Just lately, quite a lot of worldwide organisations, together with UN businesses, have seen reductions in funding from a number of main donor nations. This pattern is pushed by shifting political priorities, home finances constraints, and the reallocation of sources to nationwide wants. The White Home introduced President Donald Trump’s determination to withdraw america from UNESCO.
In such intervals, the contribution of personal enterprise turns into notably necessary. Companies not solely fill financing gaps, but additionally deliver innovation, flexibility, and fashionable instruments that public establishments usually lack. As world challenges equivalent to local weather change and the digital divide intensify, massive firms and personal organisations are anticipated to play an more and more important function in supporting worldwide and UN programmes — notably in sustainable growth, humanitarian help, and local weather motion.
Kazakhstani entrepreneur Timur Turlov is a vivid instance of how enterprise takes on missions that governments more and more abandon. Because the founder and CEO of Nasdaq-listed Freedom Holding Corp., Timur Turlov didn’t simply formally help a UN initiative: in 2024 his firm joined the UN International Compact, and Timur Turlov himself turned Chairman of the UN International Compact Advisory Committee in Central Asia.
“By way of Freedom Holding and our Freedom Shapagat Basis we have now already launched initiatives in training, healthcare, local weather, and accountable consumption. However I imagine that is solely the start,” he emphasizes.
Timur Turlov admits candidly: “I by no means had spare cash. I am going to the market, borrow at 20%, and do charity work.” This isn’t a gesture of extra however a precept: one should at all times assist, even when it means taking dangers.
By way of the Freedom Shapagat Basis, the holding has supported greater than 60 social and environmental initiatives, reaching over thousands and thousands of individuals.
- SDG 4 (High quality Schooling): the Freedom Block challenge at Suleyman Demirel College in Kazakhstan, AI laboratories, and grant packages for college kids.
- SDG 13 (Local weather Motion) and SDG 15 (Life on Land): restoration of the Aral Sea, saxaul tree planting, combating desertification — a challenge as soon as additionally supported by USAID earlier than this system was dissolved.
- SDG 3 (Good Well being and Effectively-being): sports activities growth (Kazakhstan Chess Federation, QJ League) and digital insurance coverage merchandise.
- SDG 12 (Accountable Consumption): the Freedom Fandomats challenge for amassing plastic and aluminum for recycling.
- SDG 17 (Partnerships): cooperation with universities and worldwide foundations.
“I’m not an athlete, I’m an organizer. My activity is to assemble sources, construct a crew, and spur progress,” says Timur Turlov.
That is an entrepreneurial strategy to philanthropy: not one-off actions to spice up status — however systemic investments in human capital.
Freedom Holding embodies a worldwide pattern: enterprise is transferring from passive sponsorship to real partnership. Past cash, firms can provide new devices — from inexperienced bonds to digital
providers that cut back social inequality. The Freedom ecosystem and its SuperApp can already function a platform for the implementation of SDG-related merchandise: from financial savings and funding instruments to healthcare providers in rural areas.
Timur Turlov is satisfied that even in occasions of disaster one should keep centered on creation. “If you happen to maintain worrying and combating crises, you gained’t construct something. It is advisable to dedicate time to creation, even when there’s at all times some ‘cosmic cruiser in orbit.’”
For him, social initiatives usually are not charity within the classical sense, however a continuation of enterprise — solely with a distinct system of values. “True wealth is created solely by expertise.”
From a sustainability perspective, which means that an important funding is in individuals — their well being, training, and skill to imagine in themselves.
When governments step again, it’s enterprise that may help humanity in its world targets. The instance of Freedom Holding and Timur Turlov exhibits that even in occasions of uncertainty, it’s potential to construct long-term initiatives that profit many.
In the present day, philanthropy is now not merely a gesture of goodwill however is turning into a type of strategic accountability. And if firms strategy it systematically, then the Sustainable Improvement Targets could have an actual likelihood of success — even the place governments have already retreated.
