Wednesday, january 17, 2017 inside nation healthcare minister reports on new infrastructure development plan A2

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

NATION&CAPITAL

SOCIETY

B5

Nurzhan Zholdybalinov

Dias Tastanbekov

“It is wise to make outstanding people 

recognisable and hold them as role models. 

My nomination among the 100 New Faces 

is an advance payment for me. I have 

achievements, but they are not impressive. 

Therefore, this is a huge responsibility and 

I strive to live up to the expectations of me. 

I perceive the victory as an opportunity to 

promote my projects and my teams, who 

made everything possible.” 

New media production company eager 

to take Kazakh market to new level

By Dmitry Lee

ASTANA – Tochka, a creative 

video production agency estab-

lished in October, is trying inno-

vative ideas and approaches in the 

business and launching several 

projects this year.

In an exclusive interview with 

The Astana Times, CEO Galiya 

Tokareva, also known by her 

maiden name as Galiya Idoyatova 

from her years on television, dis-

cussed the new approaches her 

company is willing to undertake 

to stick out from the crowd.

“We are doing TV clips, short 

videos and we also have projects 

for YouTube and a project titled 

‘On equal,’” she said.

The latter is a not-for-profit pro-

ject where an 8-year-old child is 

trying to understand the nuances 

of doing business in Kazakhstan, 

from agribusiness to restaurants.

“We are also doing honest in-

terviews with celebrities, politi-

cians and businesspeople. We are 

just starting this project now,” she 

added.

The idea for the company has 

been cooking for more than a year.

“In 2016, I left my job at the 

Astana TV channel and planned 

to try and create my own business, 

but I didn’t have enough finances 

and I got an interesting proposal 

from the Atameken Business 

Channel to work as a producer. 

For a year until October last year, I 

was working for the new business 

channel as a general producer. I’ve 

met people there whose destiny, 

like mine, then crisscrossed with 

Tochka. In October we decided to 

start this little but essential, for us, 

project. I collected all the docu-

ments  and  found  finances.  My 

husband and I used our car as col-

lateral to get some money for it,” 

said Tokareva.

“I believe that all this invest-

ment will bring us dividends, 

because this agency is not just a 

business. It’s a company with a 

part of our heart and soul which 

was started with eight people who 

are trying to change some rules in 

the production market. We will try 

to do our own content with good 

quality, with our soul and for an 

affordable price. I don’t blame 

my colleagues who are also in the 

video production business, but I 

know there are some examples 

when the pricing is not honest,” 

she added.

Although the company just 

started the project this year, Toka-

reva is already hopeful for the 

next half a decade.

“We have big plans for this year 

– it’s the year of our presenta-

tion and promotion. Speaking of 

our plans for the future three-five 

years – my dream is to establish 

a web site with analytical long 

reads, videos mainly in Kazakh 

and about a quarter part in Rus-

sian. Now, I’m looking for an in-

vestor,” she said.

Starting a new endeavour can be 

quite challenging, especially when 

starting from scratch, but  Toka-

reva believes being tough in this 

business is not a decision, but a 

requirement.

“The trouble is imminent when 

one tries to leave one’s comfort 

zone. All my life I worked for 

someone; now, I’m responsible 

for seven persons, for their salary, 

for their future in some ways. It’s 

the best motivation for me. But 

if you ask me if I regret this start 

up, I would say no, because every 

new start for me, for my team, is 

the best challenge and we will do 

our best to satisfy our clients,” she 

said.

The Tochka team is young, 

smart and creative. While some 

do not have extensive experience 

working on TV, the one thing for 

sure is they are all talented, she 

added.

“Marat Ybyrai, our director, is 

one of the most talented young 

professionals, in my opinion. 

He speaks Russian, Kazakh and 

English and has his own creative 

view in video production. Meir-

man Smagulov, our cameraper-

son, is also a professional with 

a good sense of humour and also 

a very good person and a friend. 

Askar Sabyrgaliyev – design and 

montage; he is one of the main 

guys in our team. His work is 

accurate and fast. Zarina Berem-

kul joined us in January; she is 

a journalist with great perspec-

tives and potential. She could 

be a good interviewer and inves-

tigate economic topics. Nurgul 

Nurmagambet is our producer; 

she has extensive experience and 

she is a very creative person. 

She is also responsible for our 

profiles on the social networks. 

Balzhan Aliyeva is another pro-

ducer who is doing impossible 

things for our video products; 

she is good at finding things,” 

said Tokareva.

“I want to say a big thanks to my 

team and to our first client, which 

we had in the end of November, 

beginning of December last year, 

who believed in us,” she added.

Young researcher combines 

science and entrepreneurship

By Meruyert Abugaliyeva

ASTANA – Dias Tastanbekov, 

one of the 100 New Faces project 

winners,  exemplifies  hard  work 

and a thirst for knowledge. He 

works with entrepreneurs on the 

Zertis aeroponic greenhouse to 

produce green vegetables, while 

simultaneously researching bio-

degradable bone fixation implants 

for his PhD and running a rocketry 

school to make science attractive 

to children.

“My passion for science devel-

oped at school and later I realised 

that I am par-

ticularly keen on 

chemistry, which 

gives me an un-

derstanding of the 

world around us. 

Since I was also 

not bad at it, I felt 

I should choose a 

scientific career or 

at least a research-

oriented one,” he 

said.

Ta s t a n b e k o v 

received a Bolas-

hak scholarship 

to earn a Mas-

ter’s degree at 

the University of 

Sheffield. Upon his return, he em-

barked on a career at Nazarbayev 

University Research and Innova-

tion System (NURIS), later be-

coming laboratory chief at Kazakh 

National Technical Research Uni-

versity. He also works on commer-

cial projects in small teams.

“I believe it is more efficient to 

work in small teams separately 

from large organisations despite 

their resources and funding op-

portunities. I think bureaucracy is 

an obstacle for research since it 

diminishes enthusiasm. Still, there 

are many ways to obtain govern-

mental and international support 

for research and start-ups. There 

are gifted researchers and promis-

ing inventions in Kazakhstan. We 

do not lack support; we lack prop-

er management,” he said.

Tastanbekov  finds  it  conveni-

ent to apply science in business, 

and then use the proceeds for fur-

ther research. His first project, the 

greenhouse, is run in cooperation 

with Arman Toksanbayev, chemist 

Yerkebulan Maral and three inves-

tors. The facilities, in Almaty and 

Karagandy, grow plants without 

soil by automatically spraying the 

roots and stems with water.

“The idea of aeroponics came 

to me as a solution for my own 

problem. When I was a junior re-

searcher at NURIS, I had a lot of 

plants and pets at home and long-

term business trips as well.  If I 

could leave the pets with friends, 

there was still the problem of find-

ing someone to water your plans in 

your absence. I made a small inves-

tigation and realised that plant care 

can be automated 

and gardening can 

be soil-free. Such 

farming is eco-

friendly  and  effi-

cient in terms of 

human resources, 

water use, soil, 

place and expens-

es,” he said.

“We receive 

requests from lo-

cal hotels, restau-

rants and cafes. 

This year, we plan 

to sell 30 kilo-

grammes of aru-

gula and basil and 

to build green-

houses in other cities. I would like 

to thank the Start-up Bolashak 

competition organised by Damu 

Entrepreneurship Development 

Fund and the Bolashak Associa-

tion for providing funding to start 

this project,” he added.

The researcher plans to pursue a 

PhD and dedicate study to biode-

gradable implants for treating bone 

fractures. Metal devices currently 

implanted during surgery must be 

removed after the bone has healed 

and using biodegradable implants 

will make a second invasive pro-

cedure unnecessary. In the last two 

years, Tastanbekov submitted pro-

posals to several funding organisa-

tions to commercialise such tech-

nology but without success and 

decided to do it himself.

“This technology and aeropon-

ics are not original. I always say 

that unfortunately, and at the same 

time fortunately, this technology 

exists. Unfortunately, since I am 

not a pioneer in the field and for-

tunately because now I know for 

sure that such technology works 

and is viable. I have done the pre-

liminary research plan as well as 

research  into  scientific  articles 

and patents and now I am looking 

for collaborators in Germany and 

France,” he said.

Tastanbekov noted all his projects 

demand individuals who are highly 

skilled in their fields and motivated 

to make a difference. To that end he 

launched the rocketry school, which 

will attract promising scientists for 

teaching positions and educate a 

new generation of researchers. The 

school is an example of STEM in-

terdisciplinary education technol-

ogy that makes science appealing 

and easy to grasp. Tastanbekov also 

attracted rocketry expert Cheng-

his Akhmetullayev, a test engineer 

from the Baikonur branch of the 

Moscow Aviation Institute with five 

years’ experience in Baikonur space 

launch, to join the school. The team 

has  created  the  Q100  educational 

YouTube channel for students.

“It is wise to make outstanding 

people recognisable and hold them as 

role models. My nomination among 

the 100 New Faces is an advance pay-

ment for me. I have achievements, 

but they are not impressive. There-

fore, this is a huge responsibility and 

I strive to live up to the expectations 

of me. I perceive the victory as an op-

portunity to promote my projects and 

my teams, who made everything pos-

sible,” said Tastanbekov.

“My dream is to build a sustain-

able, self-funding, multidiscipli-

nary research organisation so that 

every motivated researcher there 

will have access to resources to 

do science and make a contribu-

tion to the prosperity of society,” 

he added.

One of nation’s 100 

New Faces helps digitise 

library materials

By Zhanna Shayakhmetova 

ASTANA – National Academic 

Library Deputy Head Nurzhan 

Zholdybalinov, one of the coun-

try’s 100 New Faces, co-developed 

the digital library, digital library 

card and introduced technology to 

convert eBooks from Cyrillic to 

Latin script.

Zholdybalinov started his career 

at the national library in 2007. An 

IT specialist by occupation, later 

he received graduate degree from 

a library school.

“Our task was to develop the 

digital library project by creating 

a single database. Nearly 2,000 

books in PDF format were down-

loaded the same year. We started 

to download copyright-free books, 

mostly rare ones. We closely col-

laborate with other libraries, since 

the project covers all the available 

libraries in the country. Regional 

libraries also handed us books for 

digitisation,” said Zholdybalinov 

in a Jan.11 interview.

The electronic library moderni-

sation also included the implemen-

tation of automated information li-

brary systems to ease library jobs. 

Now the libraries work on a single 

base through an international pro-

tocol, so it is possible to exchange 

files and search books.

“President Nursultan Naz-

arbayev said that the national 

electronic library should become 

the think tank library in his ad-

dress in 2012. To us, the most im-

portant thing is that all full-text 

books should be accessible to all 

residents and those who study 

abroad and the Kazakh diaspora,” 

he noted.

The developers decided to can-

cel authorisation and registration 

on the website.

“The analysis showed that au-

thorisation process caused dif-

ficulties  and  took  a  lot  of  time 

for older people,” he explained. 

“This change immediately in-

creased site traffic by 28 percent 

in one quarter. We also intend to 

convert all the books of our on-

line library into Latin alphabet 

this year. We want books in the 

Latin script to be available for 

the future generation. The read-

ers will have the option to choose 

reading books in Latin or Cyril-

lic scripts,” said he. “Today, we 

have more than 38,000 electronic 

copies of books. Unfortunately, 

we cannot digitise all books due 

to copyright rules. We invite au-

thors to cooperate with us and we 

can post their books on our web 

portal. According to statistics, 

readers from 115 countries visit 

our site.”

The project of the digital library 

card giving readers access to the 

libraries nationwide using a single 

card is also one of the successful 

achievements of the developers.

“We are currently creating an on-

line catalogue for searching books 

across the country. New technolo-

gies are rapidly developing as well 

as programming language. We 

successfully collaborate with IT 

companies to develop our projects 

and to improve our services. We 

studied the best practices before 

introducing the projects. When we 

develop our project, we observe 

it from the readers’ point of view 

to make an accessible service. 

Now our e-library is recognised 

as one of the best digital library 

projects in the Commonwealth of 

Independent States (CIS). We also 

have a version for the visually im-

paired,” he added.

Zholdybalinov said that his par-

ticipation in the 100 New Faces 

project  is  a  significant  achieve-

ment.

“I am grateful for my manage-

ment and colleagues for their sup-

port. Of course, we have a lot of 

things to do,” he said.

Tochka CEO Galiya Tokareva.

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