Three students and alumni of Nazarbayev University successfully completed the NUS Enterprise Summer Programme in Entrepreneurship 2026, held from 6 to 17 July at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Their participation was made possible through NU STeP, a programme within the NU Impact Foundation ecosystem dedicated to fostering technology entrepreneurship among NU students and alumni.
The NUS Enterprise Summer Programme annually brings together promising entrepreneurs, students, and researchers from around the world. Over the course of two weeks, participants explored best practices in startup creation and scaling, refined their own ventures, gained first-hand insights into the innovation ecosystems of Singapore and Southeast Asia, and exchanged ideas with members of the global startup community.
The programme featured lectures by NUS faculty and industry experts, meetings with successful startup founders, workshops on business model development, pitching and fundraising, as well as an international entrepreneurship hackathon that united participants from diverse countries, cultures, and academic backgrounds.
The partnership between NU STeP and NUS Enterprise has been growing since 2024, creating international opportunities for Nazarbayev University students and alumni developing technology-driven ventures. In 2024, two NU startup teams took part in the programme. In 2025, NU STeP representatives attended the opening of the newly renovated NUS Enterprise building, where they engaged with international investors, researchers, entrepreneurs, and representatives of more than 60 startups. In 2026, NU STeP held a competitive selection process, through which three outstanding participants were chosen to represent Nazarbayev University on the international stage.
This year, the university was represented by projects in artificial intelligence, space technology, and educational technology.
Dina Kalibekova represented Rette (Defect AI), an AI-powered platform that helps healthcare organisations automatically review medical documentation for compliance with the requirements of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Healthcare and national clinical protocols. An NU alumna and Product Manager at Rette, Dina progressed from intern to product leader, contributing to the company’s product strategy and growth. Together with her team, she presented the startup at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, gained valuable experience in Silicon Valley, and in 2026 the company was accepted into StartX, the startup accelerator affiliated with Stanford University. Earlier, in 2025, Rette was also named the winner of the Social Startup competition organised by NU Impact Foundation.
Zhalgasbek Tleu, a fourth-year Nazarbayev University student, represented NU Aspan Rover. The interdisciplinary engineering team develops next-generation planetary rovers by combining robotics, autonomous navigation, artificial intelligence, and advanced mechanical engineering. The project represents Kazakhstan and Central Asia at international engineering competitions while providing students with hands-on experience in space technologies.
Nursat Khobdabayev, an NU alumnus and Head of Product at the educational platform WONK, showcased innovative EdTech solutions. Today, the platform serves 33 schools and approximately 20,000 monthly active users. Its standalone product, WONK Labs, integrates artificial intelligence with educational platforms including Wonk, Kundelik, and BilimClass, helping schools streamline teaching, learning, and administrative processes.
Participation in the NUS Enterprise Summer Programme provided the NU representatives with the opportunity to gain practical experience within one of the world’s leading innovation ecosystems, strengthen their entrepreneurial skills, refine their projects, receive valuable feedback from international experts, expand their global professional networks, and showcase Kazakhstan’s technology-driven initiatives on the international stage.
For NU Impact Foundation, building international partnerships is a key element of developing an ecosystem where talented students, researchers, and alumni gain access to world-class knowledge, mentorship, and opportunities to scale their ideas. By supporting initiatives like the NUS Enterprise Summer Programme, the Foundation contributes to nurturing the next generation of technology entrepreneurs capable of creating solutions with global impact.
