Rayhan demytrie biography of rory and dean

Log In. I was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. When Uzbekistan gained independence in , I remember empty shops and long queues to buy sugar and soap. We did not even have real money, we used coupons that looked like fake lottery tickets. At 19, I landed a job as a radio DJ at one of the first independent radio stations in Tashkent.

But it did not last.

The daily drama of money

Censors shut it down. It had become too dangerous to go there and report freely without putting myself and my family at risk. I had only known one president, Islam Karimov, a ruthless autocrat. After his death in , I kept hearing about real changes that were happening in Uzbekistan under the new leadership. When I received an invitation to cover the country's economic forum in Samarkand last November, I leapt at the opportunity.

There was a sense of optimism in the air. I was happy to see new businesses, shops and cafes opening in Tashkent. With more freedom and less repression, things have started moving fast. Uzbekistan is now a dynamic and developing country, but of course big systemic problems persist. And unfortunately, some things haven't changed at all.

Hear more about what I discovered on my journey and how Uzbekistan changed in my eyes on Business Daily.