Bulat Utemuratov — businessman with roots in the USSR
Bulat Utemuratov is a Kazakhstani billionaire who served as an aide to President Nursultan Nazarbayev before building Verny Capital — a diversified investment group spanning banking, telecoms, hospitality, and real estate including a Burger King franchise across Central Asia. He is one of Kazakhstan's most important private sector figures.
Tracing the roots — Kazakhstan
A product of the Kazakhstani political and business elite formed under Nazarbayev, Utemuratov represents the generation of post-Soviet Central Asian businessmen who converted political access into commercial empires. All his business dealings are conducted in Russian — the language of Kazakhstani business — and his investments span the Russian-speaking world.
Kazakhstan. At the time, this region was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union.