Djasur Djumaev, Founder and CEO, and Nikolay Seleznev, Co-founder and Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer of Uzum, Uzbekistan’s first tech unicorn, joined us for this episode. Uzum became a unicorn in just two years, and now serves as the country’s leading e-commerce and fintech ecosystem. In this episode, they share how they built a household name in a largely offline market, their strategy for leapfrogging infrastructure gaps, and why Uzbekistan is one of the most exciting frontier markets today.
In this episode we cover:
- (00:01:11) Why Uzbekistan had almost no e-commerce before Uzum, and how they built everything from scratch, including last-mile logistics
- (00:07:50) How they scaled to 12,000 employees in under two years and blended expat and local talent to build a winning culture
- (00:10:33) The macro case for Uzbekistan: 6.5% GDP growth, 99% literacy, 87% smartphone penetration forecast by 2027
- (00:15:27) How 50% of adults were unbanked just four years ago — and how Uzum onboarded millions to financial services
- (00:22:57) Jasur’s fundraising journey: starting with his own capital, then attracting top U.S. and MENA investors despite skepticism about Uzbekistan
- (00:28:20) Where they plan to IPO, and what’s next for Uzum as they prepare for a dual listing and regional expansion
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