Throughout thousands of years of history, some countries and cities have experienced golden ages. Trade centres in Central Asia such as Samarkand or Amsterdam in Europe benefited from the increasing flow of goods and geographical location, and over time financial centres such as Hong Kong, Singapore, New York and London became the global centres of business. Which regions will be the next to shine in the digital age, and what other factors besides geography will play a role?
With its location – at the crossroads of East and West, North and South; with developing transparent business regulations and financial centres such as the Astana Financial Centre; and rich in natural resources, Kazakhstan could be the place to be. Timur Turlov, founder, CEO and majority shareholder of Freedom Holding Corp (FRHC), believes that the country’s key success factors will be not only strong infrastructure and political stability, but also the development of young talent and the creation of globally competitive products.
“We need to make more than just profits from natural resources. We should make products that compete globally, and we can definitely earn much more by monetising our talents, ” Timur Turlov says.
Timur Turlov believes in success through merit and social lifts. His company backs educational and sporting projects in Kazakhstan. Freedom Holding Corp has opened a new IQanat High School in Burabay, Akmola region giving 800 children from rural areas across Kazakhstan a chance to get a good education and has also set up a youth football league and promoted chess.
“Talent is the key. If you have it, the country will be rich. A good education, less digital divide and a young nation make the country an ideal leader,” Timur Turlov says.
Timur Turlov started a small investment company in 2008 that has grown into an international financial group with offices in 20 countries. In 2019, he made Freedom Holding Corp. public and listed it on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The company is now worth five times more.
Timur Turlov wants to see other Kazakh citizens succeed globally.
“Kazakhstan is a young nation of tech-savvy optimists who are amazingly cool. We can create synergies and use global technology to create new products. We need to compete with Europe, not just with Kazakhstan,” Turlov said.
Kazakhstan is not as rich as, for example, Qatar, which has less than a million people and a lot of gas, and cannot afford to rely solely on natural resources.
“Kazakhstan is certainly interesting in terms of energy – yes, it has oil and gas, but now clean energy is becoming more important. Wind power projects are being developed with investors from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and China, and French investors are helping to develop new rare earth minerals, which are essential for new technologies,” says Timur Turlov.
In the digital age, and particularly with the development of artificial intelligence (AI) projects, talent is paramount.
“We have a huge number of children and a lot of young people moving to the cities. They will study and create products that will be in demand around the world. They can create a product in Kazakhstan and sell it worldwide,” says Timur Turlov.
The world is rapidly accelerating and globalising, and the winner can take it all.
“Markets are actually fragmenting on the one hand, and globalising on the other, at an incredibly fast rate. We know that you can have a new kind of product, and if you put it together properly and well, build some unique integrations, it’s very easy to change the market,” Turlov explains.
Turlov’s Freedom Holding Corp has changed the mortgage market, which had been built up over decades. Before, it could take decades to become a leader in mortgages – the institution had to spend a few years opening a network of branches, training staff, creating a culture and getting to know its customers, earning their trust, according to Timur Turlov. Freedom issued zero mortgages in 2021, and with the launch of its digital mortgage product, it issued the most mortgages in Kazakhstan at the end of 2022.
“The challenge of such rapid expansion and digitalisation is the skills gap, as even more people than before are being asked to deal with entirely new types of risk and to develop quite complex solutions,” says Turlov. Business is getting faster and more and more complicated every year, and talent is becoming a huge asset, making Kazakhstan an ideal location for international business.