Abstract:

Drawing on the biographies of Kyrgyz women working in the education sector and the fashion industry, my paper explores how pathways to entrepreneurship are linked to women's religious becoming. As the biographies show, piety serves as a meaningful resource of a Muslim professionalism, that supports, and is supported by, women's aspirations for personal fulfilment in combination with their desire to contribute to social welfare and development. Women's entrepreneurship can be seen as an open-ended process of flexibly negotiating personal aspirations related to professional activity, pious self-making and a good work-life balance with being a woman in a patriarchal environment. Creatively combining public education, affective labour and digital formats with neoliberal market logics, Kyrgyz women are engaging in a Muslim professionalism that blurs the boundaries between entrepreneurship, business and religious activism, while defining success beyond material needs in terms of mental health, happiness and harmony, and beauty.

Abstract:

In Uzbekistan, starting from 1991, after independence legal documents have been adopted to develop small business and private entrepreneurship, particularly activities of women. As a result of these large-scale reforms carried out for the purpose of modernization and technological renewal, the share of women in private entrepreneurship has been constantly increasing in Uzbekistan. My contribution focuses on female entrepreneurs in the fashion industry of Uzbekistan and investigates the attributes of female entrepreneurs’ businesses and adoption of social media. This paper specifically looks at Instagram accounts of female entrepreneurs and analyzes how they promote their businesses; what ‘messages’ and ‘narratives’ they convey and how these are received by the audience such as potential clients and are reacted upon via comments.Drawing on the content analysis, in depth interviews and participant observation, I will explore how female entrepreneurs blend notions of modernity, success and emancipation with modesty, family values and ‘Uzbekness’ to create their specific digital “brands”. In that way, my paper aims to contribute to an emerging strand of research on the intersection of entrepreneurship with gender, ethnicity and culture in Central Asia.

Abstract:

My contribution proposes a way to refine our theorization of entrepreneurship in Central Asia. It does so by bringing into conversation one strand of theory prevalent in entrepreneurship studies, the 'individual-opportunity nexus' (Shane 2003), with another strand of theory prevalent in criminal sociology, which (conveniently similarly) is called 'opportunity structures' (Merton 1995). I will argue that integrating these two distinct theoretical positions enhances our understanding of the ways in which motivations and sociocultural aspects are associated with the perception, availability, and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities, particularly in settings of so-called ‘emerging economies’.

Drawing on ethnographic data gathered during various long-term fieldwork projects across Central Asia since 2013, my contribution will illustrate key synergies and potentials for future work that emerge from such a transdisciplinary perspective on entrepreneurial opportunity structures. These include, for example, a refined sense of the situated but shifting notions of what ‘success’ and being a ‘good entrepreneur’ mean; a widened focus on how the distribution of local opportunities is impacted by multiple intersecting classifications of identity, gender, generation, or class; and a more processual take on how entrepreneurs adjust to more or less rapidly expanding or narrowing opportunity structures.

Beyond theoretical considerations, ‘opportunity structures’ is presented as suitable for team research efforts based on its conceptual openness, for mixed methods approaches due to its balance of structural and agentive aspects, and for applied research ambitions that seek to connect more directly with entrepreneurship practitioners.

Abstract:

In light of the political and economic shifts following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, this study examines how ethnic minority individuals, specifically the local Uzbek population of Shymkent, adapted to the emergence of a market-oriented economy. Despite facing formidable competition, including from members of the dominant ethnic group, Uzbeks managed to establish themselves in various economic sectors. Drawing on the framework of 'integration through difference' proposed by Schlee and Hortsmann (2018), which posits that reducing intergroup competition fosters social cohesion, this research investigates how such harmony was maintained in southern Kazakhstan despite intense economic rivalry. Unlike other ethnic communities who experienced significant out-migration, the majority of Shymkent's Uzbek population remained in the city, carving out a niche primarily in small business ventures and trading activities. However, merely acknowledging this occupational trend does not suffice. Thus, this paper delves into the mechanisms through which local Uzbeks entered the business sphere, exploring the specific pathways, resources, and factors that facilitated their success.