Maksat’s Dumplings: A Small Business Creating Big Opportunity in the Kyrgyz Republic

Maksat Kydyrzhan uulu, a resident of Min-Bulak village in the Kyrgyz Republic’s Talas region, has always strived to be independent. While he took odd jobs to gain experience, his goal has long been to run his own business. After he and his wife started a successful pop-up cafe that runs in the summer months, he knew he wanted something more.

“The idea came to me even before the COVID-19 pandemic, when I was working at a local production workshop,” he recalls. “I saw how everything was organized and realized that I could start something similar myself. After opening the cafe, we began thinking about producing semi-finished food products.”

A New Opportunity to Move Forward

A turning point came when Maksat learned about a project supporting rural entrepreneurs during a visit to his village administration. He was invited to enroll in training sessions on business planning and preparing applications for funding.

“At the trainings, we were taught how to prepare business plans, submit applications, and make calculations,” says Maksat. “This knowledge helped me turn my dream into reality.”

Soon afterward, he received a small grant through the Additional Financing for the Third Village Investment Project (VIP-3 AF), supported by the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA). Responding to economic losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that disproportionately affected the country’s poorest residents, VIP-3 AF introduced livelihood support and grant programs targeted to vulnerable populations such as persons with disabilities and women.  

With this financial assistance, Maksat launched a dumpling production workshop in his village after purchasing essential equipment including a shock freezer, iceboxes, refrigerators, a meat grinder for mince, bone cutters, a dumpling maker, and a dough mixer.

Creating Jobs Close to Home

Employment opportunities in rural areas across the Kyrgyz Republic like Min-Bulak remain limited, especially for women, who balance professional pursuits with family responsibilities and household duties.

Maksat’s dumpling workshop employs four locals. Three of them are women, who handle making the dough, preparing the filling, shaping the dumplings, freezing the batches, and packing the final product into containers. They also make sure the workshop meets essential food safety and hygiene standards.

Maksat is proud to run a successful business that is both contributing to the community and supporting his family: "I oversee everything myself, and my wife is an essential part of the team here. I am grateful to be able to create jobs and help reduce unemployment in our village.”

Maksat’s wife Aizada reiterates: “This workshop is more than just a job for me. It lets me help support my family while staying close to home and to my kids. Watching the business grow makes me feel more confident about the future.”

Looking Ahead: Growth and New Ambitions

Today, the workshop’s foodstuffs are sold in local shops in Min-Bulak, other nearby villages, and in stores in the capital of the Talas region. During the summer months, Maksat also sells his products, including traditional steamed meat-filled dumplings called manty, at his pop-up cafe.

“We focus on local demand and work based on the needs of the community,” he explains. “First, we supply our cafe, and then we have gradually expanded sales to other markets.”

Maksat is determined to keep growing, expanding his line of production while increasing the variety of products he sells. “We don’t want to limit ourselves to just dumplings and manty,” he says. “In the future, we plan to produce meatballs, cutlets, and other semi-finished products. We are already working with designers on a logo, packaging, and banners. I hope we will soon enter the market with our own brand.”

“The Most Important Thing Is Not to Stop”

For Maksat, entrepreneurship is closely tied to perseverance. He believes that personal challenges should not prevent people from pursuing their goals.

Maksat’s story demonstrates how support for entrepreneurship can change not only one person’s life but also an entire community. His dumpling workshop is more than a business—it is creating jobs, providing stable income, and fueling a sense of hope for the future and what is possible in Min-Bulak.