Q & A
Siddique )! You can see him in France sitting with a laptop .
Siddique : Being a CEO , I have to manage business even while on holiday . I wake up in the morning and while everybody sleeps , before they wake up , I finish my work . By the time everyone else wakes up , I am already finished .
Marat : Don ’ t trust him – he is always working !
The last question : What would you like to be remembered for by your company ? You are the people who are making history , basically .
Anatoliy : I think we are still young , and we have time to create something . Speaking for myself , I would like to create one more brand . There is a brand , Line Brew , it works well . When I come to any city in Kazakhstan ( in most cases I travel to Astana ), I see that guests in restaurants drink our beer , and that ’ s nice . Many people think that this brand is imported .
So , it ’ s important to put something as top of priorities , speaking as a businessman . With aging , money prevails , but earlier in the 20-30s , it was fun . And this formula still works . When we have opened the Line Brew on Furmanov Street , I was 26-27 years old . And it is still open . Next year , we celebrate 20 years . I think , it is not modest , but we have done something that will leave a legacy in Almaty for sure . Now we are working on Astana .
Armanzhan : Anatoliy said he is celebrating about 20 years , I remember when we celebrated 10 years with his company . I said then :
“ Anatoliy , we are so old already .” I guess I ’ ll say the same now .
What will be remembered ? Everything is yet to come ! For me personally , there are many goals to achieve . Of course , I would like to create a media company of Channel 31 level , if possible .
Eldar : Certainly , ambition is to be first and last in business . What is important for the founder is to leave his / her DNA , which creates the corporate culture . If there is that , people will come and leave , but can realize their vision , exercise their strengths and develop new capabilities . That is why the answer is ‘ culture ’.
Makhmud : I totally agree with Eldar . What you leave behind in your company is the implementation of certain tradition and culture , because achievements can change , if the company is successful it will achieve more . But , I think the values you create for the company to operate in the future , for its development , its growth , it will always be there , aiming to become better , more profitable , bigger , vast . That ’ s what you can leave behind in the company . But as Armazhan said , I have a personal goal in life , for which I want people to remember me . I haven ’ t achieved that yet , but I hope to in the nearest future .
Marat : Normally in our company , if I do not dismiss ( in rare cases ) people , they go on their own to foreign companies because of greater prestige or higher salaries in foreign currency , or they open their own companies . The best compliment in cases of resignations is the word that these people have learnt a lot from me . About seven to eight people from our company have opened their own businesses . Of course , the biggest reward is when you can not only do something but also teach people . We are all open and transparent in our company . There are no restrictions if people want to know this or that in our sphere . People who contact me daily know how the business is built up . In fact , they are charged already , they just do not have capital . This is a significant reward when you can not only organise a business , but also educate people who can inherit from you , pass on and teach others . You learnt yourself – teach others .
Siddique : For every business leader and any business , the legacy is extremely important . Of course , being good businessman , being good CEOs and good role models is important , but there needs to be something tangible . You always have to do something that lasts as a landmark . Like constructing a villa in a downtown area , this could work as a legacy .
We ( Globalink ) were the first ones to operate freight trains in western China and western Europe . Nobody believed in that . They criticized us , making assumptions . The worst that could have happened was just empty containers . It was very confusing at that time . But now I look back at when we did the block train for western China and western Europe , and now today we operate almost 40 trains a week . It is still not much within the industry , just a drop in the ocean actually . But I really hope that one day the Silk Road or overall bridge between Asia and Europe becomes a wider option for businesses . We are recognised as the first company that in fact built this concept , even before this Chinese program ‘ one belt – one road ’. We were the ones who came up with the idea , even though Chinese didn ’ t believe in you , now they are following your trend .
Julie : Everybody is impressed . I look in the audience and I would like to first of all thank you for making time and agreeing to support our initiative and being here with us .
supported by EUROBAK
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