Fintech in Tajikistan: Alif Academy Director talks talent

Habibakhon Aslonova is the 24-year-old director of Alif Academy – a leading IT education organization based in Tajikistan. Her career in finance began in 2019, when she joined Alif Bank – a fintech company with a full banking license in Tajikistan. Her first role was as a customer service representative in the call centre, where she handled and processed customer enquiries. Since then, interest in fintech has skyrocketed, and she has risen through the ranks to become one of Alif Academy’s youngest directors, where she works on educational projects that drive the development of IT and fintech in Tajikistan. We caught up with her to find out more.

Describe the general state of fintech i Tajikistan.

Recently, financial technology has developed drastically in Tajikistan, but there is still a significant gap to be filled. People in Tajikistan have actively adopted financial technology offered by banks and other mobile providers. For example, Alif was one of the first companies to introduce our alif.mobi e-wallet. In my opinion, the fact that not all stores accept credit cards, even in the nation’s capital, and that everyone owns a smartphone has had a significant impact on the market.

Undoubtedly, there are still significant barriers to the development of fintech in Tajikistan. We lack appropriate infrastructure – in the country there is direct sales and in many cases the seller does not have a terminal to accept payments. A stable internet connection is also required to access mobile wallets, while the network sometimes does not work well. Moreover, the widespread mistrust of new technology is a problem. But I think people’s attitudes will change and they will gradually embrace the new disruptors as time goes on.

I am sure to see more innovative projects launched in the near future to improve financial literacy among the population because fintech companies are established and developed to satisfy the needs of people.

Are there many women involved in fintech in Tajikistan? Or are you unusual in your interest?

Fintech and IT are among the most exciting industries worldwide, and Tajikistan is no exception. People who work in these areas must have an open mindset and a holistic approach in order to provide their customers with effective solutions. To realize this, it is crucial to put together a competent team without gender stereotypes and discrimination. Then creativity can flourish and more workable ideas can be generated – it’s someone’s skills that matter rather than gender.

My work involves a lot of communication with IT and fintech companies. I am happy to share and notice a positive trend that the role and work ability of female team members are evaluated equally with their male colleagues.

Tell us about Alif Academy – what does it do, what is its purpose – and how does it support the growth of fintech in the region?

Alif Academy has been operating since 2017 and our mission is to promote IT education and help people acquire new skills. By offering affordable professional IT courses, we believe we help people develop the skills they need to find a job or start their own business, thereby improving the employment rate in our country.

We mainly support the fintech industry by providing qualified personnel in their relevant areas – Data Science, Machine Learning, QA, DevOps, Data Structures and Algorithms, and programming languages ​​such as PHP, C#, JS and others. Our instructors are practitioners who are willing to share their knowledge and help students throughout their learning journey.

Describe your work with Afghan refugees and what you have achieved with them so far.

This is our joint project with the Aga Khan Foundation and USAID. The project consists of 3 courses designed to raise the students’ computer skills and teach them basic programming skills. They will be able to start their first coding experience with the help of the courses and learn the most relevant and basic knowledge of modern programming languages.

We conducted a demo session for the applicants to familiarize them with the course and the world of programming. We invited all potential candidates to fill in an application form and selected the strongest potential under careful consideration. We are aware of their poor computer knowledge and programming skills, which is why such courses are urgently needed.

The first session was launched in April 2022, where 15 students were selected. However, due to reasons such as moving abroad or academic incompetence, some students had to drop out, but 7 of them graduated. The second group started in July and we also selected 15 students, and this time 11 of them graduated.

Your role is education-based. What challenges do your students face when they enter the room?

The biggest difficulty students have to overcome is the lack of self-confidence.

The courses use team building activities to bring the group together and try to maintain a warm and friendly atmosphere. Teachers provide each student with individual coaching and tailored advice based on their unique personalities. Sometimes, to alleviate students’ sense of uncertainty, we invite experts who started their journey in IT from scratch and experienced ups and downs.

The next task is to help students find a job in the IT industry. Alif Academy actively collaborates with various IT and fintech companies – both well-established and startups, which are keen to bring brilliant talent with them. Students do not necessarily need to acquire the most advanced knowledge, but sometimes companies are willing to invest in their further development. What matters to a company is the person’s commitment and passion for the sector.

What would your advice be to any young woman seeking a career in the fintech industry?

The most important thing is to be confident in yourself and your abilities. Get inspiration from people, books and films, try new things and meet new people. In Central Asia, we have long been indoctrinated into a gender stereotype that some professions are ‘only for women’ while others are ‘only for men’. This is very upsetting, but it can also become a driving force to “break” this stereotype.

What new programs and initiatives are you involved in? Can you talk us through them?

Right now I am concentrating on expanding the Alif Academy offerings. An important project for us is our programming course for girls. When we select participants, we notice that there is a lot of fear associated with the technology industry for female candidates. And although many succeed in completing the course, some have had to drop out halfway through due to pressure from their families or fellow students. Girls may even feel embarrassed to ask questions if there were boys in their group. If you look at our statistics, among all the 156 graduates of our technical courses (PHP, C#, Kotlin, etc.), only 20 are girls.

In light of the persistent prejudice against women around the world, we aimed to open a “CodeGirl” course that allows girls to understand the role of IT in the modern world. We want to instill faith in their abilities so that they can achieve success in this field and dispel the myth that “IT is not for women”. Equality in the IT sector will encourage more women to enter the workforce, which will directly benefit the country’s economy and help eliminate the shortage of technical specialists.

How do you see the future of fintech development in your country?

I am confident with the ongoing trend that fintech will continue to flourish with the development of innovative analytical and scoring products. Instead of face-to-face communication, most users prefer to interact with companies, including banks, in the digital space – for example, if people want to open a bank account, today they prefer to apply online rather than go to a branch.

Fintech is largely developed by people with a strong technical and mathematical background. The success of Tajik fintech around the world largely depends on the availability of qualified IT professionals. That’s why it’s so important to support IT schools like Alif Academy to nurture promising talent.