Kulibaev Timur Askarovich: biography, personal life, career

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

In January 2018, Forbes of Kazakhstan decided on the winner in the Businessman of the Year nomination. No sensations or discoveries. They became Kulibaev Timur Askarovich. Billionaire, top manager, owner, curator, member of several boards of directors - more than solid regalia. And this list goes on. But there are many skeptics about the recognition of his business qualities: Kulibaev Timur Askarovich is the son-in-law of the president of a large Asian oil-bearing country. And that says it all, you can not continue. And you can continue to follow the career of "son-in-law No. 1" and make sure that high family ties, managerial talent and strategic thinking are not mutually exclusive things.

A boy from a good family

Timur Kulibayev was born in Alma-Ata in 1966 in a real "ministerial" family. His father held high positions back in the days of the Kazakh SSR, and ended his career as a minister for the construction of an independent Kazakhstan. Importanta fact in the Kazakh context is that the Kulibaev family belongs to the senior zhuz (genus) - a real incubator of the country's top leaders. Education in the biography of Kulibaev Timur Askarovich is brilliant: these were the best study options in Soviet times. The legendary Republican School of Physics and Mathematics in Alma-Ata, then the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University.

Marrying the president's daughter Dinara Nazarbayeva brought Timur Askarovich to the crest of fame and extremely bright prospects. There are many cases in history when high-ranking relatives could not use such opportunities in full. Timur Kulibaev was able to.

How it all began

He's incredibly lucky. The independence of Kazakhstan with the restructuring of political and economic foundations coincided over the years with the beginning of his professional path. Actually, it was not a road, but a wide avenue. From the very beginning, in order: State Planning Commission, the new Fund for Scientific and Technical Development, Altyn-Alma Concern (trade), ATF Bank.

A few years later, Kulibayev Timur Askarovich took up serious work: he led the evaluation of projects in the State Investment Committee. Ten years of invaluable experience in companies of various profiles, coupled with an excellent education, made Timur Kulibayev a valuable newcomer to the oil and gas sector of Kazakhstan, who has just begun to get on an independent track. PhD thesis was already completely "oil": "Improving the organizational and economic mechanismmanagement of an enterprise in a market environment on the example of the oil industry.”

Oil Prince

Kazakhoil, KazTransOil, National Oil and Gas Transportation Company, KazEnergy – a partial list of companies founded and led by Timur Kulibayev.

But the names speak for themselves. The main issue of all the work of that period was the conditions for the export of oil and gas from Kazakhstan. The end of the 90s and the beginning of the 00s is considered the time of scandals, corruption revelations and wild capitalism. But these same years were a search for the best options for the development of the economy through trial and error, a struggle for power and minds, where the strongest and most stubborn won.

Timur Kulibayev had an excellent team of like-minded people and associates in business - he was followed, he was trusted. He became the first serious lobbyist in the Republic of Kazakhstan: within the framework of the KazEnergy Association, he successfully established links between the newly created commercial sector of the country and government officials of a very conservative (Soviet) temper. The task was incredibly difficult, but Timur Kulibayev was the most suitable figure for this kind of communication.

Reforms in the country's energy sector

Timur Kulibayev began to be regarded as a real leader in the oil and gas and energy sectors in Kazakhstan. According to business publications, the degree of his influence was higher than even that of the prime minister. As Chairman, he chaired the boards of directors of major companiescountries: KazMunayGas (oil and gas sector), Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (railway), Kazatomprom (nuclear), Kegoc (electric power).

Reforms in management, innovations, investment policy - this is not a complete list of issues that Timur Kulibayev de alt with during this period.

Fund

"Samruk-Kazyna" - the words are unusual for the ear, and they sound somehow frivolous. Meanwhile, this is the name of one of the most important and interesting initiatives in Kazakhstan. The National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna was established in 2008.

It is often compared to Singapore's Temasek, where the main starting task was to modernize the country's economy. NWF Samruk-Kazyna is a joint-stock company that owns shares in all key companies in Kazakhstan. At its core, this is an investment holding with huge opportunities and powers.

Kulibaev Timur Askarovich became one of the main creators of the project. Moreover, occupying key positions in the main "daughters" of the fund in different years, it contributed to the emergence and development of a completely new way for the country to exist for companies - corporate governance. Sounds simple.

In fact, everything was extremely difficult. Rocking old Soviet-style bosses into accepting and complying with demands for transparency, accountability, and listening to boards of independent directors all seemed unrealistic in Kazakhstan at the time. Timur Kulibayev succeeded.

Gazprom and Russian-Kazakh gas agreements

In the post-Soviet space, few understand the nuances of corporate governance and the principles of operation of its most important component - the board of directors. Kulibayev Timur Askarovich and Gazprom are an excellent example of a modern business partnership. Here Kulibayev has been acting as an independent member of the board of directors since 2011.

Russian-Kazakh agreements in the oil and gas sector were implemented more than ten years ago. The struggle for influence in Central Asia is one of the critical moments of Gazprom's activity in the region. This range of issues is a priority in the expert competence of Timur Kulibaev in his activities for the largest Russian partner in the oil and gas sector.

As a conclusion, I would like to note that the personal life of Timur Askarovich Kulibayev, the facts of which are presented in the first lines of search engines when his name is mentioned, is not as interesting and rich as his professional activity. It is extremely interesting to observe the parallels between the life of a boy from a good family and the development of a young independent country.