Cholpon Jumashukurov

Cholponbek Jumashukurov was born and raised in Cholpon-Ata, a resort town on Lake Issyk-Kul; his father was a civil engineer who later became the town's mayor, and his mother taught mathematics for 33 years. As a teenager he won an ACCELS full scholarship to spend a year at high school in Montgomery, Alabama, then enrolled in 1998 at the American University of Kyrgyzstan (now AUCA) to study business administration, graduating in 2002 after also spending a year studying microeconomics in Germany on a German-government exchange scholarship. He went on to Harvard Business School, completing his MBA in 2006–2008 — reportedly the first Kyrgyzstani to earn a Harvard MBA — where he studied under Michael Porter.

His early career combined consulting and investing: roughly 2.5 years at McKinsey & Co. in Moscow advising large institutional clients across Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, a summer associate stint at Goldman Sachs in the U.S., and about 5.5 years at Farallon Capital Management, where he analyzed and managed public and private equity investments across the U.S., South America and Eastern Europe. He returned to Kyrgyzstan in 2013 after repaying his student debt, initially representing Farallon's regional interests and conducting independent investment activity.

In 2015 he co-founded Highland Capital with Eldan Usubakunov to build the country's first independent, institutional private equity vehicle. The Highland Private Equity and Mezzanine Fund reached a first close of about US$15 million in 2018 and targeted a final size of roughly US$23 million, anchored by the IFC ($8 million in 2018, alongside the IDA Private Sector Window) and the EBRD ($8 million equity, announced February 28, 2020), plus private investors including Gregory Serrurier and local businessman Emil Umetaliev. Through the fund, Highland has reportedly deployed over US$20 million across roughly a dozen portfolio companies in consumer-oriented sectors.

Beyond investing, Jumashukurov is active in Kyrgyz civic and education initiatives: he founded the ProKG professionals club (2009) and the "My School" project (2010), which funds scholarships for top-performing students in the Issyk-Köl, Naryn and Talas regions, largely self-financed rather than grant-funded.

• Invests through an institutional PE/mezzanine fund, providing growth and expansion capital — not early-stage angel checks — typically $0.8M–$3M in equity or quasi-equity per company.
• Focuses on established, cash-generating Kyrgyz SMEs with the potential to "institutionalize and grow into large regional champions," offering an alternative to traditional bank lending.
• Sector preference for consumer products and services, agribusiness/food processing, healthcare, education, retail, garments/manufacturing, and TMT.
• Brings operational and governance value-add alongside capital — helping portfolio companies professionalize management, improve reporting, and obtain certifications needed to export (e.g., helping a garment maker secure OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certification for European sales).
• In his own words on the mission: *"EBRD's participation in our Fund contributes to the development of the private equity industry of Kyrgyzstan as well as its economy."* On backing consumer-sector champions: *"The garment sector is one of the priority sectors of the economy of the Kyrgyz Republic. We are excited to partner with Cool Bro's and support its rapid growth, which will affect the development of the industry as a whole."*