Matt Lubers, director of MicroGive, shared his thoughts on the IT Park and the IT development of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

IT Park: So the first question is, what does your organisation do, and when was it created?

M: Yeah, so my organisation called MicroGive, it was created about two and a half months ago. And what we do – we connect tech professionals, and also students who are just learning new skills with NGOs and Social Impact Projects. They are looking to solve problems related to data science, data engineering, etc. There are people learning these new skills, and they want to apply them for good, while also getting project-based experience.

IT Park: Sounds great! Another question: does Uzbekistan has a chance to become an IT republic in Central Asia?

M: Definitely! So, number one. The commitment that you made, both in monetary but also the commitment to building that talent base here, is amazing! So, there is still plenty of time, and I think that be able to inspire the youth and also the people here that want to build great things, having this incubator and also the accelerator programme in the same house is going to be very powerful in the entire country.

IT Park: Thank you! Third question is: which steps should we take for this? Your opinion, recommendations, and advice.

M: So the biggest thing I can tell you is that what you always hear before – is do not be afraid to fail. But you have to learn, and reflect back, and say “how can we get better”. So it is going to take some time, and you won’t be on top of heap anytime soon, but if you continue learning and improving, getting that feedback is going to be absolutely critical.

So, the thing I recommend is saying “What is your long-term goal? So, looking two, five to ten years out, what are you trying to accomplish? From there you than you can say “what are actable or objective metrics. And then you want to say “how would we achieve this?”. What that would allow is that you would be able to say periodically, every six months to a year “are we trending in that direction? Or if not, how do we self-adjust?”.

So, getting the word out, and spreading the Information about this being a valuable project is going to get people inspired, they will have confidence to learn new things and to work together to make some pretty cool products.

IT Park: And the last question – what role can IT Park play in this process?

M: So, I think IT park is a great place for people to meet and to start new things. I think everyone is afraid of failure and falling but having a community in the sense that they can help inspire but also but also gain knowledge.

So, “hey, I’ve gone through this before, here is how I screwed up, here is what I’ve learned. You now learned it and absorbed it, to know what not to do, and what things could potentially work”. And also, being surrounded by the right tools and people, will help move even faster.

So, to say “hey, I’ve heard about this new website, programme, everyone in the Silicon Valley is using this new programming language”. I think this going to help spread the word, and help to transfer knowledge even faster, and that is exactly what you guys are doing here, which is absolutely amazing.

IT Park: Thank you very much!

M: Yeah, so you can follow us at @microgive on Instagram and Facebook, and we would love to talk with you about what we are up to!