Kenges Rakishev, a prominent Kazakh entrepreneur and investor. He takes the top 5 spot out of 50 influential businessmen in Kazakhstan according to Forbes Kazakhstan annual ranking "The top 50 most influential businessmen in Kazakhstan" and the top 10 spot in Forbes Kazakhstan annual ranking "The 50 richest people in Kazakhstan". Kenges is one of the founders of the global venture fund SingulariTeam, a private investment fund that focuses on the development of technology based companies, by providing capital and additional supporting services all around the world. According to buzzsparks.org in 2012 he was considered among the world's top 10 private investors by the amount of the investments made. He serves as the chairman of the board of directors for several large companies including SAT & Company (KASE: SATC), a diversified industrial holding. Benefitting from Kenges’ leadership, SAT & Co., which has interests in mining, mechanical engineering, infrastructure projects and petrochemical operations as well as plants and projects in Turkey and China, has grown from its initial investment of $10K in 2000 to more than $500M today. He is the controlling shareholder of the largest Kazakh commercial bank - JSC "Kazkommertsbank" (LSE:KKB).
He also serves as the chairman of Net Element (NASDAQ:NETE) after acquiring $32 million in Net Element stock in 2012. The investment into Net Element is part of Kenges’ strategy to apply his expertise and access to capital to seize opportunities in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries by leveraging advanced technologies and partnerships abroad.
