Photo:
Gábor Sági
29/01/2025 23:04
After a long persuasion from an old good friend living in Kazakhstan, Globalia Ltd's "big adventure" started in 2019, which - looking back on the past 5 years - would have been a shame to miss. In 2019, the purpose of the first business trip was to investigate the possibility of building a solar park in the field of renewable energy.
It is not only important to know the country, it is also important to know the legal, business and technological environment, not only in the field of renewable energy, but also with regard to Kazakhstan as a whole. Therefore, we used the 2-year period burdened by Covid to map the business, legal and investment potential of Kazakhstan during our numerous trips.
We are one of the few Hungarian companies that has the most thorough information about what opportunities and challenges await an investor, and not only in the field of renewable energy. In 2022, the Kazakh Government invited us to share our knowledge in the development of Kazakhstan's renewable energy strategy. We prepared the document that could help the Government of Kazakhstan and its strategy in the field of renewable energy, taking into account how a foreign investor sees this important business segment.
From the beginning of 2022, one of the most important stages in the history and life of Kazakhstan began. President Tokayev announced the "New Kazakhstan" program. The "New Kazakhstan" program did not only aim to create more democratic state operation and the improvement of the living conditions of the population, but at the same time it also designated the transformation of the economy and the increasing of its competitiveness as a particularly important direction.
One of the biggest challenges is that specific economic programs must not only be presented on paper, but must also be implemented in everyday economic life. Politicians committed to the "New Kazakhstan" and the state organizations that support them undertook a long and difficult job. It is clearly visible that the formulated strategic directions for the transformation of the economy are beginning to be implemented in everyday life. Kazakh experts still have to do a lot of legislative amendments and legal harmonization work, but Kazakhstan is on the right track.
We were able to give a positive response to the dynamic and positive changes in Kazakhstan's economic and legal environment with our established companies in Shymkent and Astana. With the help of our personal presence, we can implement our established business directions and investment goals more effectively. We devoted a lot of time to developing the strategy that effectively supports the implementation of our projects. In the past period, several "re-plannings" took place in terms of strategy and goals, and we examined a lot of project possibilities.
From the point of view of European investors, we often spent an unrealistic amount of time on a possible project. But the invested time, money, and energy were many times worth it, even if we finally "let go" of the given project and did not start it. After analyzing the seemingly long preparatory work, the project targets were set, whose active operational work is in progress and which form one of the foundations of our investments in Kazakhstan.
In the course of our activities, in November 2023, we were the first from Hungary to organize the "SET Forum" in Astana, at which more than 10 Hungarian companies were present, and forward-looking potential business processes have started.
As a result of our very active economic presence in Kazakhstan and our expanding network of contacts, we have received more and more inquiries from Hungarian companies in recent years. In this way, as a Business Integrator, we help them appear on the Kazakh market and navigate the Kazakh economic environment. We are happy to comply with these requests and inquiries, because we believe that the more Hungarian companies are present in Kazakhstan, the stronger and more effective Hungarian companies can be in Kazakhstan.
As a result of our Business Integrator activity, the "Equilibrium Capital Private Equity Fund" from Hungary has chosen Kazakhstan, as the first Hungarian investment fund in Kazakhstan, and we supported the process of obtaining all the financial licenses from the Kazakh supervisory organizations (AFSA, AIFC). Over the past year, Equilibrium Capital has become one of the most important partners of the Kazakh financial market by implementing new business directions. But I can also mention the Medimpex company belonging to the EGIS group, which also appeared on the Kazakh market with our cooperation and started selling its Nicoflex cream, already known in Hungary, with a long history, in Kazakhstan.
The number of economic relations between our countries is increasing. In order for Hungarian and Kazakh companies to receive as much help as possible, the "Hungarian-Kazakh Chamber of Commerce" was established in Astana in the summer of 2024, in the founding of which we actively participated. Thus, with the support of the Hungarian-Kazakh Chamber of Commerce, from 2025, Hungarian companies in Kazakhstan and Kazakh companies in Hungary can receive significant help for their economic activities from the Hungarian-Kazakh Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan. It can mean a lot to Hungarian companies coming in the future that from 2023, a Hungarian lawyer (with Kazakh lawyer registration) will help Hungarian and Kazakh companies in Astana.
From the spring of 2024, as a new investment, as the first in agricultural area in Kazakhstan, next to Astana an "Agricultural Technology Park" is being built with our participation.
In the framework of the project, modern agricultural technologies (fish farm, glasshouse etc.) will be used, which will be able to be effectively utilized by Kazakh agricultural actors in the future. In addition to the started architectural planning works, in the spring of 2024, we have sown the first party of wheat, that was raised based on Hungarian technology on an area of 35 hectares. With this, we successfully proved that in the area wheat, cultivated based on Hungarian technology (without chemical and fertilizer treatment) can achieve a 60% higher yield than that produced by Kazakh sowing technology.
We are proud of the fact that today we are present in Kazakhstan more than two years ago with the local representation of us in Shymkent and in AIFC (in Astana) the Globalia is the "biggest" company in the present period from Hungary, who has representative offices in Kazakhstan. Excellent strong partner of us in Shymkent, and excellent young Kazakh experts, employees (including ladies in leader positions) help us in our work, in Astana.
Yes, Kazakhstan is not only a big country with all existing minerals, wonderful natural resources, open people, but also a country committed to mutually beneficial economic development. It would be possible to go into detail long about the steps that help and support the business, which are determined/ordered by the Government and the Leaders of Kazakhstan and implemented step by step in Kazakhstan. In Kazakhstan, a foreign company is given every opportunity to be successful.
I started with "is it worth investing in Kazakhstan?" … Yes, it is worth it. The years and the results prove that, and although it requires a lot of work and patience, it is worth investing in Kazakhstan. We hope that, based on our example, more and more Hungarian companies will start their economic activity in Kazakhstan in the future. I strongly recommend everyone to dare to embark on the “adventure” called “investing in Kazakhstan”.
The author is Executive Director of Globalia Ltd
