In 2016, the "Golden Circle" contest was held for KMF clients with participation of entrepreneurs from different regions of Kazakhstan.
To become a participant of the contest, it was necessary to take part in business education workshops on five topics:
1. Balance sheet in business management;
2. Marketing for micro and small enterprises;
3. Sales techniques;
4. Cash flow management;
5. Human resources management.
The finalists of the contest were participants who attended all five business education workshops, and also shared their feedback.
The finalists of the contest were:
1) Rakhmetulayeva Gulistan, client of Almaty branch of MFI KMF
2) Semserbekova Saltanat, client of Almaty branch of MFI KMF
3) Baigazina Azhar, client of Almaty branch of MFI KMF
4) Moldabekov Erzhan, client of the Almaty branch of MFI KMF
5) Samakova Zaure, client of Akmola branch of MFI KMF
The winners of the contest were identified and invited to be awarded at the IX Republican Conference "Woman in Business", which took place in Almaty, on March 3. During the conference, the names of three winners were announced; they received gift certificates for the purchase of household appliances.
So, the first prize was won by Baigazina Azhar from Shamalgan village, she received a certificate for the amount of 75 000 tenge.
Baigazina Azhar passed all five modules of training and highlighted the topic "Balance sheet in business management" as the most important for her. In Azhar’s opinion, this topic was the most effective for her, since it immediately showed the results in practice. Thanks to the workshop, Azhar changed the reporting system in her company.
It is also worth noting that Azhar was very creative about the contest and sent illustrations to her works that she drew herself. In her drawings, Azhar Baigazina reflected her vision of the financial and non-financial support provided by KMF to its clients
Semserbekova Saltanat from the town of Kaskelen won the second prize and was awarded a certificate worth 50,000 tenge.
Moldabek Erzhan from the town of Kaskelen came in a good third and received a certificate for the amount of 25 000 tenge.
Erzhan Moldabekov was a participant of the course "Marketing for Micro and Small Enterprises", but, like all the winners, he attended all five business education workshops. The entrepreneur has a small business and is always ready to keep pace with the times for the development and proper promotion of his business.
The winner Baigazina Azhar shared her impressions of the courses she has passed:
“For a long time, - and I have been in the business for more than 20 years, - I worked with banks. I think everyone understands that at a certain point, additional money is needed for business growth and often they come in a form of a bank loan. Additional funds go to replenish working capital and purchase capital assets, i.e. everything that is needed for further development. When you have a loan, you learn a lot - be more disciplined, prepare reports, monitor expenses, etc.
I admit that the relationship with banks gave me the second lesson in financial and legal literacy (the first lesson was learnt through interaction with the tax authorities). However, the lessons were for self-study only. A bank is a huge organization, where you are just one of the millions of clients. Microfinance institution KMF uses completely different approach to relationship with clients. Business lessons are delivered by qualified employees of the company, who are really interested in improving the financial literacy of their clients. Therefore, it was especially pleasant to be a part of this completely different relationship KMF has built.
KMF understands the specifics of each client, understands his needs and tries to give more knowledge for managing and setting up a business. That's why they organized trainings for entrepreneurs, most of whom are rural people. As for me, these were the best courses in my life. Believe me, I did enroll in a lot of other courses and seminars, but I never met such a reverential attitude to clients like in KMF.
During business education workshops we revised practical business cases, analyzed and gave examples of how to optimize business, establish cooperation with other companies, and manage personnel. KMF employees always do their best and even more. And this attitude always makes pleasant impressions.
I enjoyed coming to the lessons. The most important thing is that after the trainings you can immediately introduce various ideas into your business. For example, after the workshop, I changed the reporting system in my company, realizing that regular reporting facilitates the work. I also realized that I was doing wrong calculations of financial indicators, since I had never studied accounting before. Now the accounting in my company is adjusted taking into account the knowledge received in KMF.
Most of the villagers are short of time and just cannot afford going to special trainings in the city. And KMF offers convenient, accessible, interesting, brief and very useful courses. The one I attended was delivered at the company's office which is in my village.
I am grateful to the trainers and the entire staff for the opportunity to learn new things, for their help, for their understanding. I hope that the trainings will continue, and more people will visit them!”
Semserbekova Saltanat also shared her feedback on the business education courses:
“I have been a client of KMF for more than three years. My loan officer invited me to participate in business education workshop. In August 2016, I participated in a seminar on "Human Resource Management" for the first time and received a certificate. I would like to share the results I gained thanks to received knowledge and skills.
In any business, it's all about the workforce. We need good professionals, a healthy, strong team, responsible and decent people. I realized that I was doing something wrong through trial and error, disappointment and resentment, when people came and went. But the workshop alone with the theory and practical examples and cases made an invaluable contribution to the development of my business. The knowledge gained in the lessons helped me to become a competent manager of my company.
Now, I organize castings for the recruitment purposes. And I already have a large staff reserve. The company has a spirit of healthy competition between employees who appreciate and love their work. Thanks to the seminars, I learned how to manage the most important asset of the business - the staff.
I want to thank KMF team for the invaluable and comprehensible workshops. It’s true that genius lies in simplicity. KMF program on financial literacy improvement helps to find a way to this genius”.
KMF’s client, Erzhan Moldabekov, recommends the course “Marketing – do it yourself”!
“After the workshop, I realized that I can do business better and more effectively. At the time I took the course, I was having a reconstruction of my shop’s premises: I enlarged the area and built the second floor. These seminars were just the way. Having increased the area, I made the store facilities for customers and enough space for plain sailing.
During training, I received valuable advice that I applied in my business. For example, advice on the effective arrangement of goods on the shelves now gives me the opportunity to increase the range of goods, which, consequently, leads to an increase in turnover in general by 20%. I also re-designed the outdoor sign by making it more bright and colorful.
Having applied this knowledge to practice, I decided to go through the rest of the training topics. I saw that the knowledge gained at the seminars is the invaluable capital that KMF gives me, and it is free of charge.
After I completed the course of all five seminars, I realized that I can develop my business not only in one direction, but I can do it in multiple ways. For example, when hiring workers, I apply the recruitment advice received in the course "Human Resources Management". And the course "Sales Techniques" helped me to increase sales by training sellers.
Now I have all the skills and knowledge for doing business, and what I do not know yet, I hope to learn at future seminars in KMF.”
MFI “KMF” offers free training sessions for entrepreneurs. Classes are available in every city and village, where there are offices and outlets of the company. In order to enroll in a course, you need to contact your manager.
We are glad to see you at our business education workshops! Take part and win prizes!
