As researcher Azim Marufov points out fruit tree seedlings growing in a sprawling greenhouse in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, he speaks of them with almost paternal concern. "They are like my babies," says the 26-year-old scientist.
Marufov works for Gala Osiyo Non, an agricultural company based in this ancient trading city on the former Silk Road. But though so much in Samarkand carries echoes of the past, the research Marufov conducts at the large complex is aggressively forward-looking. The company’s state-of-the-art laboratory and greenhouse grow and sell apple, cherry, pear, and other fruit tree seedlings for export to neighboring Russia, Kazakhstan, and other countries. The large-scale effort is the first of its kind for Central Asia’s agriculture sector.
Gala Osiyo Non was able to build the factory because of a $3.5 million loan from Ipak Yuli Bank, an IFC client. The company is planning to expand its operations and more than double its current number of employees to about 200 people.
These were exactly the kind of results-bearing investments IFC envisioned when it provided a local currency loan of up to $15 million to Ipak Yuli Bank in November 2018. The investment is part of larger IFC efforts to create jobs and fight poverty in Uzbekistan—a country that until just a few years ago was largely isolated from the outside world.
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