Wool, water, Wi-Fi: Modernizing an ancient business at the final frontiers of e-commerce

Two sisters-in-law, Chinara Makashova and Nazgul Esenbaeva, built a business from scratch exporting felted slippers and artisan products to wholesale partners globally.
Their company received funding support from USAID’s green business initiative in Central Asia, which helped them expand production and build a direct-to-consumer web store.
Just as their new ecommerce infrastructure was coming together, the USAID funding vanished, leaving them with a $35,000 funding gap.
The sisters-in-law face challenges due to Kyrgyzstan’s land-locked status and banking system issues caused by sanctions, making it difficult for them to access internet-based services.
Despite these obstacles, Chinara and Nazgul remain ambitious and determined to grow their business, with a prayer that their partners will have good health and success.

One night in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, a felting artisan ended her day with a prayer. May our partners have good health. May they be ambitious, and successful, and may their businesses grow. The next morning, sisters-in-law Chinara Makashova and Nazgul Esenbaeva, and the people they worked with awoke to what seemed like a miracle: Shopify orders. So many Shopify orders.

They got to work. It felt like everything was falling into place: The company they had built from scratch was exporting felted slippers and artisan products to wholesale partners around the globe. And with help from USAIDâ€™s green business initiative in Central Asia, they were expanding their production abilities â€” and finally building their own modern, direct-to-consumer web store: one with the payment processing and data security infrastructure to help them reach customers directly.

But just as their new ecommerce infrastructure was coming together, the USAID funding vanished around the world â€” leaving them with a $35,000 funding gap. In so many places, the internet makes building a retail business easy â€” but in the worldâ€™s most land-locked country, with a banking system bogged down by sanctions against o …

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Q. Who were the two sisters-in-law who received Shopify orders unexpectedly?

A. Chinara Makashova and Nazgul Esenbaeva.

Q. What was the company that Chinara and Nazgul worked for, exporting felted slippers and artisan products to wholesale partners globally?

A. A company built from scratch by themselves.

Q. Which organization provided funding to help Chinara and Nazgul expand their production abilities and build a modern web store?

A. USAID’s green business initiative in Central Asia.

Q. What was the amount of funding that vanished, leaving Chinara and Nazgul with a $35,000 gap?

A. $35,000.

Q. Why did the internet make it difficult for Chinara and Nazgul to build their retail business despite having modern ecommerce infrastructure?

A. Because they were in Kyrgyzstan, the world’s most land-locked country, with a banking system bogged down by sanctions against other countries.

Q. What was the main challenge faced by Chinara and Nazgul when trying to expand their business globally?

A. The lack of funding due to USAID funding vanishing.

Q. How did Chinara and Nazgul initially feel about receiving Shopify orders?

A. They felt like everything was falling into place.

Q. What was the purpose of the prayer that Chinara, a felting artisan, said at the end of her day?

A. To wish their partners good health, ambition, success, and business growth.

Q. Why did Chinara and Nazgul need to build a modern web store with payment processing and data security infrastructure?

A. To reach customers directly.

Q. What was the main obstacle that Chinara and Nazgul faced in building their retail business despite having modern ecommerce infrastructure?

A. The lack of funding due to USAID funding vanishing.