IT community from Central Asia: Women in Tech Kazakhstan

Asem Bolatzhan, city — Almaty, head of Women in Tech Kazakhstan, Instagram

About the community

Women in Tech Kazakhstan is part of the global Women in Tech network, which spans 54 countries and has an active membership of over 250,000 people worldwide. The global office is located in Paris. The community operates under the patronage of the President of France. Kazakhstan joined this global movement, becoming one of the 54 participating countries.

Participation in Women in Tech is free. We provide the opportunity for people to register on our platform, connect with the chapter in Kazakhstan, and use various services. For example, you can find a global mentor or a job in an international company. There are many opportunities for participants.

Additionally, Women in Tech runs various programs. For example, we recently conducted a program to train women freelancers. We always have an active and rich agenda aimed at increasing the number of women in the technology sector. We understand that there is a historically established imbalance where men, rather than women, primarily work in technical specialties. But with each year, boundaries are blurring, and we would like not only to increase the number of women in IT but also to make them more visible to local and global markets.

In our Kazakhstan community, we have identified several key areas in which we would like to work more deeply: women in management, so that more women occupy leadership positions, as well as women founders and investors in the startup and venture environment. A separate area is supporting women in science.

The main goals of the community are seen as creating a more "visible," including at the international level, progressive generation of girls and women, as well as creating a national technological women's brand for the country.

Events for community members

We are open to everyone. On September 4, an official opening of Women in Tech in Kazakhstan will take place in Almaty. The global CEO, Ayumi Maruki, will attend. She will visit Kazakhstan for the first time and will be present at the opening. The event is free, by registration. We plan to hold up to four events per year, including technical meetups, motivational meetings, networking sessions, and lectures at universities. Information about all events can be found on our Instagram and LinkedIn pages.

How the community helps with development

We are not an association, so we do not charge any membership fees. To become a participant, you just need to register on the platform. We provide the opportunity for global networking and mentoring. This is useful for professionals who are seriously engaged in deep technologies.

Plans

In the near future, we plan to hold an official opening. We have a serious advisory board, which includes Alina Aldambergen, Lyazzat Satieva, Dina Amroshova, Kulyash Baiseitova, Zhanat Berdalina, and many others. Together, we will define our localized strategy.

By the end of this year, we want to nominate Kazakh women for their projects within the framework of the global Women in Tech Awards. First, there will be a regional stage for countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus. And the global Women in Tech Awards will take place in Baku in November. This is a major event and an important event for us because we want to make Kazakh projects and women more visible to the international community.

We also plan to hold a technical meetup in October. Possibly, we will have one networking session with guests, those who come to us from abroad.