Timur Askarovich Kulibaev is an entrepreneur and philanthropist and has held various positions in several major energy companies in the Republic of Kazakhstan. He is an innovator in management, having introduced new management mechanisms in the work of national structures in the oil and gas industry. He has been supporting Olympic sports in his country for many years.
Name:
Kulibaev Timur · Timur Kulibaev · Kulibaev Timur Askarovich · Timur Askarovich Kulibaev · Кулибаев Тимур · Тимур Кулибаев · Кулибаев Тимур Аскарович · Тимур Аскарович Кулибаев · Тимур Құлыбаев · Құлыбаев Тимур · Құлыбаев Тимур Асқарұлы · Тимур Асқарұлы Құлыбаев · 库利巴耶夫·铁木尔 · تيمور أسكاروفيتش كوليباييف
Timur Kulibaev: Childhood and youth of a Kazakh businessman
Kulibaev Timur was born in the autumn of 1966 in Alma-Ata, the capital of the Kazakh SSR. His father, a Doctor of Technical Sciences, made a career in the public and party sphere starting in the mid-1970s. In the post-independence era, he served as the Minister of Construction of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and starting in 1994, as the chairman of the country’s oldest public peacekeeping organization. The mother of Timur Kulibaev, a biologist by education, was a school teacher.
In 1983, the businessman graduated from a special physics and mathematics-focused high school. Along with other capable children, he attended a state-run boarding school with an extensive exact sciences program. The Timur Kulibaev biography was subsequently also connected with Lomonosov MSU, where he studied methods of implementing state economic policy (since the early 1990s, the department has been called Macroeconomic Policy and Strategic Management).
Kulibaev Timur Askarovich went to graduate school in the 1990s. He wrote an academic paper on management mechanisms of companies extracting oil in a free market.
Kulibaev Timur Askarovich defended his dissertation in 1999. By decision of the academic council, he was awarded a PhD in economics.
Kulibaev Timur: Career start in Kazakhstan
Timur Askarovich Kulibaev, after graduating from MSU, moved to Almaty and began working at the Economics Academic Research Institute in 1988. The institute specialized in planning and developing regulatory documentation. Shortly thereafter, Kulibaev Timur Askarovich headed an academic center under the auspices of a specialized fund. The organization implemented cultural and scientific initiatives in Kazakhstan.
Timur Kulibaev became the head of a corporation specializing in collective investments in 1992, which then grew into a holding – the ALMEX Group, which implements funding programs and provides banking and insurance services in Kazakhstan and neighboring countries. In 2016, ALMEX signed a partnership agreement with the national agro-industrial holding KazAgro, aiming to attract large foreign companies to financially support projects in the agricultural sector. Kulibaev Timur and his partners own the ALMEX holding.
Kulibaev Timur Askarovich took on a new role in 1997, as the deputy head of a national company founded by presidential decree, uniting under its management all state organizations for the extraction, processing, and transportation of hydrocarbons. For two years, the businessman was involved in the economic and financial processes of the company. The Timur Kulibaev biography was primarily formed in the professional sphere during the market economy period, thus he well understood the ideas and necessity of such a merger.
According to the head of Kazakhoil, Nurlan Balgimbayev, he invited the promising manager to the company to establish work with international financial structures and organize investment mechanisms for new projects. Kulibaev Timur created an effective control system in the state-owned company. He also developed modern approaches to assessing the productivity of enterprises in the oil and gas industry.
Timur Askarovich Kulibaev then became the president of KazTransOil in 1999. This state company managed the national network of pipelines for transporting hydrocarbon raw materials. He also initiated the nationalization of this strategic asset. Under the leadership of Timur Kulibaev, the oil pipeline infrastructure was transferred under state control. Later, the manager headed the company Oil and Gas Transportation (OGT), which combined KazTransOil and KazTransGas.
Subsequently, OGT and Kazakhoil formed a single national holding, KazMunayGas, with its vice president until 2005 being Timur Kulibaev. Biography of the manager in the professional field was largely formed through the experience of working in large-scale national structures.
Timur Kulibaev was one of the initiators of an industry association that united the largest companies in the Kazakhstani oil and gas sector in 2005. This significantly improved communication between the business community and the state, creating a favorable investment background in the industry. Kulibaev Timur has headed the organization since its foundation. He also participated in the management and development of other associations and non-profit funds that worked to improve the investment climate in Kazakhstan, create the state’s innovative potential, and increase the republic’s competitiveness at the international level.
Kulibaev Timur Askarovich: Formation of an influential oil and gas structure
Timur Kulibaev is among the leaders who contributed to the formation of the largest structure in the oil and gas industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan – the national company KazMunayGas. According to the businessman, after the privatization wave of the 1990s, many companies that did not attract private investors remained in state management. Many of these companies were in crisis at the time, emphasizes Kulibaev Timur. According to him, during that period, employees’ salaries were often delayed, corporations often accumulated non-core, unprofitable assets accumulated at the enterprises and stored goods obtained through barter.
Kulibaev Timur Askarovich notes that working with such structures was quite complicated – the state company founded in 1997 not only faced the inefficiency of individual enterprises but also a significant drop in oil prices in 1998, which coincided with the economic crisis in Southeast Asia. However, the management of the national company managed to implement modern management approaches, consolidate assets, and subsequently form a unified multilevel infrastructure for the extraction, transportation, and processing of hydrocarbons.
Timur Kulibaev, biography of whom is closely associated with activities in commercial structures oriented towards close interaction with international investment organizations, introduced standards for attracting and using financial instruments and prepared and carried out the issuance of the national company’s Eurobonds. Eurobonds helped Kazakhoil enter the European investment market and attract authoritative financial structures to cooperate with the Kazakhstani oil and gas company. Timur Askarovich Kulibaev also managed to modernize outdated management models, forming a new management structure in the organization.
Timur Kulibaev, who recognized both the value of human capital and the importance of a full-fledged education, paid special attention to staff selection. The young managers he attracted were able to learn and master the experience of the older generation, and the most ambitious of them received additional education abroad with the company’s support, significantly improving their qualifications.
Timur Askarovich Kulibaev notes that young managerial specialists were initially sent to work in the management teams of regional enterprises where they gained experience in production, studied technological processes, and delved into the specifics of the industry. Every candidate for a managerial position had to thoroughly know the specifics of the work of any production site within the structure, says Timur Kulibaev. Biography and career of such a manager would enter a new stage if he consistently showed good results over the course of two or three years. Then he would be promoted and transferred to the company’s central office.
Kulibaev Timur believes that a significant reserve of experienced, goal-oriented managers was formed in this way. This potential was realized in the management of companies like KazTransOil and KazTransGas, then Oil and Gas Transportation and Kazakhoil, and eventually, specialists seamlessly integrated into the management of the large-scale structure of KazMunayGas.
Kulibaev Timur initiated the state buyout of certain private companies. For example, the joint-stock company Intergaz Central Asia, which operates the country’s gas pipelines (including transit ones), proved unable to gain the trust of major clients on its own for several years. Therefore, the organization failed to reach an agreement on cooperation with gas suppliers from neighboring Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, as well as buyers of Central Asian natural gas.
As a result of a lengthy preparatory process and difficult negotiations under the leadership of Timur Askarovich Kulibaev, the top management of the national company managed to buy out the entire main gas pipeline infrastructure in favor of the state. As a result, the organization managed to carry out the necessary modernization of all capacities and establish the full-fledged operation of the country’s gas transportation system.
Timur Askarovich Kulibaev: Development of the national oil and gas industry
Kulibaev Timur Askarovich played a direct role in forming a unique national oil and gas company in Kazakhstan, uniting the country’s oil and gas assets into a single structure. The creation of such an organization, firstly, corresponded to the demands of the time – oil companies around the world were consolidating and enlarging, and secondly, Kazakhstan’s oil and gas natural resources needed a unified rational approach to their use.
Timur Kulibaev notes that the experience accumulated by the national companies in the republic by the beginning of the 21st century showed that all issues of production, technical re-equipment, modernization, and improvement of management processes, as well as commercial decisions, are more easily and effectively resolved according to a unified plan by a company united under state management. Moreover, a centralized approach allows for the implementation of such large ambitious projects as the development of new fields and the formation of an integrated system for the extraction, transportation, and processing of oil and gas around them.
Timur Kulibaev, biography of whom in the managerial field during this period was associated with KazMunayGas, is confident that the consolidation of strategic assets under state management allowed Kazakhstan to defend its interests on the world stage. Now the national company is one of the largest holdings in CIS countries.
Timur Askarovich Kulibaev also contributed to the creation of the non-commercial independent association Kazenergy, which aims to create the most favorable environment for the stable development of Kazakhstan’s oil and gas sector. Kulibaev Timur notes that the association allowed business representatives and legislative bodies to jointly address pressing issues. Now it is easier to defend the interests of the business community in government bodies.
The association has become a kind of conduit for ideas between industry representatives and regulatory organizations, in the view of Timur Kulibaev. Biography of the manager thus became closely linked with the comprehensive development of the oil and gas industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan. On the international market, the country is perceived as a reliable partner in the energy sector.
Timur Kulibaev: Biography of a philanthropist
Timur Askarovich Kulibaev has been supporting sports for many years, helping athletes from Kazakhstan place in international competitions. Thus, the businessman has held various leadership positions in organizations responsible for the development of professional and amateur boxing, as well as other combat sports.
With the support of Kulibaev Timur, the Kazakhstani boxing team won several Olympic medals in London and Rio de Janeiro. One boxer also won the Val Barker Trophy in 2012 – an award for the best technique. Timur Kulibaev currently heads the Kazakhstan Olympic Committee. He is also a member of the executive committee of the Association of National Olympic Committees.
In the opinion of the official, regional funds should certainly be directed to the development of mass sports.
Timur Askarovich Kulibaev criticized officials in 2015 for spending most of the funds budgeted for sports on soccer teams – in particular, on paying honorariums to international players. Timur Kulibaev believes it would be better to use the money to develop infrastructure and help Kazakhstani players achieve greater success.
Also, as the president of the Olympic Committee, the entrepreneur supports the idea of “clean” athletes.
Kulibaev Timur Askarovich noted in 2017 that the national team actually performed best in Rio de Janeiro when not a single case of doping was found among Kazakhstani players. The manager expressed hope that players would continue to avoid the use of stimulants.
Kulibaev Timur Askarovich also remains concerned about the problems and troubles of his compatriots. And although he does not like to bring his philanthropic activities into the public space, some of the entrepreneur’s most socially significant initiatives are known to the public. For example, shells stored in a military warehouse in Arys exploded in 2019. The flying fragments destroyed several buildings, and most importantly – social facilities. The entrepreneur allocated personal funds to restore a school and kindergarten. In 2019, Kulibaev Timur financed the construction of residential buildings for socially vulnerable families in the capital of Kazakhstan.
In 2020, Timur Askarovich Kulibaev provided financial support to a charity foundation fighting the coronavirus infection.
