Uzbekistan: Karimova, in About-Face, Supports Small Businesses

Gulnara Karimova, Uzbek President Islam Karimov’s eldest daughter, seems to have had a change of heart: Once described as a “robber baron” for the way she used her position of privilege and power to seize successful enterprises in Uzbekistan, she’s now championing the cause of the small businessman. 

The private Novyy Vek newspaper reports that Karimova has complained about the difficulties small- and medium-sized businesses face in Uzbekistan due to, in the paper’s words, “bureaucratic and other obstacles created by government agencies.” 

Speaking on March 25 at the awards ceremony of a fair showcasing handicrafts made by select artisans from across Uzbekistan, Karimova described the plight of a “promising” factory in southern Surkhandarya Region that had been forced to close because of such obstacles, Novyy Vek quoted her as saying.

“Once we visited a factory in Surkhandarya and it made very beautiful items and quality carpets and silks and it had a very interesting and good team of women and girls. Generally, it was such a decent small business,” said Karimova, who has long been rumored to covet her father’s position. 

“We discussed how this enterprise could supply its products to Tashkent in order expand the factory’s sales and opportunities, but several months later we learned that the enterprise was shut,” she explained, because of “difficulties” meeting raw silk quotas set by Uzbekistan’s state body overseeing the textile industry.

Karimova, who has worked hard in recent years to cultivate the image of a patron of the arts through her charity organizations, now wants to be known as a patron of entrepreneurs, as well: “We will write open letters and … we will solve the issue of [this] Surkhandarya enterprise and in the future we will stand behind each of the 2,000 master artisans who have joined this organization,” she said of the Ijod (“Creativity”) association she set up in 2009. 

This is an interesting turn for Karimova, who was dubbed in leaked US diplomatic cables as “a greedy, power-hungry individual who uses her father to crush business people or anyone else who stands in her way.”  

Karimova’s own business interests have recently come under attack. Her name has been linked to two telecoms-related bribery and money laundering probes unfolding in Switzerland and Sweden. European investigators have frozen hundreds of millions of dollars that, many believe, have her fingerprints on them. Perhaps that setback has spurred Karimova’s sudden surge in empathy.