TL;DR Turkmenistan has about 7.6 million people, a state-led economy and a lot of desert. Industry and irrigated farming do most of the heavy lifting, and online reach is harder to measure than in its neighbours. The ideas that fit sell services to plants and contractors, help farms use scarce water, and deal with long, very hot summers.

The market in numbers

  • Population: about 7.62 million in 2025[1].
  • GDP per capita: about US$6,540 in 2025[2].
  • Mobile: about 88 mobile subscriptions per 100 people in 2021[3].
  • Internet: the latest World Bank figure is about 18% of people online, from 2016[4]. That is badly out of date, so treat current use as unknown [Requires validation].
  • Where people live: about 47% lived in towns and cities in 2025[5], and about 22% of jobs were in farming[6].
  • Currency: the Turkmen manat (TMT).

What founders here actually have to work with

Be honest with yourself about the data first. Some of the usual numbers, like internet use and export mix, are years old in the international databases[4], so your first month should go into finding current figures from the State Statistics Committee[7] and from people who sell here today.

What's clear is the shape of demand. Roughly half the population lives in towns[5] and about a fifth of workers are in farming[6], so this is not a village-only market and not a city-only one. Large state and industrial buyers matter a lot, and the gas and chemicals sector is the one most people point to [Requires validation].

So who pays? Mostly plants, contractors and farm programmes, not individual consumers tapping an app. B2B services that work offline, run on a site visit and produce a clear report suit this market better than anything that needs fast internet and card payments. That's the one call I'd make with confidence here.

Cross-border payments and imported software can be hard to arrange, so build with tools you can pay for and support locally.

Ideas that fit Turkmenistan

Each idea below was researched for India. The rupee costs and Indian rules don't apply, so read each page as a brief and redo the economics for Turkmenistan.

Plants, pipelines and contractors

  • Furnacewing: Caged-drone inspections inside boilers, stacks and tanks during shutdowns. Processing and power plants are the buyers, and drone flying will need permission [Requires validation].
  • Ventsure: Ground crews that confirm methane leaks spotted by satellite and plan the fix. Swap landfills for gas sites and sell it as lost product recovered.
  • Exhaustwell: Bolt-on units that turn compressor heat into hot water. Fits factories and plants that run large air compressors all day.
  • Hotworksim: VR hot-work safety training and skill checks for contract welders. A good fit where big projects use large contractor crews.
  • Intakeview: Scheduled ROV checks of seawater intake and outfall pipes. Only relevant to plants on the Caspian coast.

Cotton, water and desert farms

  • Mothtrap: Camera traps and spray alerts for cotton pests, run as a service. Sell to the programme that runs the fields, not to single growers.
  • Bonusroll: Books that show cotton buyers where their premium went. Worth it only if export buyers ask for that proof [Requires validation].
  • Canalbudget: Weekly crop-water budgets and checks at the far end of each canal. Irrigation is what keeps desert farming alive, so every litre counts.
  • Saltfree: Solar units that make salty groundwater drinkable. Test the local water first, because salinity varies a lot by area [Requires validation].

Textiles and crafts

  • Offcutsort: Sorting cutting waste from garment and textile plants into graded lots. Start with one mill that already sells its scrap.
  • Upstreamly: Mapping the mills behind a textile order so buyers can check them. Useful if mills want to sell to buyers who audit suppliers.
  • Heddlepay: Collecting overseas payments for weaver groups and splitting them fairly. Carpet makers are the fit, but foreign payments are the hard part, so check bank rules first[8].

Heat and building sites

  • Heatmeter: Site heat meters and work-rest schedules for construction crews. Summers here are brutal, and the cost of a heat injury is high.
  • Shadevine: Climber-plant shade screens on the hot walls of schools and clinics. Pick plants that cope with dry heat and little water.

Rules to check before you start

The Tax Department of the Ministry of Finance and Economy handles tax[9]. The Central Bank of Turkmenistan regulates banks, payments and the currency[8]. The Ministry of Justice has an official site[10], but I couldn't confirm which body registers new companies today [Requires validation]. Energy, drones and imports will each have their own approvals [Requires validation].

This is a starting list, not legal advice. Check with a local lawyer or the agency itself.

Questions founders ask

A site-based service like Heatmeter or Mothtrap needs a small kit and a trained team more than capital. Win one contract with a contractor or farm programme before you hire.

Do foreigners need a local partner to start a company in Turkmenistan?

I couldn't find a source I'd stand behind, so check with the Ministry of Finance and Economy[9] and a local lawyer.

Can I build an online consumer business here?

Maybe, but the public data on internet use is old[4], so measure your own reach before you plan around it. B2B services are the safer start.

Talk to Yash

If you're trying to land a first contract with a plant or a contractor here, I can help you shape a small paid pilot. If you need a hand, you know where to find me.

Talk to Yash →

Sources

  1. World Bank, "Population, total: Turkmenistan", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/TKM/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?format=json&mrv=1
  2. World Bank, "GDP per capita (current US$): Turkmenistan", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/TKM/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?format=json&mrv=1
  3. World Bank (ITU data), "Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people): Turkmenistan", 2021. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/TKM/indicator/IT.CEL.SETS.P2?format=json&mrv=1
  4. World Bank (ITU data), "Individuals using the Internet (% of population): Turkmenistan", 2016. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/TKM/indicator/IT.NET.USER.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  5. World Bank, "Urban population (% of total population): Turkmenistan", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/TKM/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  6. World Bank (ILO estimate), "Employment in agriculture (% of total employment): Turkmenistan", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/TKM/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  7. State Committee of Turkmenistan on Statistics, official site, 2026. https://stat.gov.tm/
  8. Central Bank of Turkmenistan, official site, 2026. https://cbt.tm/
  9. Tax Department, Ministry of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan, official site, 2026. https://tax.gov.tm/
  10. Ministry of Justice of Turkmenistan, official site, 2026. https://minjust.gov.tm/

For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.