Since graduating with an MSc in Finance with Risk Management from BU in 2011, Alua Nurbayeva has gone on to build a career as an academic with an interest in entrepreneurship.
Alua, who came to study in Bournemouth from Kazakhstan, is now a senior lecturer at the KBTU JSC (Kazakh-British University) business school based in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She said: “Studying at BU was a great experience for me. My English improved dramatically, I attended international conferences and it helped me to get involved in international business projects. The study experience helped me to secure my current role and I have been able to draw on this in my lectures and practical classes with current students.”
In addition to teaching undergraduate students, Alua is engaged in international research in partnership with academic colleagues from the UK and Cambodia.
She said: “My research area is entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan. Having worked with local businesses, including a corporate English language and business planning consultancy service, various entrepreneurship incubators and training services for local start-ups, I understand that this area is not well researched.
“Through this research we want to know what Kazakh entrepreneurs perceive to be the strengths and weaknesses of the framework in which they operate, and to what extent they need to resort to informal relationships and networks to grow their businesses. I hope that an outcome of this research will be business training materials for local entrepreneurs in Kazakh language, which are currently not widely available.”