Entrepreneur Kenges Rakishev spend record sums to fight COVID pandemic

Despite Kazakhstan being close to China COVID-19 has reached the country from Europe. It gave some time to prepare for the outbreak. As for now the death toll in Kazakhstan stands around 1600. The relatively low number was reached due to the strong quarantine measures and the support and augmentation of state measures by business activists and philanthropists. Saby fund, founded by Kenges Rakishev and Aselle Tasmagambetova is reporting on their own programme of helping the nation to overcome COVID.

At the moment, the amount of funds spent by the Saby Foundation to provide assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic amounted to 1,131,956,033 tenge (approx. $2,652,100), The Unfiltered Lens reports.

The president of the fund, Aselle Tasmagambetova, Kenges Rakishev as a leading patron and one of the co-founders of the fund, have done much to weaken the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and prevent the virus from spreading. Kenges Rakishev and Aselle Tasmagambetova paid special attention to the needy population.

From the first days of the emergency announcement, the Foundation organized a charity event to raise funds for the purchase of express tests for diagnosing coronavirus infection. In total 402 million tenge was collected. This money was used to buy 100,000 Express and 40,000 PCR tests for free testing of the population.

Additionally the co-founder of the Saby Foundation Kenges Rakishev transferred 445,000,000 tenge to the Birgemiz public Fund to provide social support for Kazakhstan’s people during the pandemic.

Under the close supervision of Kenges Rakishev and Aselle Tasmagambetova the Saby Foundation purchased a ventilator for medical institutions in Almaty. It amounted 10.5 million tenge. Seven oxygen concentrators in the amount of about three million tenge were also purchased.

Personal protection equipment: masks, safety glasses, overalls, gloves, and protective screens worth more than 49 million tenge were handed over to doctors of Atyrau region.

Hospitals in Atyrau region received ten ventilators for the amount of 91,780,000 and 43 oxygen concentrators for 13,350,000 tenge.

115,232 packages of medicine worth 58,780,000 tenge were transferred to medical institutions in Atyrau, Aktobe and Western Kazakhstan regions. The total number of patients treated with it is almost 6,000.

Medical workers of Semey medical University received assistance in the form of protective clothing, accessories and contact lenses worth more than 11 million tenge.

Kenges Rakishev and Aselle Tasmagambetova and the Saby Foundation supplied 500,000 medical masks and 50 cans of disinfectants to medical institutions in Almaty and the region for a total amount of more than 27 million tenge.

As a support and gratitude to women doctors working in infectious diseases hospitals in Almaty, the Foundation gave 53 sets of branded cosmetics.

Saby financed the opening of a mobile laboratory for testing for coronavirus in Almaty in the amount of about ten million tenge.

The Saby Foundation provided financial support in the amount of 5,100,000 tenge to two Kazakhstani charitable foundations – Shugyla and Rasima Foodbank – to pay off administrative expenses and the salary Fund for three months, which allowed the organizations to survive the coronacrisis and continue their socially important work.

65 Samsung tablets worth 5,135,000 tenge were given away to children from needy families in the Nauryzbay district of Almaty to provide students with an online learning opportunity. Kenges Rakishev and Aselle Tasmagambetova pay attention to the availability of education for the children.

The Saby Foundation is the oldest private charitable organization in Kazakhstan. In 2020 it turns 18 years old. It was founded by Aselle Tasmagambetova and Kenges Rakishev. With the help of the fund’s patrons, friends and volunteers Saby is engaging bold projects to make the life in Kazakhstan better. Saby is involved in major social, educational and environmental projects. It is well known for the annual ‘Build your business’ contest: young entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan compete for a grant to empower their business venues.