TechnoHub Dushanbe: How 2024 Went for the IT Hub in Dushanbe

Masrur Ishanov, city — Dushanbe, Head of TechnoHub Dushanbe

Year in Review

TechnoHub Dushanbe began its operations this year. We started planning and implementing our project in 2019 and officially launched it in 2024. Over the past nine months, we have accomplished a great deal, and one of our most important goals was not to become merely an educational center focused on training, but rather a hub where, together with our partners, we can implement various educational initiatives.

Since the beginning of the year, we have conducted approximately 60–70 events, excluding our courses. These included open events, masterclasses, lessons, conferences, and donor councils, where we organized roundtables with international companies to discuss ecosystem challenges. We managed to establish cooperation with almost all key players in the market, such as zypl.ai, ilmhona, Humolab, SoftClub, as well as other ecosystem participants operating in the education sector. Together, we organized events and activities aimed at fostering unity.

One of the main tasks for 2024 was building and forming our team. We successfully assembled a team, developed a shared vision, united our partners, and properly positioned TechnoHub.

We do not work directly with startups, nor do we consider ourselves an accelerator or incubator, as this was not our objective. We are more focused on the education sector, but we have startup partners, such as SoftClub, Yalla, and others, with whom we maintain good relationships. We noticed that in 2024, many neighboring countries began to unite and present themselves as a single region, which creates more opportunities on the international stage. This unification has attracted the attention of Kazakh investors and funds to Tajik startups, as well as startups from Uzbekistan. As part of our cooperation with the state business incubator and Tajinvest, we were among the organizers of the Startupstan Summit 2024. We indirectly support startups, as any IT entrepreneur is a potential startup founder.

Support for Startups and Entrepreneurs

The main challenge for the IT sector in Tajikistan is infrastructure. There are issues that hinder the development of the ecosystem. However, this year, an Agency for Innovation under the President was established, which has given a significant boost in this direction. Previously, no one monitored the development of innovations, but now there is an active body helping with this. The first IT park has opened in Dushanbe, providing tax benefits to its residents. We are actively cooperating with the agency and hope that infrastructure problems will be resolved in 2025.

TechnoHub Dushanbe positions itself as an educational platform, with the primary goal of developing the ecosystem through workforce preparation. We understand that success in IT, startups, and innovation depends on the people who implement ideas. We want to assist the government in preparing such specialists who will create innovations in the future. In 2024, we launched the P2P educational project, receiving support from international donors, including USAID. In 2025, we plan to further develop this methodology in Tajikistan. It is based on practical learning and teamwork, allowing students to learn through real-world experience. This approach has already proven successful in countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. We are confident that this will help contribute to the creation of an innovative and technological nation in Tajikistan.

Future Plans

— P2P Education. This is our flagship project, which will support the development of IT education. We see that after 7–10 months of study, students can begin working in their field, which is an important factor for the accelerated training of specialists. Our goal is to prepare 250 specialists, which is quite achievable. In the future, we plan to expand, including entering regional markets, as development should not be limited to the capital but should occur wherever there is potential.

— Specialized courses for IT companies. We aim to teach IT companies how to operate in the international market by collaborating with partners such as Strategist and EPAM. This will help our companies grow beyond the country’s borders.

— Localization of international educational programs. We do not plan to invent something new but rather take existing successful programs and adapt them for Tajikistan. Our goal is to obtain certification as an Apple Educational Center and Microsoft, as well as possibly other major vendors such as Hewlett Packard. These are our main objectives for 2025.

— Online education. We plan to test the hypothesis of creating a platform or marketplace for online courses and are looking for partners for this project.

Today, the world is actively developing in the direction of artificial intelligence, and we are keeping up with these trends. We have already conducted masterclasses on prompt engineering, teaching how to interact correctly with AI. Within our TechnoHub and peer-to-peer education framework, we have a separate development track in the field of machine learning. We will be training specialists capable of developing artificial intelligence. We see the future in programming and AI and will prepare relevant specialists in this area.

I am inspired by the energy of IT specialists and startup founders who believe in their products. I love helping them, especially when my consultations prove useful. I want them to succeed, and I believe that with our workforce and startup founders, this is possible—it is only a matter of time and rapid growth. Many entrepreneurs have already realized that they should not limit themselves to Tajikistan alone and are beginning to think about scaling into international markets. I hope they will soon achieve success.

Recently, thanks to USAID support, we launched a scholarship program for girls who wish to study but lack the opportunity. We conducted a selection process and provided them with free annual training. One of our employees said a phrase that has stayed with me: “We can change these girls’ lives.” This is motivating because, by training specialists, you can fundamentally change their lives, giving them a chance at a successful career, for example, at companies like Google or Amazon.