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SABR — Smart Asian Business Relations SABR — Smart Asian Business Relations

SMART ASIAN BUSINESS RELATIONS

Supporting business growth in Central Asia

Investment projects, engagement with government authorities, representation and digital solutions — from the idea to commissioning.

01 / Two ways in

For a foreign company — entry to the Central Asian market

Company registration and the complete set of permits, site and infrastructure, preferences and tax benefits, representation and GR support, and finding partners and distributors.

How we work with foreign investors

For Kazakhstani business and regions — attracting investment

Business plans, feasibility studies and financial models, documentation for development institutions, regional investment strategies, investment teasers, and finding and attracting strategic investors.

How we attract investment

02 / Services

Lines of business

01

Investment projects

Development of business plans, feasibility studies and financial models. Structuring of transactions. Raising national and international finance. Full-cycle support — from concept to commissioning.

02

Government relations (GR)

Participation in support programmes, and obtaining preferences, subsidies and tax benefits. Concessional financing. Protection of business interests in the legal, administrative and investment arena.

03

Export and import operations

Arrangement and support of foreign trade transactions. Finding partners and distributors. Entry to the markets of China, South-East Asia, the CIS and Europe. Logistics and customs procedures.

04

Digitalisation and artificial intelligence

Deployment of IT solutions, automation and analytics systems. The Estimatix project — industrial safety video analytics: monitoring of the use of personal protective equipment and of the safety of lifting operations on a plant’s existing cameras.

The Estimatix project in detail

03 / The basis of our competence

The Asian vector

Working with Asian investors is not a separate service but the foundation of SABR’s competence. It is built on fifteen years of continuous presence in the Chinese business environment.

Language

Chinese — HSK certificate, level 7 of 8. Technical Chinese, Beihang University. Five years of study and work in Beijing.

Institution

The Kazakhstan–China Technology Transfer Centre — initiated and headed by SABR’s founder. The Centre was established during a meeting of the presidents of Kazakhstan and the PRC.

Portfolio

Participation, as part of Kazakh Invest, in assembling a portfolio of 55 priority Kazakhstani–Chinese investment projects with a total value of USD 2.7 billion.

Channels

Road shows and business delegations in Beijing, Seoul and the regions of the PRC. Partnership with the International Centre for Business Cooperation 中国合作中心. Working communication on WeChat.

04 / Institutional framework

Partnerships and accreditations

Official partner of the Union of Project Managers of Kazakhstan — the only PMI partner in the CIS

Partner of the International Centre for Business Cooperation 中国合作中心

Preparation of documentation and engagement with development institutions: Asian Development Bank (ADB), Eurasian Development Bank, Development Bank of Kazakhstan, Industrial Development Fund, DAMU, QazInnovations.

05 / Scale

Experience in figures

80+

Investment projects involving the team since 2015, with a total value of over USD 4 billion

34

Projects supported through the full cycle — from design to commissioning — with a combined value of over USD 250 million

10+ years

The team’s experience in investment, project management and international cooperation

4 languages

Working languages: Kazakh, Russian, English, Chinese — for negotiations and documentation

06 / Evidence

Portfolio

All projects
KZ

Metallogamma

Processing of hollow aluminosilicate microspheres

raising investment and project development

USD 10 million

CN

Tenir Logistic

Special steels and titanium dioxide pigment: a mining and processing plant in Zhambyl Region and a complex in the Pavlodar special economic zone

international cooperation as part of Kazakh Invest

USD 2.3 billion

CN

Allur Group

Attraction of China National Machinery as a technology and investment partner

international cooperation as part of Kazakh Invest

USD 1.1 billion

CN

Neftekhim LTD

Polymers

international cooperation as part of Kazakh Invest

USD 1 billion

EN

AlefTrade

Winter diesel fuel

raising investment and project development

USD 20 million

EN

K & K

Wheel rims

raising investment and project development

USD 5 million

SABR’s role on all these projects was business development support

The projects were delivered by the SABR team, including during its work in national development institutions and before the company was founded.

07 / What this looks like in practice

Detailed cases

Digitalisation · industry

Pilot of an industrial safety video analytics system

A railway engineering plant. The name is not disclosed pending consent.

A pilot at the wheelset and axle production area: automatic monitoring, from the video stream, of the use of personal protective equipment and of the safety of lifting operations by overhead cranes. Deployed on the existing monochrome cameras without replacing equipment. 21 monitoring markers were brought into commercial operation in 3 months.

Digitalisation · industrial safety

Where the system is already running

demonstration of the system at work

The names of the plants are not disclosed — the production profile and operating conditions are shown instead.

An oil producer among the industry’s top ten and the principal employer of its town. Monitoring covers the working zones of four types of work: gas-hazardous, hot work, work at height, loading and unloading.

A metallurgical plant among the world’s ten largest copper producers. Deployment in melting shops at temperatures up to 250 °C: heat flows distort the image and produce swings in brightness — conditions in which ordinary video analytics stops distinguishing objects.

In Kazakhstan the line of business began with a pilot at a railway engineering plant — case 1.

Raising investment · region

Work with local executive authorities

Support of an industrial region of Kazakhstan in attracting investment: development of an investment strategy, analytical reports on priority sectors in four languages, a set of one-page investment teasers, arrangement of investor visits and B2B meetings, and maintenance of a database of potential investors. The targets included engaging with 120 investor companies and arranging 24 investor visits to the region over the year.

More projects on request

08 / Founder

Founder

Olzhas Ryskeldi
Founder

Olzhas Ryskeldi

PhD (Economics) · MBA, The University of Edinburgh · MSc in Finance · PMP

Vice-President of the Union of Project Managers of Kazakhstan. Corresponding member of the International Academy of Informatization. Member of the State Attestation Commission of M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University, and visiting professor on MBA and EMBA programmes.

National coordinator for digitalisation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Kazakhstan. National expert of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Head of the Asia department of the national company Kazakh Invest. Director of the Kazakhstan–China Technology Transfer Centre. Adviser on investment to the Akim of Pavlodar Region.

Full biography

09 / Papers

Analytics

Sector reviews and investment papers. They can be read on the site and are sent as PDFs on request.

Economy

Kazakhstan’s macroeconomics for the foreign investor

GDP grew by 6.5% in 2025, inflation remains above 10% and the base rate is 16.75%. Against a gross inflow of foreign investment of USD 20.5 billion, the net inflow turned negative for the first time since 2005.

Updated quarterly

Regulation

State support measures and preferences: what the state actually provides

From 1 January 2026, in place of a single investment contract there are three types of agreement with the state — with different thresholds and different sets of benefits. Exemption from corporate income tax for up to 10 years, an in-kind grant of up to 30% of the investment, and special economic zone resident benefits for up to 25 years.

Logistics

The Middle Corridor: transit from China through Kazakhstan to Europe

Traffic volume has grown sixfold in five years and reached 4.1–4.5 million tonnes a year, and delivery from China to Europe takes 18–23 days against 45–55 via Suez. Yet the corridor handles about 6% of the capacity of the northern route, and the Caspian is becoming shallower by 30 cm a year.

All papers

10 / Contact

Let us discuss your project

Write to us on WeChat or WhatsApp — we reply within one business day. The initial consultation on an investment project is free of charge.

Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan
12/2 Dinmukhamed Konayev St., office 51

+7 701 817 6109
o.ryskeldi@sabr.asia the founder, directly
info@sabr.asia general enquiries

WeChat: olzhas_ryskeldi

Astana time zone UTC+5 · working hours Mon–Fri 09:00–19:00

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