Ashgabat, January 26 | ORIENT. Every Sunday, the Young Entrepreneurs Center under the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan (UIET) is buzzing with activity. This is not just a place where the basics of commerce are taught, but a platform that fosters an environment for experience-sharing between generations. The latest meeting in the series focused on a topic without which today’s market is unimaginable — the art of working with information, media technologies, and the role of media communications in modern business.

From 15 to 70: Business as a Family Affair

The audience at the Center’s seminars is truly unique. While the core participants are energetic young people aged 20–30, lectures, workshops, and discussions also bring together 15-year-old school students dreaming of launching their own ventures and 70-year-old attendees eager to share their life experience.

An interesting detail is that many participants attend the sessions together with their spouses. In Turkmenistan, business is often a family endeavor, and it is important that family members understand the complexity and multifaceted nature of entrepreneurial work, sharing common goals and values.

Behind the Scenes of the “Information Kitchen”

The youngest members of the ORIENT team presented a fresh perspective on the interaction between business and the media. Seyli Aryshov and Enejan Kepbanova opened the curtain on the “inner kitchen” of the IA Media Turkmen news agency, analyzing practical case studies with participants:

• How to select a topic that will “take off” from a massive flow of information;

• Techniques for gathering facts and verifying information (fact-checking);

• Genre diversity: from breaking news to in-depth analytical interviews.

Why Should an Entrepreneur Be “A Bit of a Journalist”?

The ability to clearly articulate one’s thoughts and understand the structure of the media landscape enables entrepreneurs to communicate the specifics of their products directly to their audience, as well as to track market trends and identify promising niches through media publications.

The seminar emphasized that today the media field is not an addition to business, but its natural habitat. Participants discussed the three pillars of success for a modern company founder:

Media as a Compass In an era of global digitalization, the ability to read between the lines of business analytics allows entrepreneurs to adjust their course in time. Whoever learns first about a logistics trend or a new export corridor gains a competitive edge.

Personal Branding and Social Media: Young entrepreneurs learned why managing a company’s social media page “in the first person” generates 40% more trust than impersonal corporate posts. Today, self-branding is a form of currency.

Control of the Information Space: Working with feedback in comments and responding professionally to criticism is the “digital hygiene” of a modern leader.

During the discussion, participants noted that ORIENT today serves not only as a news source for the private sector, but also as a business navigator. The organizers highlighted several key factors:

• Professional analytics. In-depth analyses of economic processes, reviews, and forecasts help entrepreneurs plan their activities.

• Export orientation. The website features a dedicated collection of materials aimed at promoting products under the “Made in Turkmenistan” brand on foreign markets. This section serves as a practical guide for those planning to enter international markets.

• Clarity of presentation. The ability to explain complex financial issues in a simple and accessible language makes the resource popular among a wide audience.

“We invite a wide range of professionals to our sessions — from academics to agribusiness practitioners. Today’s meeting with the ORIENT team became an important discovery for us,” said Shamemmed Annayev, a member of the UIET, a member of the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and curator of the Young Entrepreneurs Center.

“We saw a tremendous interest among young businesspeople in how to properly package their ideas for the media and foreign partners. We expect that the outcome of this meeting will be not only increased activity on social media, but also the emergence of new high-quality business cases.”

“Journalism and entrepreneurship have much in common: in both fields, speed, accuracy, and the ability to sense public demand are crucial. We see that ORIENT pays great attention to supporting private business. I am confident that the knowledge gained today will help our participants better navigate the information space and competently build the image of their companies,” Annayev added.