Diary of a Wimpy Academic - A Philosopher, a Business Plan, and a Box of Chocolates

With my team at Nazarbayev University’s Research Centre for Entrepreneurship (NURCE), when I first suggested designing an entrepreneurship training based on hashtag#AbaiKunanbayev’s philosophy, from outsiders, I was met with polite smiles, concerned eyebrows, and more than a few raised academic pulses.

"How can a poet/philosopher guide entrepreneurs?" they asked.

Well—how can he not?

We spent months developing a curriculum grounded in Abai’s idea of the Tolyk Adam (Holistic Human), a person whose heart, mind, and will work in harmony.

So our training starts with intentions (heart), builds strategic thinking (mind), and ends with execution and resilience (will).

We also wove in ESG principles, not the corporate buzzword version, but the Abai version: rooted in justice, duty to others, and a deep love for the land.

We piloted the training with women and disabled entrepreneurs, though it was open to all. Many came skeptical. Abai? In a business training?

But by the end, they were rethinking not just business, but purpose.

This week, the training took place in hashtag#Semey, Abai’s birthplace. I couldn’t attend, but my team told me about the tears, the ideas, the laughter.

And then the gifts came for me. Little handmade tokens from the participants. Thoughtful, funny, and full of heart.

That was the moment I knew, this was working. Not just as a training, but as healing.

Next stop: hashtag#Aktobe. Another overlooked region. But no one is overlooked in Abai’s philosophy.

Aigerim Tarbagatayeva and Zhanar Kulzhanova here’s to doing business trainings differently. Here’s to refusing the theory-import treadmill.

Here’s to risking something wild and unthinkable, and being met with chocolates.

hashtag#DiaryOfAWimpyAcademic hashtag#Abai hashtag#Entrepreneurship hashtag#Kazakhstan hashtag#IndigenousPhilosophy hashtag#TolykAdam hashtag#SocialImpact hashtag#ESG hashtag#WomenEntrepreneurs hashtag#DisabledEntrepreneurs hashtag#DecolonizingKnowledge