Eduard Ogay: Biography, Career at Kazakhmys and Key Projects

A detailed biography of Eduard Ogay, the leadership of Kazakhmys and his rise to become one of Kazakhstan’s most influential businessmen. His career path, the creation of a multibillion-dollar business empire, his partnership with Vladimir Kim, current mining and metals assets, family life and management principles.

Kazakhstan ranks among the world’s major copper suppliers, and behind the industry’s production figures are the executives who have shaped its development. One of them is Eduard Ogay.

He began his working life as a loader at a department store in Almaty. Today, he is a co-owner of Kazakhmys Holding Limited, which controls Kazakhmys Copper JSC, and has interests across the mining, chemicals and energy sectors.

Eduard Ogay was born on October 18, 1969, in Almaty, then part of the Kazakh SSR. He is a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Eduard Viktorovich Ogay’s childhood was not markedly different from that of many of his Soviet-era peers. His father was a farmer who grew onions, a traditional occupation among many ethnic Koreans in Kazakhstan at the time. His mother built a career in retail, rising from an entry-level position to become the head of a major enterprise. Ogay’s parents divorced when he was four.

His family history is closely tied to that of Kazakhstan’s Korean diaspora. In the second half of the 1930s, his relatives were deported from Russia’s Primorsky Krai to the Kazakh steppe. Harsh living conditions and high mortality among the older generations disrupted the family record. Ogay has made several attempts to reconstruct his family history through archival research, but so far without success.

Childhood in the Onion Fields and His First Job at Almaty’s Central Department Store

Ogay began working while still in the fifth grade, spending every summer helping his grandparents in the onion fields.

A few years later, when he was in seventh grade and wanted to earn enough money to buy a cassette recorder, he found himself a part-time job as a loader at Almaty’s Central Department Store, known as TsUM. He was assigned to the metal cookware department, considered one of the toughest sections.

His job involved unloading trucks filled with cast-iron pots tied together with wire in bundles of ten. The work demanded considerable physical endurance. Ogay worked three or four four-hour shifts a week and could earn 70-80 rubles a month, a substantial amount for a Soviet teenager.

Three months after finishing school, he entered military service. He was assigned to a chemical defense tank regiment in Vladimir, Russia, where he rose to the rank of starshina, one of the highest ranks available to conscripted servicemen. Ogay has said that his time in the military helped instill discipline, consistency and a strong sense of responsibility.

After returning from the army in 1989, he went back to his old workplace as a loader. On a friend’s advice, he also applied to the Kazakh State Agrarian University to study economics and management.

He continued working as a loader for some time before moving into sales in the television and radio equipment department. He later took a similar position at a specialist store selling imported goods in exchange for vouchers. He spent around a year and a half there before deciding in 1990 that it was time to try something new.

First Millions: From Commodity Broking in Moscow to Cognac Trading

In 1991, Eduard Ogay began working as a broker at the Moscow Commodity Exchange, representing the Moskhlebtorg organization. The job gave him first-hand experience in commodity trading and commercial transactions.

In 1992, he and several former classmates set up a small wholesale business selling food, electronics and other goods. His mother, who at the time headed Almaty’s first cold-storage facility, provided financial backing for the venture. The company followed a straightforward trading model: buy goods, bring them in and resell them.

Ogay entered business at a time of profound economic change and weakening state institutions. Commercial relationships often depended less on formal contracts than on personal trust and reputation. The new environment also brought painful financial lessons.

For one venture, Eduard Ogay borrowed money at 5% interest per month, a rate considered relatively normal at the time. The deal failed, leaving him heavily in debt and forcing him to start over from scratch. The situation was made even more difficult by the birth of his first son during the same period.

Despite the losses and considerable financial risk, Ogay repaid his obligations, remained in business and laid the groundwork for the much larger projects that followed.

His first major commercial success came from a large trading deal in Moscow involving nearly one million bottles of Polish Napoleon cognac. Ogay decided to buy 60,000 bottles in one transaction.

For two months, he and hired drivers distributed the goods in small batches across the Russian capital until the entire shipment was sold. His profit came to around one million rubles, equivalent to approximately $200,000-300,000 at the exchange rate of the time.

Entering the Mining and Metals Industry and Meeting Vladimir Kim

The turning point in Ogay’s career came in 1993.

After a failed partnership left him responsible for someone else’s debts, he borrowed money again, this time to enter Kazakhstan’s mining and metallurgical sector.

At the time, the country’s state-owned mining enterprises were suffering from a severe shortage of working capital, fuel and raw materials. Drawing on his mother’s business contacts in Moscow, Ogay arranged supplies of petroleum products on deferred-payment terms.

Diesel and gasoline were delivered to industrial plants in eastern Kazakhstan, many of which would later become part of Kazzinc and Kazakhmys. Under the arrangement, payment was made in finished products and copper concentrate. The concentrate was then sent for processing to the Balkhash and Zhezkazgan copper smelters.

To process and export the concentrate, Ogay needed a reliable partner. That partner was Vladimir Kim, who headed the Kazakhstan-Samsung joint venture. Under state quotas, the company exported around 30% of Kazakhstan’s copper to South Korea.

Their cooperation would later help create the basis for bringing in a major foreign investor, South Korea’s Samsung Deutschland GmbH.

According to Eduard Ogay, he had already known Kim through the Korean community. However, it was a recommendation from Ogay’s mother that ultimately brought them together in business.

In 1993, 24-year-old Eduard Ogay and 33-year-old Vladimir Kim signed their first raw-material supply contracts. The deal marked the beginning of a long-term partnership that would play a major role in the development of Kazakhmys and shape the future careers of both businessmen.

Joining Kazakhmys, Public Service and Industry Education

The next stage began in 1994 with the privatization of Zhezkazgantsvetmet.

The company was close to bankruptcy, with total liabilities, including debts to suppliers, of approximately $300 million. In today’s economic terms, the amount would be equivalent to roughly $5-6 billion.

Under the terms of the deal, Samsung was required to settle those debts, while Kim was appointed general manager. During this period, Ogay helped restore production by ensuring uninterrupted supplies.

The plant needed a constant flow of raw materials and other essential inputs, so Ogay arranged deliveries on payment terms of up to 18 months, backed by guarantees from the enterprise.

From 1996 to 1997, Eduard Ogay served as president of Kazresurs JSC. Between 1997 and 2001, he was director of Petrokaz LLP, working as an external partner to the enterprise.

In 2001, he formally joined Kazakhmys Corporation JSC and was appointed Director of Marketing and International Relations.

Another important chapter in Ogay’s career was his time in public service. From 2005 to 2006, he served as Deputy Akim of the East Kazakhstan Region, where one of his main responsibilities was preventing a utilities crisis.

Ogay oversaw emergency coal supplies from the Karazhyra mine to help power and heating plants settle their debts and maintain operations. After the region successfully completed two heating seasons and the situation stabilized, he returned to Kazakhmys.

From 2006 to 2016, Ogay served as Chairman of the Management Board of Kazakhmys Corporation LLP.

During the same period, he also held senior positions within the group’s international structure, Kazakhmys PLC. From January to August 2006, he served as Director of Corporate Development, and from May 2011 to October 2014, he was a member of the Board of Directors.

In November 2014, Ogay became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kazakhmys Holding LLP while simultaneously taking the same position at Kazakhmys Corporation LLP.

In April 2016, he stepped down as Chairman of the Management Board of Kazakhmys Corporation but remained Chairman of its Board of Directors until 2017.

In August 2019, Ogay returned to operational management as head of the Management Board of Kazakhmys Corporation LLP. He held the position until December 1, 2022.

From 2023, he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kazakhmys Corporation LLP, remaining in the role until December 2025.

Ogay has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kazakhmys Copper JSC since 2017. In 2019, Eduard Ogay was also listed as the company's CEO. Following the formation of a new board on June 24, 2020, he was re-elected as chairman.

Eduard Ogay played a major role in the development of Kazakhmys and its emergence as one of the world’s ten leading copper producers.

During his tenure, Kazakhmys PLC obtained a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange and entered the FTSE 100 index. This positioned the company among the largest publicly traded companies in the UK by market capitalization and gave it access to international capital markets.

Ogay’s education developed alongside his career.

In 1998, he graduated from the Kazakh State Agrarian University with a degree in economics and management. As his career in mining and metallurgy progressed, he recognized the need for more specialized industry training.

In 2003-2004, he completed professional retraining in open-pit mining processes at Moscow State University for the Humanities, as well as an MBA program for chief financial officers at the Academy of National Economy.

In 2015, he completed an additional course covering ore preparation, mineral processing and hydrometallurgical technologies for mineral raw materials.

In addition to Russian and Kazakh, Ogay speaks Korean and English.

Scaling Up Production

Over the years of cooperation between Vladimir Kim and Eduard Ogay, Kazakhmys evolved from a collection of loss-making industrial facilities into one of the region’s largest mining and metallurgical groups.

In 1993, Zhezkazgantsvetmet produced just 120,000 tonnes of copper a year. Today, the combined annual output of Kazakhmys and KAZ Minerals has increased fivefold to around 600,000 tonnes.

Balkhashtsvetmet, acquired in 1997, also underwent extensive modernization. Following the upgrade, its copper production increased from 3,000 tonnes to 200,000 tonnes.

The Sale of Kazakhmys and the Launch of $7 Billion in New Projects

Following the sale of Kazakhmys Corporation LLP at the end of 2025, Eduard Ogay and his partners restructured their business portfolio while retaining key positions in the mining and energy sectors.

Together with Vladimir Kim, Ogay remains a co-owner of Kazakhmys Holding Limited, through which their stake in Kazakhmys Copper is controlled.

His other industrial interests include stakes in energy companies such as Kazakhmys Energy and Karaganda Topar Main Distribution Power Station, chemical assets including the Karazhyra coal mine.

Ogay is also a co-investor in the new Aidarly and Koksay mining and metallurgical projects.

Total investment in the projects is expected to reach approximately $7 billion over three to five years. Around one-third of this amount, or close to $2.5 billion, will come from the shareholders’ own funds generated through the sale of previous assets.

Once the projects are operational, Kazakhstan’s total copper output is expected to approach one million tonnes per year, strengthening the country’s position among the world’s leading copper producers.

Principles, Philanthropy and Family

Eduard Ogay describes his management style as a combination of consistency, discipline and complete transparency in dealings with business partners.

His approach to social projects extends beyond simply providing financial support. Ogay prefers to finance and complete facilities in full before transferring them to the state.

This approach has resulted in the construction of a modern library in Kyzylorda, while an oncology center is currently being built in Taldykorgan. Charitable foundations also operate in Zhezkazgan and Balkhash, alongside the Eleos-Meirim Foundation.

Family occupies an important place in Ogay’s life. He has seven children from two marriages and four grandchildren.

His eldest son, born in 1992, runs his own businesses in the services and real estate sectors. His daughter manages an educational project at a school originally founded by Ogay’s first wife. His youngest daughter is ten years old.

For Eduard Ogay, family is more than an abstract value. He is an Orthodox Christian and believes that a parent’s primary responsibility is to raise children who are decent, independent and capable of standing on their own.

Asked what would help him succeed if he had to start again from scratch, Eduard Viktorovich Ogay names three main factors: entrepreneurial instinct, the willingness to work as hard as possible while maintaining discipline, and the ability to build strong relationships with people.

He sums up his approach to reputation in one simple principle: if you make a commitment, honor it.