Zhulduz Kunanbayeva: I feel involved in the modernization of my country

Baiterek holding and its subsidiaries are primarily a team of professionals. Thanks to a professional team, state programs are successfully implemented, business is supported, domestic exports are increased, jobs are created, as a result, the country's budget is replenished with tax revenues, and Kazakhstanis are provided with affordable housing. The strongest specialists become reservists of the Unified personnel reserve for further career growth.

One of them is Zhulduz kunanbayeva. She holds a master's degree in Economics from Lomonosov Moscow state University and a bachelor's degree from Gumilyov Eurasian national University. Her experience in the financial sector is more than 13 years. Zhulduz participated in a number of landmark transactions of a subsidiary of the Baiterek holding-JSC Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK). Currently, she holds the position of head of the industrial projects Department of the credit analysis and transaction structuring Department of DBK. Zhulduz is also a reservist Of the United personnel reserve of Baiterek holding, a reservist of the Presidential youth personnel reserve.

In an interview with her, we talked about the recipe for successful career and professional growth.

- Zhulduz, please tell us when and how You started working in the structure of the Baiterek holding. What impressions did You have in the first years and what results did you achieve?

- My work experience in DBK exceeds 13 years, in the structure of our holding-6 years. I started working in Finance in 2007, right after finishing my master's degree. We were attracted by the scale of the financial industry, the opportunity to get significant results and the effect on the development of the economy as a whole.

I became interested in the development Bank of Kazakhstan in 2001, when I was still a student. After completing my studies, I had the opportunity to work in Moscow, but I decided to return to Kazakhstan. The most interesting job offers came from a company from Big-4 and two departments of DBK – I didn't hesitate to choose the Development Bank.

It should be noted that DBK works with projects, and with the largest ones, in almost all sectors of the economy. For example, over the past few years, I have worked with a portfolio of strategic projects in the Petrochemicals and refining industry.

Together with my colleagues, I was lucky to participate in the work on projects for the modernization of Atyrau, Shymkent and Pavlodar oil refineries (now the modernization of all three refineries is completed). Thus, in 2017, one of the Bank's largest transactions was approved - the modernization of the Shymkent refinery with a financing amount of up to 1 billion US dollars, then – the Pavlodar petrochemical plant.

Our work is such that significant results are achieved after some time. For myself, I always considered it important to do my work efficiently and immerse myself in it. A serious result comes only if you take responsibility. In addition, there is a sense of belonging, that you are not only an employee of DBK and the Holding. You are a participant in the real processes of modernization of your country. And I'm really proud of it, it's my biggest motivation.

In June 2013, I became the winner in the nomination" Best employee Of the project Directorate " of the DBK, in March 2019, I was included in the Unified personnel reserve of the Baiterek holding, and in December 2019 - in the Presidential youth personnel reserve.

- What was the motivation for you to pursue your career and professional growth? And it is interesting to find out what kind of selection are held in the Unified personnel reserve of the Holding?

- In 2019, when the Holding announced the creation of a personnel reserve, I decided to take part in the competition. As part of the program, participants have the opportunity to pass a comprehensive assessment of their managerial and leadership skills, to digitize competencies that will allow them to find their strengths and evaluate themselves from the outside, so I decided to take part in the program.

In General, I consider it very necessary and correct to implement the holding's personnel reserve program. It is aimed at professional growth of employees within the Holding who are familiar with the structure, principles of work and business processes of the company, have the necessary competencies, and are ready to grow up the career ladder.

Each reservist has a wealth of experience that can be shared with others and applied. We would like to wish that the Unified personnel reserve program is effective and allows each participant to realize their potential and increase their contribution to the activities of their company and country.

- Now You have a lot of experience. What would you like to improve in your field?

- Over the years, DBK has become more open, business-oriented, and customer loyalty to the Bank has increased. Having implemented one successful project, companies want to cooperate with DBK in the development of new projects. This is a good indicator.

DBK projects are serious, capital - intensive, have an impact on strategically important sectors of the state's economy, and therefore the work of the analytical unit is paid close attention.

This year, we faced many challenges that required us to respond quickly: fluctuations in the national currency, the beginning of a pandemic, and the Bank's transition to a remote format. We had to quickly rebuild, and when the pandemic first began, the DBK did a lot of work on analyzing the loan portfolio, stress tests were conducted on absolutely all our borrowers. As a result of this work, the Bank's anti-Crisis plan was quickly developed. This plan reflects the measures that the Bank plans to take to improve the situation and support our borrowers. At the same time, we actively continued to work on the examination and approval of project financing, loan restructuring, transfer of loan payments, and so on.

We will work hard to provide deep and high-quality Analytics, automate and improve business processes, and meet our customers ' information needs. We plan to pay more attention to developing mentoring and increasing employee engagement.

- You have taken a senior position in a subsidiary of the Holding company. How do you describe your management style?

- I adhere to a democratic style of management, for me it is the most acceptable. I consult and listen to my employees. My goal is to help employees achieve results and success, motivate and involve them in achieving overall results. In other words, we are all one team, and your success depends on the success of your team.

I have been lucky in my life with teams, managers, and colleagues. I am very grateful to my senior mentors and managers for their support. Now I use a lot of what I once saw as a certain amount of experiments.

You know, cadres decide everything. And people are different: you need to talk to someone often, someone just needs to set the bar, say what needs to be done, and then not interfere. Someone is very Autonomous, someone needs to offer help.

The best employees in the analytical unit must have many qualities - fast building of logical chains, structural thinking, ability to highlight the main thing and analyze, ability to find answers to questions and find solutions. Not everyone understands how difficult it can be in our field. In General, getting into the analytical team itself is of great value.

I am very lucky to work with self-sufficient, professional, talented, smart people with their own opinions.

- What advice would you give to your colleagues who are working on personal growth?

- The work of analysts in our Department of credit analysis and transaction structuring requires full immersion in professional activities. There is no other way. And there is little time left for everything that is outside of it.

At the same time, modern realities require expanding the boundaries of knowledge application and opening up new growth points. You need to have time to adapt to changes - this is moving forward. It is necessary to adhere to the principle of lifelong learning in order to remain competitive. I think that today one of the main factors of success is to focus on development directions, identify your strengths and quickly adapt to changes.

I wish my colleagues to achieve all the goals set despite all the challenges of the outgoing year, good deals and successful projects, and professional growth. All this will give us the opportunity to contribute to the development of DBK, the holding And the economy of Kazakhstan.

- Thank you for the interview!