"Made in Kyrgyzstan": an ethnographic exploration of "new entrepreneurs" entering the Eurasian Economic Union

The chapter presents in-depth ethnographic insights on how entrepreneurs in Kyrgyzstan, representative of a small nation and hitherto widely informal market, responded to the macro-level economic integration and policy harmonization efforts associated with their country’s 2015 accession to the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Based on fieldwork conducted between 2013 and 2018 across Kyrgyzstan, I use enterprise case studies from the textile industry, the light manufacturing and agricultural sectors to reflect on the readiness to “localize capital” in facilities and human resources, on the decisive impact that newly introduced financial instruments had on business development, and on the predicament that emerges if private sector investments are not matched by public sector inputs. When viewed within Kyrgyzstan’s post-1991 history, EAEU membership can be identified as a pivotal moment in a longer-term process of economic formalization, diversification and specialization.