A photo I never forgot
When I was a child, I saw a photo of a student traveling through his home country with his university classmates. That image stayed with me. One day, I told myself, I would bring my own classmates to my hometown, Samarkand.
The first Uzbek in my program in 25 years
When I came to Harvard, I was the first Uzbek in my program at the Harvard Kennedy School in 25 years, and I felt I needed to do something with that. At the American universities where I studied, Uzbekistan and Central Asia rarely came up. I wanted to change that, so I decided to bring my Harvard and MIT classmates to Uzbekistan.
Forty sign-ups on the first day
Honestly, I was not sure 20 people would join. On the first day we announced the trek, 40 had already signed up. Eventually, we had around 200 interested participants for the first treks, so we had to make a selection.
March 2025: 45 travelers
The first trek was a huge success. Forty-five graduate students traveled with us. We met ministers, the Governor of Bukhara and the leadership of the Senate, exchanged ideas with students at Nordic University, and celebrated Nowruz together with the President. The feedback from participants, from the university community and from our hosts in Uzbekistan was so strong that we decided to do it again.
Moreover, the trek contributed further: some students did their research and theses on Uzbekistan, some looked for investment opportunities, and some joined efforts with local universities to launch courses.
March 2026: 50 travelers
The second trek was bigger, with 50 travelers, and it covered more policy areas. On the government side, we met the Chairwoman of the Senate, the leadership of the National Agency for Social Protection, the Governor of Bukhara, the Minister of Digital Technologies and the Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank.
In the private sector, we discussed renewable energy with the leadership of ACWA Power, financial markets with TBC Bank, and technology at IT Park.
What comes next
My goal is to run more treks and open them to graduate students at other universities. That is why we started the ambassador program: Uzbek students studying abroad can now bring their own classmates, and we support them at every step. After two treks, we know what students want from a week in Uzbekistan, and we can help you organize one for your group.
Jakhongir SadievFounder, Uzbekistan Trek
