TURKMENISTAN: ENTREPRENEURSHIP ALIVE AND WELL IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 001203

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2019
TAGS: ECON PGOV SOCI TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: ENTREPRENEURSHIP ALIVE AND WELL IN
MARY PROVINCE

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia Reed Curran. Reasons 1.4 (B) a
nd (D).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Mary province appears to contain a thriving
small business sector, and many local residents have taken
advantage of the post-Soviet era regulations allowing private
ownership to build or make improvements to their homes and
businesses. They are interested in studying business,
marketing, and computers, and discuss such topics as whether
private ownership of land would allow them to further develop
their businesses. Although conversations with select
residents do not give a universal picture of the state of
small business in Mary, there are certainly pockets of active
entrepreneurship. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) On a 17-18 September visit to Mary province, POLOFF
spoke to a variety of local residents ranging from farmers
and drivers to lawyers and teachers. One of the common
themes in the conversations was the local residents' interest
in starting their own businesses, and their appreciation for
the end of Soviet regulations against private ownership.
Poloff noticed many new homes being built on the outskirts of
Mary, the capital city of the province, and was told that the
government grants every family a certain amount of land, but
the people are responsible for building their own homes.


3. (SBU) The driver who drove POLOFF during the two-day visit
mentioned several times how glad she is that private business
now exists in Turkmenistan. When her husband died three
years ago, she went to work in her sister's cafe for a while,
and then set out on her own, going to work as a driver. The
driver's sister is another example of thriving
entrepreneurship in Mary. The sister bought a cafe and has
managed to expand her business enough to renovate the
building and add a second story. Most of the customers in
the cafe appeared to be local Turkmen, and the driver
explained to POLOFF that the upstairs of the cafe was set up
in the Western style with tables and chairs, knives and
forks, but the downstairs is set up in the local Turkmen
style, with rugs and pillows on the floor surrounding a low
table.


4. (C) Female students at a community resource center told
poloff that they want to start their own sewing business.
They currently sew and sell their products in their village,
but they want to widen their circle of clients to Mary and
Ashgabat. Their teacher encouraged them to think more
broadly -- maybe they could even sell their goods in other
countries. A project coordinator at Counterpart
International added that business, marketing, and computer
classes are among the most popular that they offer.


5. (C) A group of farmers met with POLOFF to discuss
improvements they were making in their communities and got
into a heated discussion about private property. One of the
farmers argued that Turkmen needed to be able to own their
own property, so that they would feel more secure and thus be
more motivated to make improvements. The Counterpart
International coordinator, who had been on a trip to the
U.S., argued that property ownership was hard work and that
Turkmen did not understand all the efort involved.


6. (C) COMMENT: People in Mary appeared motivated to start
their own businesses and take advantage of the ownership
opportunities available to them. Admittedly, poloff's range
of contacts was limited to people with the initiative to
apply for USG assistance or to find jobs working for U.S.
programs, but from the descriptions of how many children were
signing up for after-school English language or computer
classes and the visibility of numerous cafes around the city
of Mary, locals appeared to understand the benefits of small
business ownership. END COMMENT.
CURRAN