We believe that it is vitally important to give back to the countries and communities where we do business. In this spirit, we have developed numerous programmes to support the people who are driving the developed and emerging markets where we operate, in the areas of:
Education is central to the future health and prosperity of the societies in which Mina Group operates, and Kyrgyzstan is no exception.
That is why Mina Group partnered with The American University of Central Asia (AUCA) in 2011 to create The New Generation Academy (NGA), which provides deserving secondary school graduates from Central Asia with an intense one-year curriculum to help them prepare for university.
As part of an initial funding commitment through 2017, Mina Group sponsors 70 scholars chosen from all regions of the Kyrgyz Republic at the NGA each year. Of these 70 “Mina Scholars,” Mina Group provides the 15 most promising with full four-year tuition at AUCA. In a strong sign of support for the NGA, the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek sponsored 18 young women from Afghanistan to attend the NGA in its inaugural year.
DG: [00:10]We are here today in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan and today has been a wonderful day. We just came out of an opening ceremony of the New Generation Academy. We select candidates that we think can qualify for the programme and then we sponsor 70 students and bring them here to this great university in Bishkek where they are given professional education and brought up to a level where they can qualify for 15 places for a Bachelor Degree that we finance entirely.
DG: [03:34]It’s important for me personally and it’s important for Mina Group to give back something to societies we work in, and it’s a great pleasure and achievement for us to see and create and to give opportunities to a new generation.
Mina Group and AUCA are in the process of soliciting applications from students from all over the Kyrgyz Republic who are hoping to participate in the programme next year.
JH: [00:42]The scholarship also pays for their accommodation, they have a free stay at the dorm, and also they take three meals a day. So for all these children this is a phenomenal opportunity to not worry about the financial part of their education, but fully focus on the academics. The students are great, they’re highly motivated, they keep surprising us with different initiatives to take. So they’re excelling not just academically but also in different non-academic settings.
JH: [01:14]My first hope is that the students will succeed, that they will all find themselves in the university next year, and then four years later they will graduate. And my second hope is that the project itself will also inspire other students to apply for this programme.
JH: [03:05]Some of these children come from under privileged homes in very remote areas. They don’t know much about computers so we felt it was an important thing for them to learn as they are trying to prepare themselves for college.
AS: [01:29]My name is Almaz, I was born in Narun region but I grew up in Bishkek and I am 22 years old.
AS: [02:07]I do love studying English and maths, but to say the truth I hated maths before. Since I started studying at AUCA, teachers are different and they have different ways of teaching.
AS: [03:23]I want to work in a huge international corporation, such as Google, maybe Microsoft.
KK: [01:38]My name is Kunduz. I am from Karakol. I am 18 years old.
KK: [02:30]Here I’m studying English, maths, computers because I have very little knowledge about computers and improve my English, improve my knowledge about maths.
KK: [03:28I want to be a diplomat in the future.
TS: [01:43]I’m Subanaliev Talgat, I am from Tagtogul from Jalal-Abad region and I’m at 18 years old.
TS: [01:57]The New Generation Academy for me is a great opportunity to get a higher education, in one of the finest universities in Central Asia.
TS: [03:30]I want to be a journalist.
BT: [01:49]My name is Bakhrom. I am from Kyzyl-Kiya. It’s Batken region. I’m 18 years old.
BT: [02:22]I study hard because I want to study in the University of Central Asia. In the future I’ll take a good job.
BT: [03:20]After university I want to be a film maker.
CM: [02:45]I think I speak for most educators in the world when you say, the best product is when you get to see the student go from little knowledge in whatever aspect you’re teaching to, not specialists but a huge level to what the topics are. That’s what we’re doing with the introduction to computers course. The students are walking away academically prepared to be undergraduates.
BT: [02:22]I study hard because I want to study in the University of Central Asia. In the future I’ll take a good job.
BT: [03:20]After university I want to be a film maker.
International Relations
Relations between emerging and established nations are of paramount importance.
Through our work in Eurasia and Afghanistan, we are promoting awareness of the importance of international relationships. Keen to share our knowledge, we sponsored a recent discussion on Kyrgyzstan at Washington, D.C.’s Hudson Institute. Policy analysts, government officials, academics, and journalists debated the topic “The Political Situation in Kyrgyzstan: Implications for the United States” and considered the changes that have taken place since the April 2010 revolution and the challenges facing the country.
Young Women Leaders
We believe that the future of Asian and Eurasian societies will involve an increasingly vital role for women leaders. Nowhere is this more evident than in business.
It was Mina Group’s commitment to this belief that led us to sponsor a 2011 young women’s leadership summit in Washington, DC, organised by the U.S. non-profit organisation iLive2Lead. Participants were mentored by successful female leaders and encouraged to pave the way for social change in their home communities. With participants to this summit coming from more than 70 nations, Mina Group sponsored delegates from Afghanistan, China, Georgia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, and Saudi Arabia.
DG: [00:10]We are here today in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan and today has been a wonderful day. We just came out of an opening ceremony of the New Generation Academy. We select candidates that we think can qualify for the programme and then we sponsor 70 students and bring them here to this great university in Bishkek where they are given professional education and brought up to a level where they can qualify for 15 places for a Bachelor Degree that we finance entirely.
DG: [03:34]It’s important for me personally and it’s important for Mina Group to give back something to societies we work in, and it’s a great pleasure and achievement for us to see and create and to give opportunities to a new generation.
Mina Group and AUCA are in the process of soliciting applications from students from all over the Kyrgyz Republic who are hoping to participate in the programme next year.
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