Diary of a Wimpy Academic Entry 21- Thought 1 of the Humility Challenge - Showing Gratitude

I couldn't think of a better way to start than by celebrating the incredible team that has journeyed with me through three transformative years at Nazarbayev University’s Research Centre for Entrepreneurship (NURCE)

Since January 2022, this team has been the heart and soul behind our work. Together, we've just concluded our first grant cycle, accomplishing milestones that once seemed like mere dreams. Among them, the publication of eight books documenting the stories of Central Asian entrepreneurs stands out as a testament to what can happen when passion meets collaboration.

It all began with a field trip to hashtag#Kyrgyzstan, where Amina Chaia, Dana Sailaukhanova, Wojdan Omran, and Alexander Parkyn-Smith joined me to collect narratives of women entrepreneurs in community-based tourism. This inspired us to expand our work to hashtag#Kazakhstan, where we interviewed 50 women entrepreneurs with the help of Nurlan Kulbatyr, Nurlykhan Aljanova, Indira Alibayeva, PhD, Emina Yessekeyeva, Adiya Akhmer, Assel Abdrakhmanova, Aizhan Serikzhanova, Dilnaz Aisakova, Alua Suleimanova, Zhansaule Kimel and Nurlyaiym Zhaksybayeva. Their stories, published in a book that we translated into Kazakh and Russian, became the foundation of a larger vision.

This vision grew into exploring women in male-dominated sectors (Book 5) and eco-entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan (Book 6), where MhD Habib Abdullah and Zhanar Kulzhanova brought fresh perspectives. We then turned our focus to Kazakh entrepreneurs reclaiming their nomadic roots and ancestral identities—an act of cultural decolonization that culminated in Tamyr (Book 7), a tribute to Kazakh roots with Alua Nurbayeva.

Our eighth book took us to Uzbekistan, where we documented the stories of craft entrepreneurs who preserved their family trades and cultural identities and are now modernizing their crafts for new generations.

And we’re not done yet.

We still have stories to tell—stories from our fieldwork in Azerbaijan with Dr. Nargiz Uzeir HAJIYEVA and in Tajikistan. This will complete our first round of Central Asian entrepreneurial storytelling.

Through all of this, I must acknowledge the truth: while I might be called the “team leader” on these projects, none of this would have been possible without my incredible team. These were not just ideas born in my mind—they were dreams brought to life through the hard work, dedication, and companionship of a group of extraordinary individuals.

As many of my team members now move on to exciting new chapters in their lives, I want to pause and say: hashtag#Thank you.

Thank you for your hashtag#trust, your hashtag#creativity, your hashtag#resilience, and your hashtag#belief in the power of stories to shape the world.

Here’s to the journey ahead, to the stories we have yet to tell, and to the bonds we’ve built along the way. And here’s to Turkmenistan—may it be the next chapter in this incredible adventure!

With hashtag#gratitude, always.