Umut Shayakhmetova on Leadership, AI and Women in Business - Voices of Change inVision U

“Inbusiness, there is no gender — there is only professionalism” — the story of Umut Shayakhmetova

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Some leaders manage. Others change the very logic of management. The hero of this issue belongs to the second group. Chairwoman of the Board of Halyk Bank JSC, one of the most nfluential bankers in Kazakhstan — behind this title lies not just a career, but a distinct way of thinking: professionalism as the only currency that never loses its value.

Where It All Began

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Umut graduated from the Economics Faculty of RUDN University in Moscow, at a time when planned Soviet-style economics was still being taught: Gosplan, regulations,predictability. But everything changed after her MBA in America.

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“There was a real revolution in my understanding. Different approaches, everything based on business cases,everything grounded in specific, applied situations,” she recalls.

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Consumer psychology, marketing,real stories of corporate successes and failures — knowledge you can apply immediately. That was when she understood: education is not just a diploma, it is a tool.

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January 2009 — The Decision That Changed Everything

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When she was offered the position of leading Halyk Bank, the bank was on the verge of bankruptcy. She faced the challenge of adapting during a financial crisis, market instability and personal risk — her daughter was not yet a year old at the time.

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“I was confident in my knowledge, I understood the market and the bank from the inside, and most importantly — I knew the value of my own professionalism. I could not afford to miss such an opportunity,” she says.

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This was not recklessness. It was the precise calculation of someone who had spent years building expertise and knew it would hold. It is in moments like these that education either proves itself or reveals its emptiness.

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Professionalism as the Only Argument

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Asked what it is like to be a woman at the top of Kazakhstan’s banking sector, Umut answers with out hesitation:

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“In business, there is no gender. There is only professionalism.”

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Behind that phrase is the observation of someone who traveled the path from student to the head of the country’s largest bank — and at every stage saw the same thing: people follow those whose words are backed by competence.

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“To become a leader people listen to, you must constantly work on your professionalism. People only start following you when there is a foundation behind your words,” she believes.

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On the Technologies You Cannot Ignore

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Umut is direct: today it is not enough to simply manage. You need to understand technology well enough to sit down and work through the algorithms yourself.

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Halyk Bank today is looking for people with three profiles:

•      Data Scientists and Data Engineers — those who can work with large datasets and turn them into decisions.

•      Artificial intelligence specialists — AI is already being integrated across every area of the bank, from analytics to marketing.

•      Cybersecurity experts — those who can detect deep fakes and protect systems from threats that did not even exist a few years ago.

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inVision U is an example of modern education where, instead of dry theory, students get pure practice.Exactly the format needed today: where learning keeps pace with the market and prepares not just executors, but creators and industry leaders.

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A Message to Those Who Are Just Starting Out

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“A woman should not think that being a woman puts her at a disadvantage. Get an education — and don’t hold yourself back after. Maintain balance: work, grow professionally, have a family. And don’t set glass ceilings for yourself.” — that is the core message from Umut Shayakhmetova.

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This was the final story in a series that began with a simple question: how did industry leaders become who they are? The answers were different, but in each of them education was not a backdrop — it was the starting point.

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Thank you for reading and following the stories of our heroes. What comes next?

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