something happens, global events, they would text me and say, "Hey Mike, given this specific event, what is the impact on your fund?"

[01:14:32]On a Saturday.

[01:14:33]So it's amazing to have that that conversation with the regulator because it means that you have a you have a counterpart, you have a partner in your in your venture.

[01:14:43]>> Really interesting. Just picking up on your point and it's something that wasn't mentioned that kind of I suppose growth and exit strategy.

[01:14:55]Does does that full ecosystem need to be in place from day one and I know we have some of that here already but like can that grow with the ecosystem or what's your thoughts there?

[01:15:10]>> Um It can definitely grow. I think it's fine that obviously you cannot have everything in place in one time. So it it obviously grows. But um As you go from success to success the exit landscape is often times forgotten.

[01:15:27]You know, we celebrate an amazing funding round and then my question is what is next?

[01:15:34]I just want to preface that the moment you have funds on the ground and they are unable to exit their portfolios, that is the death of an ecosystem. So even if it grows, it is important that early on the regulators, the policy makers think about 10 years out. What is our exit horizon going to look like for our ecosystem?

[01:15:57]>> As so just coming to your announcement earlier that that Golden Gate have have set set up an office here.

[01:16:06]Can you maybe describe what your thought process was, what your plans are, how do you see it growing in into the future here? What what are you hoping to to achieve?

[01:16:16]>> Um well, it's funny. It's actually all the fault of IT Park. They uh >> [laughter] >> They uh no, they've done an amazing job.

[01:16:22]They they managed to convince us to uh look at the market seriously. Um we've met a lot of the founders and and we're impressed with their tenacity and their their willing to build big companies. Um obviously it's a big market and the neighboring markets are of size as well. Um we like the collaboration between the markets, which is very important for me how do we get our companies from one country to the to the other.

[01:16:50]I heard the amazing food was mentioned earlier. Similar, that's always a checklist for us as well.

[01:16:56]And then we looked at what are the plans for Uzbekistan long term and and we're very bullish on what we're seeing again from the regulators from the institutions. Setting up the company was fairly quick. I know this is a bit of a commercial, but setting up the company was it was quick. Getting done was fairly quick as well.

[01:17:14]You feel it's a very transparent and and straightforward process. So for us for our investors this was a no-brainer.

[01:17:22]>> And the headache metric?

[01:17:23]>> The headache metric I think we're at a at a four which is good. So four of 10.

[01:17:29]So I'm very very happy.

[01:17:31]>> We won't get you to mention what they are, but we definitely want to know [laughter] later on. So thank you for that. So just a very quick fire before we move on to a different topic.

[01:17:41]Um jurisdiction that you would look to to to to learn good lessons from. So particularly one that's attracting global technology companies.

[01:17:54]So Mark.

[01:17:57]>> Well, I think look Uzbekistan is in this unique position because it can stand on the shoulders of giants.

[01:18:09]It can take autonomous zones around the world.

[01:18:13]Some have been very successful.

[01:18:15]Others have been less successful.

[01:18:18]It can pick the good bits.

[01:18:20]It can discard the bad bits.

[01:18:23]And then it can create its own USP.

[01:18:26]And in a way isn't that what Enterprise Uzbekistan has done?

[01:18:31]It's picked some of the most attractive parts of other zones and then given it technology wrapper.

[01:18:39]There isn't another There are autonomous zones being created in tourism. There are autonomous zones long established in finance. There are autonomous zones being established in pharmaceuticals.

[01:18:52]This is the world's first autonomous zone dedicated to technology.

[01:18:59]So, I think I'm not asking what are the benchmarks that Uzbekistan should follow. It's more which other countries should be following Uzbekistan.

[01:19:10]>> You're a nightmare in table quizzes, are you? You can't just give me one answer.

[01:19:16]>> Yes.

[01:19:16]>> But can I Can I >> [laughter] >> Can I maybe ask you that question and I just want one or two. So, who are the jurisdictions you're looking at?

[01:19:25]>> I I I will probably not be the best person person to to to answer that question, but what I'm going to give you is the internal perspective.

[01:19:36]Um I have been blessed to work uh within How do I put it? The epicenter of changes and transformations in Uzbekistan for uh over 15 years in many uh in several organizations including including international development organizations within the UN system, Asian Development Bank, uh and now IT Park and Enterprise Uzbekistan. What I have been seeing from um those early days, I I saw these changes from within. And that is very important. There are some things that we can show to the world.

[01:20:21]There are some things that we can communicate about. But there's a lot of things that are impossible to get out there.

[01:20:30]Things that you observe, that you take through yourself, that you actually feel.

[01:20:37]I'm talking about the drive, the political will to change.

[01:20:42]I have been blessed to be able to compare the two administrations. I have witnessed together with many of my colleagues, I have witnessed the change in priorities of the administration.

[01:20:57]Uh I've been blessed to live in both eras, and it's it's just amazing to see uh how different things are.

[01:21:09]The way people saw what is actually actually possible.

[01:21:14]A lot of stereotypes broken within a matter of several years. Things that we always thought would be impossible to change. I mean, we're talking about the mentality. You know, you look at the problems with you say, "Well, that is something that you're not going to be able to change because it's just part of our mentality." Hell, no. The time has shown us that with a good, very strong political will, even those things that we think are impossible to change can and will change. If I could just take my brain out, you know, that that that part of the the the the with the information about transformations from within and put it and or show it to the investors, I would be able to eliminate I would say 80% of hesitations.

[01:22:07]But there are some things that are very difficult to do.

[01:22:12]So, we'll just continue do what we can.

[01:22:16]>> Great.

[01:22:17]Shown countries, jurisdictions that you'd you'd um >> Obviously >> learn from.

[01:22:24]>> Clearly.

[01:22:25]Um No, but but for a second, what I would say about benchmarking is uh people benchmark successful economies.

[01:22:36]It's very dangerous to do that. Because what you're seeing is outcome.

[01:22:42]They've arrived at a point.

[01:22:45]Yeah, when you benchmark, you should be much more interested in the journey.

[01:22:49]The starting point and where things went wrong.

[01:22:53]The countries to look at, your Irelands, your Singapores, you know, Morocco, Estonia.

[01:23:01]Morocco's fantastic investment promotion organization.

[01:23:05]Fantastic to what what they do.

[01:23:07]Um but look at those countries that you wouldn't necessarily think of uh being being successful, but the countries that are successful, examine the journey, not the arrival.

[01:23:20]Um that would be the the the the key piece of advice. You'll learn far more from their mistakes than their success.

[01:23:28]Because when you strive to emulate others, striving for what what they've achieved, you tend to fall down cuz you're chasing something.

[01:23:40]You're far better to step into and in the opportunities that are coming around than try and chase them.

[01:23:47]Um not that you shouldn't have targets, but for me, the journey is is is what's important. And it frustrates me when I see people benchmarking Ireland and where they are and I'm like, that's not it's not real.

[01:24:00]It's not real. It's not It's not the reality of what it takes to be successful. So, that would be my my key piece.

[01:24:08]>> Can I just make one addition to what John said? Uh you know, in business world, uh if you if you listen listen to the coaches, business coaches, uh many of them uh you know, um focus on importance of the entrepreneurs to talk to other people. Not make an assumption, but to talk to several entrepreneurs, founders, etc. People who have walked the path.

[01:24:36]The same thing in building an industry, in building an ecosystem. That is exactly what we did when we were when we were building IT Park.

[01:24:45]We didn't build it based on our assumptions. We talked to other models uh the you know, with with similar models of parks already established. We talked to people. We didn't make an assumption.

[01:25:00]The same thing we're doing with Enterprise Uzbekistan. We're not building that on an assumption. We are talking to people who have walked the path like these fine gentlemen sitting here.

[01:25:10]So, I think that that is very important.

[01:25:12]Thank you.

[01:25:12]>> Thank you. Michael, same question.

[01:25:14]Countries, jurisdictions that you you think we can learn from?

[01:25:18]>> Um Yeah, I just I don't Actually, I wanted to what Sean said.

[01:25:23]It's It's Yeah, I know it's it's it's really true.

[01:25:28]Like listen, I I remember a long time I'm I'm I'm pretty old. Um a long time ago, there was this um interesting almost kind of battle between Singapore and Hong Kong who would become the fintech hub and and they went back and forth in bigger festivals, better regulation, etc. Um if you would ask any entrepreneur where would you want to, you know, build your business?

[01:25:54]They're not going to say, "Oh, because Singapore is the best fintech hub or they have the best festival." It's all about the entire ecosystem, the investors, the partners they work with.

[01:26:04]Again, the depth of talent, uh the ease of travel. Uh there are so many things that that are added to it.

[01:26:10]So, it's it's very hard to pinpoint one specific jurisdiction that that that you should emulate.

[01:26:16]Um you know, I I say just focus on your own strength. That is that is most important.

[01:26:23]Don't panic when things go wrong. You know, you're building for the next decade. You're building for the next generations. Just don't panic. You have you have a long-term view on what you're building. You know what you want. Stick to it. And and the one thing I would add is um what I'll say one thing. So, very recently Singapore has has openly said we want to be within the Asia context the AI hub. So, we're going to welcome all the big corporations. What it has done, which is very interesting, what it has done it is led to an influx of younger AI companies from across the region to set up shop in Singapore. So, what they've done is they they've basically said, here's a menu.

[01:27:03]If you want to come here, you're more than welcome. I'll provide you with the the university connections, with the investors, etc. And I think they've done that so well that they've now been able to get the open AI's in the AI topics to really sort of open up shop.

[01:27:17]That is one example that I find impressive because it's very hard in this day and age to find that attraction.

[01:27:25]>> Thank you. And just in we heard earlier on from Singal about StartupBlink putting Uzbekistan as the the startup ecosystem of the year.

[01:27:38]What influence does that have on investors and startup companies to to actually choose a location?

[01:27:46]>> Um so, investors are a bit like lemmings and we we tend to look at what the other person is doing and and we don't we don't follow. So, I think having clarity on there are companies that you can invest in.

[01:28:00]Um there are more and more funds, both local funds and international funds putting money to the table. There is a jurisdiction that you can actually set up shop, invest, and and have confidence.

[01:28:11]I think all of these things are extremely important. So, I'm not always the biggest fan of these these rankings, but it is important to showcase what you're what you're able to offer. And if you can tangentially do so, it's not really us. You're going to find more funds similar to us that are going to set up shop here as well.

[01:28:27]>> Thank you.

[01:28:28]Uh but could I have final question to you? Um so, Enterprise Uzbekistan, what does success look like, you know, when we hit 2020, 2030, or or whatever timeline you have? What what success, what metrics are you going to be looking at?

[01:28:47]>> How does our success look like? Uh um Look, the most obvious you would think would be probably the number of companies we attracted, uh the volume of export, uh number of jobs created, etc. That all is very important, no doubt.

[01:29:05]Uh but if you look at the end result, if you look at the initial objective that we have uh put before us, if you look at the long-term impact of this uh national scale and long-term project, uh it's not that.

[01:29:25]It's different.

[01:29:27]Uh I guess we would call ourselves successful if companies start including Enterprise Uzbekistan into their strategy of development.

[01:29:44]When they do not look at Enterprise Uzbekistan as at an experiment, but as a very good means for scaling and developing.

[01:30:06]When they enter Enterprise Uzbekistan not you know for the sake of mere incentives but because they view this jurisdiction as an integral one of the initial and integral parts of their development strategy.

[01:30:28]That is what I would call the main factor of success of this of this project.

[01:30:36]Yeah.

[01:30:37]>> Great. Thank you and wish you all all the best of of looking at and I guess we're going to have a joint joint journey there a little bit as well.

[01:30:45]>> Yes.

[01:30:46]>> Just before we break up a little birdie told me that today was a a big day for you. You've a bit of a birthday. So I think we'll all uh take the opportunity to wish Bakhtiyor a happy birthday before we break up. So thank you.

[01:31:02]>> Thank you very much. Thank you.

[01:31:06]>> So I guess that that brings us to the end of of our discussion.

[01:31:11]I'd like to thank the panelists for for a very engaging and enlightening discussion.

[01:31:17]Um and I I guess maybe you can join me in wishing Enterprise Uzbekistan all the best for the future.

[01:31:25]Thank you. Apologies we didn't get any time for for questions but I think the panelists are going to be sticking around so we're we're all available. I'm sure you are for any individual questions that you might have. Um that's it for us.

[01:31:41]Remat and uh that we'll move on. Thank you.

[01:31:49]>> Thank you so much our dear panelists for a wonderful discussion. Before we move on to the next stage I'd like to kindly ask you to sit stand on the stage for a quick photo. Yeah.

[01:32:47]>> Thank you so much, gentlemen. It was a wonderful discussion. And on that celebratory note, we move to a moment that turns today's conversation into commitments.

[01:32:57]The formal exchange of two important agreements marking new partnerships for Uzbekistan's technology ecosystem.

[01:33:07]Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage Mr. Daler Khon Nodirov, the CEO of IT Park Ventures, and Mr. Alim Khamitov, the CEO Most Investment, for the exchange of a memorandum of understanding.

[01:33:32]Please welcome to the stage.

[01:33:48]Congratulations to both parties.

[01:34:06]>> Thank you so much, gentlemen.

[01:34:07]Congratulations to both of you.

[01:34:14]Now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage Mr. Azamat Karamatov, the CEO of IT Park Uzbekistan, and Mr. Mukhammad Makhmudov, the CEO of Plug and Play Central Asia, for the exchange of an agreement on strategic cooperation aimed at post fostering initiatives in the startup ecosystem.

[01:34:48]Congratulations once again to both parties. Thank you so much for everyone who has come to our session today. With that, we come to the close of today's program, and we hope that you found today's session valuable, and we look forward to seeing the ideas from this room to come to into the life.

[01:35:06]Thank you so much, everyone, and enjoy the rest of your day.