Gazeta, in partnership with IT Park Uzbekistan, has initiated a series of interviews featuring female startup founders across the country's regions. The inaugural guest is Maftuna Karimova, an Andijan-based programmer and the founder of the women's health application Femmy. She shared how her personal motherhood journey inspired the startup idea, the severe hurdles encountered while seeking venture funding, and the critical importance of providing reliable healthcare information in the Uzbek language.

The Femmy application is designed to help women monitor their reproductive health, track menstrual cycles, and navigate pregnancy stages. According to the founder, the project originated from her own struggles in finding specialized medical content locally, realizing that many women face similar barriers due to language limitations. Initially starting with a small group of developers, the founder reportedly had to bring her newborn baby along to team meetings while trying to keep the development process afloat.

Securing financial backing proved to be an uphill battle for the young entrepreneur. The founder claims she faced discouraging remarks from potential backers who argued that the market was already saturated with similar global solutions. Although the project eventually secured a $100,000 grant through the President Tech Award, complying with strict performance key performance indicators (KPIs) and navigating institutional bureaucratic pressures allegedly created severe operational stress for the fledgling team.

Source: www.gazeta.uz