Talant Sultanov is the Chair and Co-Founder of the Kyrgyz Internet Society. Talant’s experience includes the work at the World Bank as the Digital Development Specialist. He has served in the Kyrgyz Government as the Adviser to the Prime Minister in charge of the Taza Koom Digital Transformation Strategy and as the Director of Government Think Tank NISI. Previous he has worked as the CFO of the American University in Bishkek and as the Scholarship Coordinator at the World Affairs Council in San Francisco. Additionally, he served on boards of the Kyrgyz National TV and Radio Corporation, the Business Council of the Kyrgyz Parliament, the Bank of Asia, and Humo Microcredit Foundation in Tajikistan.
At the Internet Society-Kyrgyz Chapter Talant promotes Internet connectivity and digital development. Some of the projects include building community internet networks in rural areas and establishing the Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in the Fergana Valley to lower the Internet prices, while improving the speed and the quality for the people in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Another project is the ilimBox (Knowledge-in-a-Box), which brings educational content in local languages to unconnected rural schools and libraries. The Ilimbox was listed among seven worldwide digital education initiatives by Thomson Reuters Foundation. This initiative has grown into an online educational platform IlimBox.kg. Finally, Talant and his teammates are working on activities related to digital skills, personal data protection, and cybersecurity.
Talant holds a Master’s degree from Columbia University (2006) and a Bachelor’s degree (Summa Cum Laude) from San Francisco State University (1999). He has also received executive education at the Harvard Kennedy School and NESA (2016).