Timur Turlov and Freedom Holding Corp.: Pioneering Sustainable Development and Promoting Kazakhstan’s Future

Timur Turlov and Freedom Holding Corp.: Contribution to Sustainable Development and the Future of Kazakhstan  

The role of Kazakhstan as an intellectual center on the global map of chess is becoming bigger and bigger. Since the beginning of 2024, Kazakhstani chess players have won 65 medals in various international tournaments. Last year, they took 116 medals, including silver and bronze in team championships. According to the president of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation (KazChess), Timur Turlov, two international championships that KazChess organized in Astana and Aktau have had a positive impact on Kazakhstan’s image in the world of chess. “This is crucial for promoting Kazakhstan as a chess power,” Timur Turlov noted.

Turlov is the founder and CEO of Freedom Holding Corp., an international company headquartered in Almaty. The company has been allocating part of its revenue to support social, educational, and environmental projects in Kazakhstan, actively investing in fintech solutions, education, and supporting children and youth sports like chess and football. Over the past two years, the company has allocated about $31 million to various projects and donated roughly $51.5 million to the modernization of infrastructure, education, health care, and sports in Kazakhstan.

In this profile, we’re going to talk about key social initiatives that are supported by the company and Timur Turlov himself.

The world of chess  

Timur Turlov has served as the president of KazChess for more than a year. During this relatively short period, he and his team have achieved a lot. Under his leadership, the Federation has started to develop a chess infrastructure within the country, organizing a variety of tournaments and events. Furthermore, KazChess launched different chess programs in schools and universities, promoting this intellectual game among the youth.

For instance, in early June 2024, Almaty hosted the 26th Asian Youth Chess Championships with a record-high number of participants (650). Young Kazakhstani players won 12 gold, 8 silver, and 5 bronze medals in various categories.

Thanks to the business leader’s personal efforts, KazChess has managed to gain support from international chess organizations and attract large corporate sponsors. Consequently, Kazakhstani players have started to participate in important world tournaments more often, showing incredible results and winning prestigious awards.

According to Timur Turlov, over the past 18 months, chess has become crucial for both his personal life and his company. “In addition to providing financial support to KazChess and some of the biggest international tournaments, we have also initiated internal tournaments and have installed chess boards in our offices and provided chess training courses at Freedom,” he highlighted.

In conjunction with the International Chess Federation (FIDE), this summer, the company organized The World Corporate Chess Championship in New York City, the capital of global finance.  Participants from Goldman Sachs, Google, Deutsche Bank and many other industry leaders took part in the event. As Timur Turlov emphasized, the tournament has become a benchmark in terms of mutual respect, partnership and friendship between countries and corporations, as well as an effective platform for networking. “The language of chess is universal and should be used by the entire business world. This language sees no borders, it doesn’t require translators, and it can unite people of different ages or genders all over the world,” he said.

Timur Turlov is also convinced that chess has many similarities to business and can teach an important lesson. “When you’re tired, you’re prone to making mistakes in a game, or in life. The quality of your decision-making plunges and you find yourself in a rush, forced to make rapid decisions. I think chess can teach us a valuable lesson, namely, how to stay focused for a long time. This is a skill, and this skill is vital for our work.”

The Freedom Shapagat Charitable Foundation 

In 2023, the company established its corporate fund, Freedom Shapagat, which is responsible for coordinating its charitable and sponsorship activities. The construction of a new educational building for SDU University is one of the biggest projects initiated by the Fund.

In addition, the Fund came up with the idea of installing more than 100 reverse vending machines to collect and recycle plastic bottles and aluminum cans in Almaty and Astana.

Freedom Holding Corp. also supports various educational projects such as the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) and the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) in Kazakhstan. Turlov believes that it is important to support young people and create social elevators to open their potential and stimulate their personal growth and development.

Youth Football League “QJ League”  

Established in 2022, Freedom QJ League is aimed at the development of youth football in Kazakhstan by organizing regular championships and tournaments. In 2023, the League included 12 teams with players aged 16 to 18 years.

The League is working to improve infrastructure and conditions for football players, providing them with up-to-date equipment and the opportunity to have the best professional coaches. The organization also pays a lot of attention to instilling discipline, team spirit, and responsibility in young players.

Timur Turlov thinks that in order to elevate football to the next level, the country should invest its resources in people first, and only then in infrastructure and other things. “We have to ensure that salaries in the industry are good. There is a big social interest in football, especially in specific regions,” the entrepreneur said. He believes that the League will eventually include several thousand young football players in a couple of years.

ESG principles  

Freedom Holding Corp., which is listed on Nasdaq, is very active in promoting sustainable development principles and the ESG (environmental, social, governance) agenda. In late 2023, the company issued its first sustainability report in three languages: Kazakh, Russian, and English. Freedom has been actively adopting earth-friendly principles, consideration for employees and clients, and participation in charitable initiatives.

According to Timur Turlov, along with how own personal efforts, it is important to attract other local businessmen to take part in improving living conditions in the region. In 2024, the businessman became the chair of the Consultative Committee of the UN Global Compact in Central Asia, an organization created to promote solutions to transborder environmental issues, hunger, poverty, infrastructure and energy security. The company itself signed the UN Global Compact in 2023.

Under the UN Global Compact, Freedom Holding Corp is following the Ten Principles that cover four key areas related to human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption. “In other words, thousands of big and small companies representing various industries all over the world combine their efforts to face global challenges and create something good that will last for a long time,” Turlov explained. “Moreover, our choice is to develop the digital ecosystem, which is also our daily contribution to the ESG agenda thanks to less waste and less resource consumption,” he said.

“I am glad that Kazakhstan has a chance to be a leader in our region, to unite business and lead it toward sustainable development. This will let us prepare a collective response to complex and tragic events such as the floods we had to deal with in the spring. This will also facilitate private and state sectors to stay alert and combine their efforts to help people; to improve their work with the risks and vulnerabilities in our region,” Turlov said.

Kazakhstan’s role in the global economy  

Timur Turlov does not doubt that Kazakhstan’s potential is massive thanks to its geographic location and talented people. He believes that investments in state-of-the-art education and technology are crucial to staying competitive in the global market. He also highlighted the importance of lowering digital inequality to high-quality education for citizens from all walks of life.

Kazakhstan can be a new connection hub between the West and East, as Turlov has put it, keeping its economy open and complying with international standards. The businessman highlighted that it is crucial to have a developed educational system and keep investing in new technologies, including artificial intelligence. “The world needs more highly qualified specialists. A highly educated and young nation is something that can make you the absolute leader,” he said at the New Vision: The Power of Business forum in Almaty.

He believes that successful digital products are bound to reach a global audience swiftly. He calls on young entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan to embrace new approaches and be creative if they want to compete with current leaders: “The world has never been as global as it is now. You can create digital products and sell them all over the world faster than ever before.”

The businessman is convinced that the primary resource of Kazakhstan is its people; they live in peace and harmony and create unique, cutting-edge products and solutions.

Timur Turlov and his Freedom Holding Corp. are a good example of a leader and his business playing a big role in social and environmental initiatives, improving the quality of life and promoting the development of an entire society.

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