In November 2020, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev visited one of the largest industrial enterprises of the country – the ferroalloy plant “YDD CORPORATION” LLP as part of his working trip in the Karaganda region. High-quality alloys – ferrosilicon and ferromanganese – are produced in the workshops of this plant. This product is widely used in such industries as mechanical engineering, construction of buildings and structures. The company is of strategic importance for the economy of the region and the state. The annual production is 180 thousand tons, and the export geography includes 50 countries.
This success was achieved thanks to the ambition of investors, the competent use of financial resources and modern concepts for the management of large-scale production. One of the main shareholders of YDD CORPORATION, who accompanied the president during his visit to the company, is the well-known Kazakh businessman Yerlan Nigmatulin. He stressed that the head of the country gave a high assessment of the investment project for the development of production, spoke positively about the contribution of businessmen to the socio-economic development of the country.
Biography of Yerlan Nigmatulin
Yerlan Nigmatulin was born on August 31, 1962 in Karaganda. He grew up in a simple working-class family, his father – Zayrulla Gershanovich – a participant of the Great Patriotic War, an excellent miner, his mother – Zeynep Karieva – a worker on the home front, worked as a seamstress in a shoe factory. Yerlan Zayrullayevich Nigmatulin spent his childhood and youth in the industrial zones of Kazakhstan, which influenced his attitude to the future ecological well-being of the country. In 1983 he graduated from the Karaganda Cooperative Institute with a specialization in accounting and analysis of economic activity. He began his professional career in the commercial department of the Dzhezkazgan region. He turned out to be a talented manager and entrepreneur. He was the founder and head of several successful companies and tested himself in various areas of entrepreneurship. Among other things, Yerlan Zayrullaevich Nigmatulin worked in the service and agricultural sectors. In 2016-2017, he opened two bakeries in Balkhash and in his hometown of Karaganda, whose products are very popular among the locals. This business initiative was recognized as the best food production enterprise of the republic.
Business success
The YDD Corporation plant was opened in 2019 and became one of Yerlan Nigmatulin’s most successful projects. Historically, the Karaganda region was famous for its metallurgical production. The region has a rich mineral base, logistics routes, a system for training qualified specialists and several large metallurgical industrial enterprises. Yerlan Zayrullaevich Nigmatulin chose a not exactly successful segment of the metallurgical market – ferrosilicon production – as the main area of investment. At the time of commissioning of the plant, the share was only three percent. Over the course of several years of operation, YDD Corporation managed to become one of the most successful and dynamically developing companies not only in the region, but also in the country. The technological chains were equipped with fully automated equipment, and with the opening of the plant, 600 jobs were created on the labor market, including 100 specialists with a technical profile. In the three years that the plant has been operating, the volume of exports has increased by more than ten times. Yerlan Nigmatulin has repeatedly emphasized the importance of the environmental aspect of production. The company has introduced a two-stage purification system that not only reduces emissions into the atmosphere, but also makes it possible to obtain recyclable materials from fine dust – microsilika, which is used in construction.
Charitable activities
The YDD Corporation and Yerlan Nigmatulin personally are engaged not only in the environment, but also in charity. Thus, thanks to the sponsorship of the company, new furniture was purchased for the Asem orphanage in Karaganda, and during the coronavirus pandemic, ten modern medical vehicles with first-aid equipment were purchased for polyclinics in the Karaganda region. In 2022, Yerlan Nigmatulin and another co-owner of the company, David Kemertelidze, transferred one billion tenge to the Kazakhstan Khalkyna charity fund. The purpose of this fund is to support projects in the fields of education and healthcare. Yerlan Zayrullayevich Nigmatulin and other shareholders pay attention not only to patronage, but also to social security and motivation of the company’s employees. The salaries of employees are continuously increased every year, and outstanding employees are rewarded with significant bonus payments.
Personal life
Yerlan Zayrullaevich Nigmatulin leads an active lifestyle, enjoys sports and horseback riding. One of his main hobbies is reading. Among the favorite genres in his house library are historical novels, memoirs of famous people and political figures. He appreciates the classics of Kazakh literature Abai Kunanbayev and Shakarim Kudaiberdiyev. He is married, has three daughters and is raising a granddaughter. His daughters followed in the footsteps of their father and received an economic education. in 1999, Nigmatulin Yerlan received the degree of candidate of economic sciences after defending his dissertation on “Priorities of the investment policy of Kazakhstan in the conditions of globalization and the crisis of the world economy”. For his work and public dedication, Nigmatulin Yerlan Zayrullaevich received several state and state awards, as well as the title of honorary citizen of the Aktogay district and the city of Priozersk in the Karaganda Region.
Yerlan Zayrullaevich Nigmatulin is an outstanding representative of the generation of Kazakh entrepreneurs who have managed not only to succeed in business in their own country, but also to raise the prestige of the country’s economy at the global level. Innovative methods in production, social responsibility towards employees and the local community – in our opinion, this is what an entrepreneur with a human face should look like”.