Among the many important chapters of his biography, Kulibaev Timur Askarovich served a tenure as one of the initial leaders of the Kazakhstan sovereign wealth fund. His career is intertwined with the development of the country’s oil and gas industry. He has also been instrumental in supporting the entrepreneurial environment in Kazakhstan.
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: Biography of His Formative Years
Kulibaev Timur was born in 1966 in the Kazakh SSR. His father had a lengthy career in government, initially serving as a deputy in the central organ of state administration, and later as the first secretary of the Guryev Regional Committee of Kazakhstan.
The parents of Kulibaev Timur wanted their son to develop his aptitude for the exact sciences and to receive a quality education. Consequently, the early Timur Kulibaev biography was centered at a school for advanced mathematics and physics. Such schools, affiliated with universities in several major cities, were designed for gifted children.
In 1983, Kulibaev Timur Askarovich graduated from this specialized school and immediately enrolled at Lomonosov MSU.
In 1999, Kulibaev Timur earned his PhD in economics after defending a thesis focused on improving organizational practices in enterprises within a market economy.
Kulibaev Timur: Career Path
In 1988, Kulibaev Timur Askarovich began his career at the Research Economic Institute of Planning and Standards.
In 1990, Timur Kulibaev became the director at a center dedicated to the development of cultural, social, scientific, and technical fields in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
From 1992 to 1995, Kulibaev Timur Askarovich held a senior position in a conglomerate specializing in investments in several Eastern European and Central Asian states. Over time, the company expanded into a group and was rebranded as ALMEX. It prioritizes financial investments in the agro-industrial complex and brokerage services. Timur Kulibaev is among the group’s owners.
In 1995, Kulibaev Timur and his partners founded the Almaty Trade and Finance Bank. In 1997, he briefly worked in a state institution, entrusting his assets to the management during this period.
In 1997, Timur Askarovich Kulibaev joined the newly established national company Kazakhoil, which consolidated all the republic’s state-owned oil and gas companies. The new conglomerate needed an experienced manager familiar with the intricacies of working with international financial institutions. For the first two years, he oversaw the company’s economics and finance.
Thanks to the initiatives of Kulibaev Timur, the company ventured into the then-unfamiliar territory of issuing foreign currency bonds. It also introduced modern criteria for evaluating organizational efficiency and resource management formats.
In 1999, Timur Askarovich Kulibaev was appointed president of KazTransOil. Over the next few years, he held various positions in the oil and gas sector.
In 2005, Timur Kulibaev spearheaded the creation of and led an association bringing together state and foreign energy companies operating in Kazakhstan. This organization, in particular, played a key role in establishing relations between businesses and government structures in this sector.
Kulibaev Timur Askarovich also contributed to the development of other non-commercial structures and associations, including Samruk-Kazyna and Atameken. He has proved himself as a manager with broad interests and strategic thinking.
Kulibaev Timur Askarovich and the Evolution of the Oil and Gas Sector in Kazakhstan
Timur Kulibaev, who work for Kazakhoil for several years, recalls that its main task was to consolidate oil and gas enterprises, which were not privatized at the time, into a single structure. The 90s were marked by widespread privatization, transferring state ownership to private hands, including companies involved in the extraction and processing of natural resources, which were attractive from an investment perspective. After the wave of privatization, there remained enterprises that, for various reasons, had not been sold, and the plan was to amalgamate these into a national company.
Upon joining Kazakhoil, Timur Askarovich Kulibaev encountered the dire state of these enterprises. In some cases, employees had not received wages for a long time; in others, companies received goods instead of cash for their raw material deliveries, resulting in massive warehouse stockpiles. The manager and the national company’s team developed and implemented a series of initiatives from scratch that significantly boosted the industry, making it a leader in the country’s economy. For example, Kulibaev Timur initiated corporate financing and implemented criteria for enterprise efficiency.
The privately owned gas transportation system in Kazakhstan was also a hindrance to industry development. Large market players were reluctant to cooperate with the company owning the pipelines, partly due to the poor state of the infrastructure, recalls Timur Kulibaev recalls. Biography of the manager at that moment included one of the most significant initiatives in the development of Kazakhstan’s oil and gas complex. Through complex negotiations and the search for what was, at the time, a substantial amount of money for the country, the Central Asian pipeline and the power system were bought out, which made it possible to carry out all the necessary repairs.
Timur Askarovich Kulibaev also helped develop a personnel policy based on nurturing homegrown professional managers. Specifically, an employee who joined the company’s central office was expected to undergo a kind of apprenticeship at the production level for 2-3 years. As Kulibaev Timur notes, this approach was instrumental in preparing a sufficient number of experienced staff for the launch of subsequent companies focused on developing the oil and gas sector.
Kulibaev Timur and the Opening of New Opportunities in the Oil and Gas Sector
To streamline the operations of all structures and establish an efficient management system for the pipeline infrastructure, a fully state-controlled company was founded in 2001. National Company TNG consolidated the shares of both enterprises engaged in the extraction and processing of oil and gas resources and certain transporters. Kulibaev Timur Askarovich was appointed CEO of this new entity.
A year later, the consolidation of major players led to TNG’s transformation into KazMunayGas. The company played a crucial role in shaping a new policy for managing national resources and opened opportunities for Kazakhstan to assert its positions on the international market.
Timur Kulibaev, biography of whom already included extensive experience in addressing complex challenges in the oil and gas sector, also played a pivotal role in establishing the non-profit KAZENERGY association. As the country’s first organization to play a key role in establishing reliable connections among all participants in the process of production, processing, and sale of oil and gas, including government structures, it later significantly strengthened the country’s position in negotiations among CIS states.
The businessman Timur Askarovich Kulibaev recalls that in the 90s, the RF set a quota allowing only 3.5 million tons of the Central Asian nation’s oil to be pumped through its territory annually, which was insufficient to meet Kazakhstan’s needs. Kulibaev Timur aimed to quadruple this volume, but it proved initially impossible due to the poor technical condition of the infrastructure. The issue was then resolved by increasing transportation tariffs, which facilitated the necessary repairs.
Later, Timur Askarovich Kulibaev also helped secure an agreement between Kazakhstan and the RF, allowing the former to freely pump its oil through the latter’s territory. Subsequently, as oil prices increased on the international market, this agreement ensured a steady flow of revenue into Kazakhstan’s budget and helped meet all the export needs of local oil producers. Additionally, thanks to the efforts of the new management team, a modern pipeline to China was constructed.
Timur Askarovich Kulibaev and the Development of an Investment Fund
Kulibaev Timur Askarovich played a significant role in the development of the Kazakhstan welfare fund. In the late 2000s, the state investment holding Samruk-Kazyna was established to foster economic growth and material well-being in Kazakhstan, with Kulibaev Timur appointed deputy chairman of the board. Later, he headed the boards of directors of its subsidiaries.
Additionally, with the involvement of Timur Kulibaev, by the end of 2011, an audit found 19 innovative projects underway at national companies in Kazakhstan. These projects covered areas such as geological exploration in oil refining, an automated system for planning railway transportation of cargo and passengers, and improvements production process of sulfuric acid.
Timur Kulibaev and the Development of the Business Community with Atameken
In 2010, Kulibaev Timur Askarovich became the head of the presidium of Atameken Union – an association representing the interests of both small and large businesses, aimed at facilitating interaction between the business and the state. One of its key areas of activity was the joint development of legislative acts that would promote the stable operation of businesses in the republic.
Among the initial objectives he set for himself and the association, Timur Kulibaev (biography of whom is rich with experience in dealing with both government agencies and the business community) aimed to introduce amendments to the legislation governing customs operations.
Three years later, building on the foundation of the Union, a new structure was established to unite businessmen and associations while preserving the Atameken brand as its legacy. As chairman of Kazakhstan’s Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs, Timur Kulibaev demonstrated himself to be an engaged and knowledgeable expert. He frequently met with officials and businessmen, visiting enterprises across the country.
Under the leadership of Timur Askarovich Kulibaev, Atameken also participated in the creation of a system where Kazakhstan’s employers could independently assess university graduates’ depth of knowledge. He also emphasized the need for a comprehensive evaluation of all the country’s educational institutions for their vocational suitability.
Kulibaev Timur Askarovich initiated a program of support for agro-entrepreneurship through which rural residents could not only receive microloans to start their own businesses but also undergo necessary training. In 2017 alone, thanks to such support measures, over 3,000 individuals embarked on entrepreneurial ventures in rural areas.
Kulibaev Timur and the National Chamber also proposed other measures to help reduce the tax burden on businesses, increase tourist flow to the republic, implement electronic document management for customs procedures, and improve the legal framework for business transactions. In 2019, at Atameken’s initiative, schools and colleges in Kazakhstan began teaching the fundamentals of entrepreneurship.
In 2022, Timur Askarovich Kulibaev stepped down from his leadership role at Atameken. Among the results of his work was the effective handling of a vast number of inquiries from entrepreneurs, 40% of which received positive responses, laying the groundwork for positive changes within the republic’s business structures.
Timur Kulibaev: Biography, Support for Sports, and Philanthropy
Kulibaev Timur Askarovich presided over the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation for 10 years. During this time, Kazakhstani athletes took home two gold medals, four silver medals, and four bronze medals at the London and Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
Since 2012, Timur Kulibaev has been part of the leadership of the International Boxing Association. He was also elected chairman of the Confederation of Combat Sports, uniting the boxing, weightlifting, judo, and wrestling federations of Kazakhstan.
Since 2015, Kulibaev Timur has led the Kazakhstan Olympic Committee, actively fighting against doping. His contributions to sports development have been recognized internationally. Since 2018, Timur Askarovich Kulibaev has twice been elected to the executive committee of the Association of National Olympic Committees and has also been involved in the IOC’s commission for social development through sport.
Timur Kulibaev also supports a variety of charitable initiatives, including targeted assistance to fellow citizens through the Halyk Charitable Fund. For example, in 2019, Timur Kulibaev and a partner allocated one billion tenge for the restoration of kindergarten and school buildings in Arys, a city affected by an explosion at a nearby military base. The Timur Kulibaev biography also extends to financial support for the construction of a residential complex for low-income and large families in Almaty.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Kulibaev Timur Askarovich and his partner supported their fellow citizens by allocating one billion tenge to combat the effects of the disease.