IT-community from Central Asia: Solana Superteam

Talgat Dossanov, city — Almaty, head of Solana Superteam KZ, co-founder and CEO of Intebix, LinkedIn

About Me

I represent Solana in Kazakhstan and am simultaneously the co-founder and director of the cryptocurrency exchange Intebix. I have previously worked in various fields and countries. I received my higher education at the University of Oxford and the University of Aberdeen. After studying abroad, I returned to Kazakhstan, where I continued my professional career. Currently, I help develop the Web3 industry in the country.

About the Community

The Solana representation in Kazakhstan did not start from scratch. Two months ago, we held the first event in the region — Solana Economic Zone, with the support of the cryptocurrency exchange Intebix, the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the International Financial Center "Astana" (IFC "Astana"), and Astana Hub.

The event generated significant interest from both the private sector and government structures. The Minister of Digital Development, the head of IFC "Astana", the head of Astana Hub spoke on stage, and deputies were present. The entire top management of Solana, including the company president, attended from the Solana side.

After the guests saw the openness of the country and regulators to new technologies — blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and Web3 — a decision was made to open an official representation in Kazakhstan.

For now, we are starting with work in Kazakhstan, but we plan to expand into Central Asia and the CIS from the new year. Moreover, 145,000 people watched the live broadcast of the event, which became an internal record for Solana on social media.

Community Members

The main audience of Solana in Kazakhstan consists of developers, founders, or creators of blockchain projects, as well as those who want to learn about cryptocurrencies, Web3, and blockchain. To become part of the community, you need to go through a certain selection process by filling out a form on the website.

Our goals:

1. To help make Kazakhstan the Central Asian hub of innovation and a leader in the Web3 economy by ensuring synergy between the Solana ecosystem and local developers, institutions, regulators, and investors.
2. To make Solana the leading blockchain and Web3 ecosystem in the region.
3. To provide support to foreign projects from the Solana ecosystem aiming to enter the Kazakh market, scale their activities here, as well as to expand the presence of Kazakh projects in international markets.

Events for Community Members

Solana has three key areas of work:

1. Education

On August 18, together with Astana Hub, we will announce the launch of the first group of students who will be able to take Web3 courses completely free of charge.

The educational modules prepared by Solana were adapted and translated into two languages by our team from Intebix, and recorded in the format of professional video lessons. All registered course participants will gain access.

2. Earning Opportunities

After training, participants will be able to join the accelerator or participate in hackathons. These are paid activities. For example, at the moment, four teams have already applied for grants and received a total of $35,000 within a week for further development of their ideas.

3. Joint Development

Participants can join forces to create programs, applications, and other projects.

How the Community Helps Development

The professional direction includes training and hackathons. Very soon, we will announce the launch of a hackathon together with BAITC. Anyone related to the topic or simply wanting to try can participate — absolutely free of charge.

Winners of the national hackathon will receive decent prizes — about $20,000, as well as the opportunity to participate in the global Solana hackathon with much larger prizes.

In addition, accelerators, educational programs, and grants are planned. If you have an IT startup or an idea related to the blockchain ecosystem, you can apply for a grant. Usually, the decision is made within seven days, and upon approval, you will receive funding to the crypto wallet you specify.

Plans

By the end of the year, Solana Superteam sets a large-scale task — to teach as many people as possible the basics of Web3. This is the first basic module that will allow beginner developers to understand how smart contracts work, the basics of programming, and the principles of blockchain. After that, training for more advanced specialists will begin.

Parallel to this, hackathons will take place, which will help developers, founders, and creators of applications and Web3 games receive financial and administrative support, as well as integration into the Solana ecosystem.

And finally, we want to give talented youth working with Web3 and the Solana blockchain the real opportunity to earn money on their projects and skills.