USAID ECP Business Accelerator, 2019: Eleven IT Teams, Three Sessions, One Methodology
In March 2019, KG Labs Public Foundation signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the USAID Enterprise Competitiveness Project (ECP), implemented in Kyrgyzstan by ACDI/VOCA. The MOU formalised KG Labs as co-facilitator of a Business Acceleration Program aimed specifically at women- and youth-led IT SMEs. The announcement went out on March 19. Applications were accepted online, in Russian, Kyrgyz, or English. The call directed applicants to submit to [email protected]. Eleven teams were selected from the incoming applications.
The programme ran from April to late June 2019, in three structured sessions, using a methodology built around the VIRAL framework developed by Village Capital (VilCap) — a peer-based investment readiness diagnostic for early-stage ventures. The logic of VIRAL is that teams assess each other rather than being assessed by external judges: each cohort member rates their peers on a set of investment readiness dimensions, with the dual result that teams receive honest benchmarking from people who understand their context, and that the scoring process forces them to articulate criteria they would otherwise leave implicit.
The Cohort: Eleven IT Teams from Bishkek, Osh, and Karabalta
The eleven teams accepted into the programme spanned a range of IT subsectors. Most were Bishkek-based, but the cohort included one team from Osh (Own Space, a web studio) and one from Karabalta (CompService, hardware and software maintenance). The age range was 21 to 29; 60% of participants were men, 40% women; half of all team leaders were women.
| Company | Sector / Product | Base |
|---|---|---|
| kite.kg | Voice bot for call-centre automation (AI algorithms) | Bishkek |
| Agritech Digital Solutions | E-commerce platform for farmers (agri marketplace) | Bishkek |
| GEO | Geothermal heating services for households | Bishkek |
| Unicode | Coding courses | Bishkek |
| Code Generation | Coding courses | Bishkek |
| KSSDA | Coding courses | Bishkek |
| SoMe | Online survey app for SMEs | Bishkek |
| freelance.kg | Online marketplace for freelancers | Bishkek |
| Vicard | App for collecting and organising business cards | Bishkek |
| Origami / Max Ive | Web studio / web development services | Bishkek |
| Own Space | Web studio | Osh |
The sector mix is worth reading: three separate teams were building coding-course businesses, two were in web-studio services. The more differentiated bets — a voice bot for call-centre automation (kite.kg), a geothermal heating product (GEO), an agricultural e-commerce platform, a freelancer marketplace (freelance.kg) — were smaller in number but pointed at narrower problems with higher specificity. The presence of a geothermal-heating startup and an agricultural marketplace in a cohort positioned as an IT accelerator is a reminder that in a market Kyrgyzstan’s size, the IT-sector boundary extends into physical infrastructure and commodity supply chains.
Session Structure: Three Rounds, Eleven to Seven
Session 1 introduced the VIRAL framework and ran the cohort through value proposition design, business model construction (using the Canvas), product-demo preparation, and pitch structure. Teams also received pre-read materials on the VIRAL methodology before the session. On the final day of Session 1, they met mentor-facilitators for the first time — a deliberate sequence that meant teams were presenting work they had developed, not arriving cold.
The April 24 mentors’ workshop ran in parallel with the close of Session 1: eleven mentors worked with the teams, giving detailed feedback on the projects. The quarterly report describes the feedback as “painful in many ways for participants, but helpful in making the product better.” The question of how teams handle external critique was already visible as a design challenge — during the group exercise the report calls “Electric Chair” (a structured peer-feedback activity where one team’s assumptions are challenged by all others), several teams adopted defensive postures that blocked uptake of the input. The programme noted this as a recurring pattern to address.
By Session 3, in late June, four teams had dropped from the cohort. Seven remained. The June 25-28 programme ran intermediate financial planning and team diagnostics, with the mentoring day on June 27. The mentor list for that session included Aziz Soltobaev (KG Labs), Altynbek Ismailov (HTP.kg), Nargiza Kulataeva, Aibek Imaraliev (BF Consulting), Talant Omuraliev, Azhar Mambetova (Kompanion), Azat Tazhiev (SOMO.kg), Alexandra Ishchenko, and Andrei Gurinov (Timelysoft).
What the Programme Produced
The quarterly report KG Labs submitted after the three sessions documented several outcomes that are specific enough to be useful. Most teams reached a working MVP by the end of the programme. Teams demonstrated measurable improvement in value proposition articulation, business model structuring, and pitch delivery. The diagnostic that showed up across the sessions was the quality of peer feedback: teams that started by defending their assumptions shifted, over the three rounds, toward using the critique to revise their products. The report frames this shift in terms the VIRAL framework makes explicit: understanding the difference between being “investment-ready” and being “investment-attractive” — concepts that sound related but describe different problems.
One concrete metric stands out: one startup in the cohort generated 3.5 million KGS in platform turnover during the programme period. The quarterly report does not name the company, but the figure appeared as a headline result in KG Labs’ submission to USAID ECP. For a Bishkek IT startup in 2019, 3.5 million KGS (roughly $50,000 at the time) in demonstrated platform revenue during a three-month accelerator cycle was a meaningful indicator of traction.
Post-session survey responses from mentors rated the programme’s results as “slightly or significantly better than other similar programmes in the region,” and the majority expressed willingness to participate in the next cohort and to recommend the VIRAL methodology to other startups. KG Labs planned to continue the acceleration from September 2019.
The programme also surfaced some operational findings. Venue logistics mattered: several potential mentors declined to participate because the session location was too distant from the city’s business district. The administrative burden of collecting post-session reporting forms from participants required active management during the final session day. For a programme that was still institutionalising its formats — with some mentors attending for the first time in Session 3 without a prior briefing — these were the expected friction points of a first-cohort run.
Programme Details
| Programme | USAID Enterprise Competitiveness Project Business Accelerator (“Бизнес-Акселератор”) |
| USAID project funder | USAID/Kyrgyz Republic |
| Implementing agency | ACDI/VOCA (USAID Enterprise Competitiveness Project — ECP) |
| KG Labs role | Co-facilitator (implementation partner); signed MOU March 14, 2019 |
| Methodology | VIRAL (Village Capital / VilCap investment readiness framework) |
| Target group | IT SMEs and startups led by women or youth (15–29 years), or enterprises with ≥80% women/youth workforce |
| Cohort size | 11 teams selected; 7 completed all three sessions |
| Programme period | April – June 2019 (3 sessions; continuation planned September 2019) |
| Cohort demographics | Ages 21–29; 60% male, 40% female; 50% team leaders women |
| Session 3 mentors | Aziz Soltobaev (KG Labs); Altynbek Ismailov (HTP.kg); Nargiza Kulataeva; Aibek Imaraliev (BF Consulting); Talant Omuraliev; Azhar Mambetova (Kompanion); Azat Tazhiev (SOMO.kg); Alexandra Ishchenko; Andrei Gurinov (Timelysoft) |
| Notable outcome | One cohort startup generated 3.5 million KGS in platform turnover during the programme period |
