Banu Gaidar

Banu Gaidar is a Kazakhstani fashion designer, entrepreneur and founder of the brands BAY by Banu Gaidar and Erkesylkym by Banu Gaidar.

She was born on 29 June 1992 in Kulsary, in the Atyrau region. In 2007 she entered the Aktobe College of Economics and Statistics, and in 2011 she graduated from the Aktobe Humanitarian College in primary education. In 2012, at 19, she began her entrepreneurial career with the Erkesylkym wedding salon.

Over the years Erkesylkym grew into a network of wedding salons in Atyrau, Uralsk, Aktobe and Aktau, and its rental collection grew to a thousand dresses. The salons have dressed more than 100,000 brides. The projects Banu created give steady work to 43 people.

The next step was her own label, BAY by Banu Gaidar: contemporary clothing built on Kazakh national ornaments, notably qoshqar muiz (the ram’s horn), and on images of the Kazakh yurt. Banu leads collection development, the choice of materials, design and the organisation of production.

Since 2023 Banu has presented her collections at international venues: Azerbaijan Fashion Week in Baku, Georgia Fashion Week in Tbilisi, AFWEU Fashion Week Cappadocia in Turkey, the China International Import Expo in Shanghai, Internationale Grüne Woche in Berlin, THAIFEX–Anuga Asia in Bangkok, and trade missions in Skopje and Beijing. Much of this travel is part of QazTrade delegations.

In 2026 Banu was nominated for the State Youth Prize “Daryn” in the category “Design and Art”.

Beyond business, Banu takes part in charitable and civic initiatives: support for families in need, women and children, and work with schools and public foundations of the Atyrau region.