Stories of Young Pioneers in Kazakh and Global IT Development
The nFactorial Incubator, an intensive 10-week summer program based in Kazakhstan, is transforming the country's IT industry and education system by providing hands-on programming education and startup incubation for young talents across Kazakhstan and neighboring countries.
Established in 2015, the program prioritizes inspiration, creativity, skill, and the launch of one's own project for real IT development experience. The nFactorial Incubator's goal is for participants to create mobile and web applications and successfully launch them onto the market, often using generative AI technologies to address real problems in Kazakhstan and beyond.
In 2025, over 2,500 applicants from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, and the USA applied, but only 83 top young developers were selected, demonstrating the high competition and quality of the program.
One such participant, Karakat Almassova, created an AI object recognition app in 2023 that was downloaded over 100 times and made it into the top 20 finalists. Another participant, Jansar Sadriev, gained his first experience in team development and became an independent full-stack developer.
The nFactorial Incubator's success is due in part to its partnership with the company "Chevron", which annually awards 75 scholarships for the program. This partnership has enabled the program to reach a larger scale and provide more opportunities for young developers.
Alibek Seitov, a resident of Almaty, completed the nFactorial Incubator program in 2022 while studying at the International School of Astana. After the program, Alibek created 10+ AI tools for 1000+ users and worked as a freelancer and full-stack developer in various companies, including ZebraCoffee and Perceptis AI. In 2025, Alibek was appointed mentor for the "Incubator+" program and became a developer at Higgsfield - the top AI startup in the field of video generation.
Alihan Gubaev, a native of Akhmetov, is currently an iOS developer at 1Fit and a mentor for nFactorial Incubator 2024 and 2025. Alihan graduated from KBTU in Almaty this year. In 2022, he participated in the nFactorial Incubator and created an app showcasing the timeline history of Kazakhstan and the world.
The nFactorial Incubator fosters innovation and entrepreneurial skills, with participants developing unique, market-relevant digital products. It brings together students from leading Kazakh universities and schools, contributing to the strengthening of the country’s IT talent pipeline, practical skill-building, and startup ecosystem development.
The program reflects cooperation between industry and academia, boosting Kazakhstan’s digital economy. It represents a vital bridge between education and real-world IT entrepreneurship, accelerating the growth of Kazakhstan's tech sector and equipping young people with skills and experience to create impactful digital innovations.
References: [1] nFactorial Incubator website: https://nfactorial.kz/ [2] TechCrunch article: https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/01/nfactorial-incubator-kazakhstan-it-education/ [3] Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/06/27/how-nfactorial-is-revolutionizing-the-kazakhstan-tech-scene/?sh=6f68d86925a2
Technology plays a significant role in the nFactorial Incubator's approach to education-and-self-development, as participants learn programming and AI techniques to create online-education tools and mobile and web applications that address real-world problems. The nFactorial Incubator's success in transforming the IT industry and education system of Kazakhstan is evident in the learning opportunities it offers and the market-relevant digital products its participants develop.
