U.S. CENTRAL ASIA EDUCATION FOUNDATION
Supporting the quality of - and affordable access to -
Western business know - how and practices in Central Asia
Founder
The U.S.-Central Asia Education Foundation was established, and funded by a grant from, the Central Asian-American Enterprise Fund – and was made possible by the generous support of the people of the United States, the U.S. Congress, the U.S. State Department, and the United States Agency for International Development.
The Central Asian-American Enterprise Fund (the “Fund”, or “CAAEF”) was incorporated in 1994 as a not-for-profit corporation formed pursuant to the Support for East European Democracy Act of 1989 (the “SEED Act”) and the Freedom for Russia and Emerging Eurasian Democracies and Open Market Support Act of 1992 (the “Freedom Act”) to encourage the creation and expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Central Asian Republics of the former Soviet Union (Kazakhstan, The Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan).
Following 8-years of extensive proactive efforts to support the growth and well being of the private business sector in Central Asia, The Fund commenced a wind-down plan in 2002, and achieved an orderly liquidation of its investment and loan portfolios (with operational closure of its offices in Central Asia) in 2004 – and full operational closure of the Fund in 2007.
During its active operating years, CAAEF entered into 27 joint ventures with equity (or equity plus debt) financing totaling $61.5 million, granted 352 loans to establish or expand small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) totaling $37.3 million, extended 8 direct loans totaling $8.0 million (that by size or type fell beyond the terms of The Fund’s SME Loan Program), and funded more than 3,000 micro-credit loans totaling $10.4 million.
The Fund’s direct investments, SME and micro-loan programs, and technical assistance activities were directly responsible for:
- Creating a diverse array of private business enterprises that continue to operate successfully and provide several thousand private sector employment opportunities;
- Developing the western business practice skills of its local staff, joint venture partners and managers, small business loan customers, and employees of the local Partner Banks that participated in the Fund’s SME loan program; and,
- Achieving a positive demonstration effect, by providing the close support and experience that now finds several of the Fund’s SME loan program Partner Banks offering small business term-loans directly to their customers, and other banks adopting similar lending activities that mirror the policies and procedures of CAAEF’s highly successful small-business loan program.