STUDY ON THE ROLE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN MONOTOWNS: KHROMTAU CITY

In recent decades, the government of Kazakhstan has been actively addressing the problems of single-industry towns, paying significant attention to this area and continuously developing support measures. Out of 89 cities in Kazakhstan, 27 are single-industry towns, home to approximately 1.4 million people, with over 30 town-forming enterprises. The development program for single-industry towns was implemented in several key directions, which remain relevant today. These include economic diversification, developing small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), increasing employment levels, and developing engineering infrastructure. Within the program, single-industry towns were categorized into three groups: towns with high, medium, and low development potential. Towns with low development potential include Arkalyk in the Kostanay region and Zhanatas in the Talas district of the Zhambyl region. Single-industry towns with high development potential include Zhanaozen, Zhezkazgan, and Aksay, as well as Khromtau in the Aktobe region and Balkhash, Temirtau in the Karaganda region. Single-industry towns continue to face unresolved issues, such as population decline, depletion of natural resources, industrial production downturn, deteriorating infrastructure, and weak economic diversification. Research objective: To assess the effectiveness of support measures for entrepreneurs in the single-industry town of Khromtau and their impact on improving the quality of life. This research provides insights into how entrepreneurship support measures affect the development of Khromtau, a town dependent on natural resources. Additionally, it offers a deep understanding of the social and economic consequences of entrepreneurship support measures, which is crucial for the sustainable community development of single-industry towns.