Elnura Abakanova

Executive and expert with more than 20 years of experience in international partnerships, strategic development and public administration.

She also works as a trainer, moderator and expert commentator. Professionally fluent in Kazakh, Russian and English, she speaks and moderates events in all three languages.

In 2025–2026 she served as Executive Director and member of the Supervisory Board of Qazaq Independent Directors (QID). Under her leadership the professional community nearly doubled to 1,025 members and the number of training programmes tripled.

Previously she worked at the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan as adviser to the Chairman and Deputy Head of the Expert and Analytical Department, contributing to parliamentary digitalisation initiatives including the e-Parliament project. She led communications at the Delegation of the European Union to Kazakhstan and worked in business development at the AIFC Authority and in international relations at the AFSA regulator. Her experience also includes UNICEF, the Development Bank of Kazakhstan, Kazakh Invest and Astana EXPO-2017.

She has media experience: while studying in the US she was a freelance correspondent for Kazinform, and earlier a TV presenter on Khabar and creative director of a current affairs magazine. Today she is the founder and host of the English-language podcast qi.pod.

She has taught at MNU Business School and Astana IT University and runs her own and corporate programmes on strategy, leadership and change management.

Graduate of the Institute of Directors UK Certificate and Diploma in Company Direction. Prosci Certified Change Practitioner. Completed a project management programme at Harvard University. Two-time scholar of the international Bolashak programme, MSc from the University of Leicester.