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Zarina Kashkimbaeva: From the Birth of HR to the Implementation of AI. How a Pioneer of Kazakhstani HR is Shaping the Future of the Profession

The adaptation of Western HR standards, combating executive burnout, and creating an internal AI startup — stages of the major transformation led by Zarina Kashkimbaeva, Executive Director of the HR Department at Freedom Holding Operations. In an exclusive interview, she shared how the HR function has evolved in Kazakhstan, how to manage people in a conglomerate of 70 companies, and why, in the age of artificial intelligence, the main tool for HR should remain the heart.

Zarina Kashkimbaeva was at the forefront, observing how HR departments in the post-Soviet space gradually gained strategic weight and the name — Human Resources. Today, with her 20 years of experience, she sees this evolution as a path of fine-tuning. The first topic of our conversation was the stages of adapting Western models before they became truly effective in the Kazakhstani business environment?

"In the early 2000s, foreign companies had a huge influence, 'sowing' the culture of HR. We adopted their basic standards, projects, and principles — how this function should be structured in general."

"The next phase is adaptation and 'mixing'. Companies took Western models as a basis but began to evolve. The headquarters 'cascades' values, mission, and policies. Then the most interesting part begins: how these principles work in the Kazakhstani context. They transform under local legislation, cultural codes, and business tasks. Even the corporate values of global companies receive local interpretations here."

"At this moment, HR becomes a full-fledged business partner. It does not just implement but refines values and culture directly 'on the ground'. Because some practices that work, for example, in the USA, may not take root in Kazakhstan without deep transformation."

In the operational holding Freedom Holding Corp., there are more than 70 companies, each with strong leaders and its own story. The first task of corporate HR was to form and implement the common values of Freedom that could unite people from different cultures and business contexts. "What I am proud of is that these values were easily accepted," says Zarina Kashkimbaeva. "The idea that we are creating something new together and changing the rules of the game resonated with everyone. Our role as HR was to adapt this meaning for HR teams in each company, and then — through them, to transmit and 'cascade' these principles to all employees."

The main challenge was to find a balance between corporate unity and fairness in conditions of extreme diversity of businesses. "This is a very big mix. The shareholder rightly wants unity, but we have, for example, IT companies with 'crazy' benefits to attract talent, and other businesses that cannot afford this due to a different cost structure," explains the expert. "Our task was to create the most equal and fair conditions. We needed to instill not only culture but also build clear, competitive systems of motivation, payment, and benefits. This has been and remains a challenging job."

Zarina describes the natural evolution of the HR function in the holding: from solving urgent operational tasks to strategic planning. "Many years ago, when we were growing rapidly, we often acted in 'startup mode': there was no time, and to quickly get the specialists we needed, we 'poached' talent from the market, including from partner companies. Sorry, colleagues!" — Zarina notes with a smile. "There were many operational tasks. Now the focus is shifting."

Today, the HR department of the holding is moving to a new level, implementing large-scale transformational projects. "Now there is a huge effort underway to build global HR directions. The holding is implementing a global HCM (Human Capital Management) system that will handle all personnel management processes. We are working as a single team on ambitious plans. This is our next step — transitioning from manual management to a holistic, technologically advanced system that will set standards for the entire holding."

Zarina Kashkinbaeva divides the tools for unification into two complementary parts: cultural-social and business. "It is the latter," she clarifies, "that provides the synergy for which everything is initiated."

"The first is a strong corporate culture. People must clearly understand what we do and where we are going. The tools that work at Freedom Holding Corp.

"But there must also be business efficiency," the expert gets to the point. "Merging for pride is fine. But merging for collaboration, business support, and creating new products — that’s what is truly valuable.

"The formula for success is cross-functional project teams. The essence is for specialists from different companies within the holding (bank, broker, IT products, lifestyle services) to unite for common goals.

A vivid example is the ecosystem and super app: "Our main victory is that we managed to bring together product teams from different organisations to promote a unified ecosystem. For instance, the bank and broker are jointly working on projects so that clients can easily invest. Our team integrates lifestyle services (grocery delivery, entertainment) into our super app. The client enters one point and gets everything. This is a clear indicator of our work: we have united not just in words, but in concrete products that grow the business."

We couldn't help but ask Zarina what distinguishes her approach. Why does she talk about products, ecosystems, and business models in a way that HR directors rarely do? Zarina's answer is a ready-made formula for any HR leader who wants to influence the business:

"Of course, I am not the first to say that HR should be a full-fledged business partner. But the essence lies in how to achieve this. You must deeply understand the business, engage in its processes and problems. In fact, we are a support function. The question is how to provide this support so that the business can operate comfortably and efficiently? It all comes back to the happiness of our clients. And the foundation of this is the right team."

"I now consider recruitment and selection to be one of the most crucial areas in HR. The people we hire determine everything because the team is the main asset. Therefore, we are currently conducting special training for our recruiters on ethical and honest hiring. It's about targeted selection: we focus not on emotions or stereotypes, but on real competencies, diversity, and finding people who can bring specific benefits to the business.

Sometimes we need not 'stars,' but specific skills for specific tasks. This is strategically important. A well-selected team is the very foundation on which both HR business partnership and the success of the entire holding are built. This is our key bet."

It's hard to imagine that in a company where processes are launched at the speed of 'yesterday was needed, and today it's already live,' employees have time for yoga and long vacations. How to keep the team resourced and prevent mass burnout in conditions of a permanent sprint? The Freedom Holding approach is based on not fighting, but systematic work on three levels.

Zarina Kashkimbaeva emphasizes that the holding is ready to give employees a choice. If a specialist is burned out and wants to leave, management is open to an honest dialogue. Moreover, the company practices sending employees on long-term vacations beyond the standard 30 calendar days — especially when a person consciously does not use their entitled rest. According to the expert, in such situations, an individual approach becomes key.

For professional help, the holding has established partnerships with specialized services, such as the company "Harmony." Zarina notes that burnout often arises at the intersection of work and personal problems. Therefore, employees are offered a tool: several psychological consultations fully funded by the company, with further sessions at a discounted corporate rate.

Another effective tool is internal rotation between projects. According to the expert, sometimes the best 'therapy' is immersion in a new interesting task in another division of the holding. Such a transfer allows a person to 'reboot,' maintaining loyalty and expertise within the company.

Zarina takes particular pride in her HR team's role as 'internal psychologists' for colleagues. "We have our own 'safety nets' that one can come to in order to vent," she remarks with a smile, noting the high stress levels, especially in the financial sector.

Another proactive measure has been the intentional 'distraction' of employees. The HR department involves them in organizing large corporate events — from celebrating New Year to large-scale team buildings. According to Zarina's observations, immersion in such an unconventional task helps restore enthusiasm, while nagging problems recede into the background. This approach, she emphasizes, receives full support from the holding's management.

Shifting the conversation to a new level, Zarina highlights the next area of work — burnout in management positions. This issue is particularly relevant for the holding, whose rapid growth has become a career lift for many employees.

"People who came to us as ordinary specialists quickly grew and became top managers. They often lack classical management experience; they have not learned to make strategic decisions at such volume and pace. They may internally burn out but not show it — ambitions and high responsibility come into play. This is an internal struggle that is not always visible from the outside.

Currently, decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and 'craftily.' According to Zarina, today support is provided addressably: for example, involving such leaders in adjacent, interesting projects by agreement with their immediate supervisor. These targeted findings are then communicated to subsidiary companies as best practices. However, there is no systemic approach yet.

"We are only beginning to grasp this moment. We do not have ready-made projects or programs to address this issue. Right now, we are more in the 'yellow' zone, approaching the 'red.' Therefore, I am genuinely interested in what tools other companies and professionals use to support top managers in conditions of chronic stress. Finding such solutions is our next step. We need to think about this now, at the growth stage, rather than when the problem becomes widespread."

The experience of leading Western scale-up companies shows that combating burnout among top managers often goes beyond HR policies and hinges on the leader's personal discipline. It is about creating a culture of 'high personal efficiency,' where the physical and mental state of the leader is paramount: sports, mindfulness practices, energy management. As in the case of founder Ray Dalio, who asserts that 'state is foundational,' or the Kazakh service inDrive, where the emphasis on a healthy lifestyle comes from the founder. This task — helping leaders remain in a resourceful state — becomes one of the key requests to the modern HR function.

Zarina confirms that this trend resonates among the holding's leaders. "I see that our managers understand the simple truth: to make decisions, you need to be in a resourceful state. Otherwise, you simply cannot work. That’s why we have so many athletes, triathletes, ironmen," she says.

She sees HR's role in this situation not as directive management, but as a supportive function. "We do not impose, but rather 'broadcast' and provide tools. For example, we conduct Freedom Talks about balance, explaining how to rest properly, plan, and take care of oneself. But the final decision is up to each individual. We create an information field, and the culture of healthy efficiency already exists."

"It would be great to have a mentor or coach who could guide this process," Zarina reflects. However, the first concrete steps are already being taken. "We are currently launching a women's leadership program that I lead. One of its goals is to show through the personal example of participants how to harmoniously combine high results with self-care and begin to transmit this culture. Following that, we plan to launch a men's leadership program, where we will openly discuss this. There are countless plans."

Zarina Kashkimbaeva, who constantly interacts with young talents, understands their motivation well. Smart, ambitious specialists come to the holding not only because of the attractive HR brand but also with a strong desire to change and implement new ideas. The company creates a unique environment for them, where this desire is supported by actions.

At the core of the approach is a culture that values courage and a willingness to experiment. "We set ourselves the task: we have no stupid ideas. Even if it seems absurd or you make mistakes — that's okay," says Zarina. "So with any idea that a person brings, we are ready to support, listen, allocate money and resources. The main thing is to take action. If you make a mistake — it's not a big deal. The main thing is greenlight."

According to the expert, this willingness to give a chance becomes a key motivator. "Perhaps that’s why we give these guys some hope. Okay, there's greenlight, but we give a real opportunity." A vivid example is her own experience. "Take the product we talked about — HR & AI Assistant. It seemed unnecessary. I was simply asked what I wanted. I said: 'This.' And they told me: 'Launch it. We believe in you.'

Zarina emphasizes that such freedom is not limitless and is grounded in common sense. "I will say right away: it doesn’t happen that everyone rushes in — and you all get a million. As our shareholder says: 'First, show what you have done, and then we will invest.' However, it is this combination — the ability to act quickly and the necessity to show results quickly — that creates a magnet for ambitious youth.

"We are interesting to the youth because we have new products, and things can move quickly. If you are a smart, capable employee and not afraid of hard work, you can build a very good career with us. Unlike organizations with established bureaucracy, where you need to 'collect 10,000 signatures over five years,' everything happens quickly here, and people grow rapidly."

This approach forms a powerful internal HR brand. The company fosters loyalty not through guarantees but through trust and delegation of real responsibility. Young specialists receive not just a job but the opportunity to realize their ambition to 'change something' with minimal bureaucratic barriers. In the long run, this creates a talent reserve of intrapreneurs — people who think and act like entrepreneurs within a large corporation.

The most vivid argument is the real careers within the holding. "Take Vyacheslav Kim, for example. The guy came to us as a student, a simple marketing specialist. He had an idea. He quickly — with a small team, by the way — created a fantastic product that brought billions in valuation to the holding. Here he is — a living example of our philosophy. We provide greenlight, resources, and faith, while talent does the rest."

In a conversation with Zarina Kashkimbaeva, it was impossible to overlook her flagship innovative project — the AI HR Assistant. This internal startup was born from the desire to solve specific business tasks and automate key HR processes.

The main function of the assistant at this stage is compensation and benefits analysis. "We found that market salary surveys are often irrelevant. Our goal is to pay fairly and competitively, focusing on the real market median, not on the company's historical data," Zarina explains.

The AI Assistant is designed as a data aggregator and generator: it collects information from numerous sources, analyzes it, and provides HR metrics for making informed decisions on salary reviews, opening vacancies, and planning personnel budgets — from ordinary specialists to top management.

"This is a mix of automation, analytics, and an intelligent assistant," the expert says. "It allows not just to reduce routine tasks but to redirect the team's resources to strategic projects." In addition to compensation, plans include adding functions for dealing with regulatory issues (the holding operates simultaneously under Kazakh labor law and the legislation of the Astana International Financial Centre, based on British law), as well as making the assistant useful not only for HR but also for ordinary employees.

Zarina notes that the motivation to launch such products goes beyond automation. "When you create such a tool, you effectively conduct a global HR audit. All your 'skeletons in the closet,' all processes and gaps — everything comes to light. You see what you have and what you lack," she explains.

This audit becomes the foundation for the next ambitious goal — the globalization of all HR processes within the holding. "We currently have the task of uniting the disparate systems of different companies into a single approach: to compensation, evaluation, and management. This is a global task not only for HR but also for IT. By creating the AI Assistant, we are immediately designing the future: understanding how to make work effective and how to scale these principles across the entire Freedom ecosystem."

Zarina does not hide that the project has market potential. "The pain points and tasks of HR professionals in most companies are the same. Right now, we are doing this in-house, but if the product is of high quality, we will enter the market," she shares her plans. This logic mirrors the path of companies like Revolut, which initially created internal HR systems for themselves and then successfully commercialized them (for example, the Revolut People product).

"We have a huge advantage — deep HR expertise. Here, 99% is knowledge of real processes and problems, while IT is our 'hands' for implementation," Zarina notes. "We want to create what we need, and I am confident that such a product will also be needed by our colleagues in the market. We are ready to share — for free or for a fee. The main thing is to solve a common problem."

In response to the question about the future of HR in the age of AI, Zarina Kashkimbaeva, the architect of digital transformation, makes an unexpected and powerful emphasis on humanity.

"HR is a profession of heart and love. No matter how much we implement technology, these human feelings must never fade away. Do not hand this over to artificial intelligence. This is the most valuable thing. Technology should not replace people in HR. People must remain," she says.

This final thesis becomes the semantic core of her entire philosophy: true efficiency is born at the intersection of advanced technologies and genuine, deep humanity.