On July 1–4, the second Astana Finance Days financial conference was held in Kazakhstan’s capital city, Nur-Sultan. We talked with a range of business leaders, government officials, entrepreneurs and exhibitors to capture the pulse of this year’s event.

Astana Finance Days 2019 played host to more than 2,000 international delegates in early July at the Astana International Financial Centre in Nur-Sultan. Much of the week’s discussions were focused on the importance of nurturing talent among Kazakhstan’s growing population of 18.5 million, which has a median age of just 30.

“There is a big demand to learn new skills,” says Yernur Rysmagambetov, Deputy CEO of AIFC. “We have trained more than 2,000 professionals in the last year. The key asset for Kazakhstan is the people.”

The Growing Role of EdTech

The ongoing democratization of education was explored in depth at the event’s EdTech Forum, where international and local companies interacted with government specialists, Silicon Valley developers and investors interested in simplifying access to knowledge through new technology.

We talked to Aizhan Kairat, IELTS (English Language Testing System), Marketing and HR, at iPrep.kz, an online school that prepares children for international exams, and Alina Askarova, Regional Managing Director of Geneva Business School, which runs blended learning MBA programs using virtual reality. Representatives of international companies at the event included executives from Coursera, EdCrunch, Google, Microsoft, ACCA and GARP.

“I was compelled by the mission,” explains Abhishek Kumar, Software Engineer at Google. “It’s all about helping businesses realize their journey into digital transformation.”

Capital Markets: Open for Business

Conference speakers discussed developments in the financial markets, and practical training seminars ranged from fintech and IPOs to building a futuristic ecosystem for international business.

Kazakhstan’s international stock exchange, the AIX, created in 2018, has enabled the trading of domestic assets within the nation’s borders as well as on international exchanges, and many large and medium-size Kazakh companies have IPOs planned for 2019–2020.

“When I arrived a year ago, we had a blank sheet of paper,” says Tim Bennett, CEO of AIX. “We now have a working exchange—we did our first IPO in November 2018 of KazAtomProm, the national uranium company. We’re open for business.”

Fintech: An Opportunity to Leapfrog Development

Fintech is another key growth area in Kazakhstan, and delegates discussed issues ranging from the evolution of finance jobs and the advantages of digitalization to trends in QR payments and mobile banking.

“We’re looking at how we develop a foundation for a healthy and vibrant fintech ecosystem,” says Afiq Johar, Chief Fintech Officer at AIFC’s Fintech Hub. “Around 80% of the population has internet access, and smartphone penetration is growing quickly, and is now at roughly 50%.

“If you look at the broader Eurasia region, only 60% of the population have access to a bank account; that’s 20% lower than neighboring countries China and Russia. So, there is a lot of room for growth and opportunity to leapfrog development.”

Islamic Finance: An Opportunity to Lead

Kazakhstan is also well positioned to take a lead role in the development of Islamic finance in the region, and it is one of the strategic objectives of the AIFC. Sheikh Bilal Khan, Chief Islamic Finance Officer at AIFC

Kazakhstan’s Investment in Fintech