Angsar Merbakhyt

Ecosystem Development

Firebird AI is an AI company and ecosystem builder, serving as an NVIDIA Tier 1 partner, that develops infrastructure and partnerships to scale artificial intelligence adoption across emerging markets. • Supported in scaling AI adoption and infrastructure in Kazakhstan alongside one of NVIDIA’s top-tier partners; • Organised and led the Kazakhstan visit of global tech leaders, including Nico Caprez (Vice President of Nvidia), Alexander Yesayan, and Razmig Hovaghimian (co-founders of Firebird AI); • Coordinated high-level meetings with key national stakeholders, including the President of Kazakhstan, Zhaslan Madiyev (Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry), Bagdat Mussin (former Minister of Digital Development; Chairman of Kazakhtelecom), and Magzum Mirzagaliyev (Advisor to the President of Kazakhstan; former Minister of Energy); • Facilitated partnerships with key institutions, including Nazarbayev University, alem.ai, and BI Group.

VP of Growth, ex-COO

Q Applications is a parent company of Q App and Q Intern. Q App is a centralized digital admissions platform that streamlines university applications across Kazakhstan for both domestic and international students. The platform enables applicants to apply to multiple universities through a single profile while helping universities digitalize admissions workflows and reduce administrative burden. • Raised $200,000 in investment funding with a cap of $2,000,000 to scale the platform; • Built partnerships with 60+ leading universities in Kazakhstan, including Nazarbayev University, Maqsut Narikbayev Univeristy, SDU, Narxoz, and other institutions, securing exclusive admissions collaboration agreements; • Attracted 4,000 international applications within only 3 weeks, representing ~50% of Kazakhstan’s annual international student inflow; • Resident company of Astana Hub (Kazakhstan’s national innovation and tech cluster) and a participant of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC); and Caspian Integrity Holding (Alatau City) Q Intern is a national internship platform connecting students and professionals with government institutions, startups, and leading companies across Kazakhstan. It streamlines internship applications through AI-powered matching and digital career tools. • Secured an exclusive agreement with the Almaty City Administration (Akimat) to provide access to internships; • Established partnerships with leading organisations, including BI Group (Kazakhstan’s largest construction and development company), Olymp (No.1 clinical laboratory network in Kazakhstan) and UvU (startup valued at ~$10M); and • Reached agreements with major public and quasi-public sector institutions, including Samruk-Kazyna, Agency for Civil Service Affairs (ADGS), and Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs.

Parliamentary Debate Coach

• Students achieved highest results in the national and international competitions

Intern

Paperlab is an independent research center established to conduct applied policy research focused on solving problems rather than merely diagnosing them. The organization also strives to foster the research environment by hosting expert discussions and capacity-building training sessions for early-career researchers. • Responsible for administrative and organizational tasks for center's events such as Public Talks, Research talks, etc; • Conducted research and analytical tasks for center's research departments.

Intern

• Collected a database of Kazakhstani think tanks and worked on establishing strong connections between Maqsut Narikbayev University and national think-tanks.

Co-Founder, COO & Debate Coach

The Argument is the biggest debate school in CIS, teaching debating and public speaking skills in English, Russian, and Kazakh languages. • The company also organized and was a part of organization of national and international tournaments in Kazakhstan, including the National Schools Debating Championship for the selection of the national team representing in World Schools Debating Championship; Qazaqstan Debating Championship (the biggest debate tournament in Kazakhstan with over 150 teams and 350 participants); • Students achieved highest results in the national and international competitions, such as becoming a part of the National Team at WSDC in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026; Winning Qazaqstan Debating Championship, Central Asian Cup; etc

Team Manager

• Co-ogranised the National Schools Debating Championship in Kazakhstan, gathering over 150 participant all over the country • Involved in the selection process of 26 candidates for the national team of 5 people. • Negotiating fee waivers with the organizers of international tournaments, as a result of which the Kazakhstan national team participated for free in tournaments such as Paris pre-WSDC, Princeton pre-WSDC, Transatlantic Championship, Vilnius Open 2024, and other large international tournaments, which saved around 1.500,.000 tenge for the national team’s fund. Participation in international tournaments helps the national team be more prepared for the WSDC in Belgrade, Serbia.