Anastasia Ligai knows a thing or two about the benefits of swimming and the positive properties of water. Two years ago, she opened a unique swimming centre for children: Deti vody (Children of Water).

The centre is the first such swimming centre in the Kyrgyz Republic and offers a holistic approach, focusing on helping children to swim and develop a variety of life skills, as well as give the parents a fun and safe space where they can engage with their children.

"Swimming can support children's mental health and help them learn valuable skills," explains Anastasia. "Many children are afraid of the water to some degree. As they work with our swim instructors, they gain confidence and develop communication skills, and the health benefits of the exercise.

"We also hold classes for newborn babies together with parents. These classes help parents learn how to interact with their children and get used to their new role. We also offer classes for children with disabilities, and we are very proud of the positive improvements we see every day."

How the EBRD helped design a new dream

Before opening the Deti vody centre Anastasia was already a successful businesswoman. She managed a fitness studio and a parenting school in Bishkek. But in 2020 she took the plunge and sold her businesses to focus on building her unique swim centre downtown.

She approached the EBRD's Advice for Small Businesses programme to help develop an architectural project design and within two years her centre was up and running. The programme in the Kyrgyz Republic is funded by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi).

Later, consultants helped Anastasia to enhance her business processes by introducing automated financial, tax accounting and reporting systems. They also helped her to improve the procurement and management of personnel. These measures allowed the company to increase labour productivity (by 41%) and double its turnover. Today the company has 2867 clients while staff number increased by 85%.

"I am quite demanding in terms of safety and health for my children. So, I wanted to create a safe space for all children and their parents. The water in the swimming pools is cleaned every 30 minutes, day and night. We test the water every four hours and record all the data. We also make sure that the temperature of the indoor pool remains at around 30-33 degrees, which is the most comfortable for small children," says Anastasia proudly.

Anastasia dreams of opening a chain of these swim centres across the country and training more children's instructors. Her main mission, though, is to contribute to the wellbeing of children by promoting the values of a healthy lifestyle and sport. "Teach your children to swim and they will be healthy, confident and have a lot of fun with their new friends," she says. And judging by the swim school's ever-growing list of customers, she's right.'

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