What mysterious company EMD-Group won a million-dollar competition for training guides in Almaty

At the end of July, information appeared that 200 tourist guides would be trained in Almaty. The news is great! Even the guides themselves admit that there is a shortage of qualified representatives of this profession. The courses were indeed held, and an Orda.kz journalist even attended them in person. But, as often happens, questions arose not about the training process, but about the distribution of funds. Orda.kz looked into what was wrong with it. 

Learned guides

The need for guides in Kazakhstan is really very high and only continues to grow. Because the interest of foreigners in our country is also growing. And the number one tourist attraction in Kazakhstan is Almaty. And if you search on the Internet, you may get the impression that there are enough guides in the Southern capital. But there is a caveat: 

"There are indeed a lot of guides in Almaty. More precisely, "guides". But there is a shortage of qualified specialists. Therefore, any advanced training courses, I think, are only a plus. Especially when they are free," says guide Arkhat Toktarkhanov.

And the training of specialists actually took place. These were courses under the auspices of the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA). They were organized by the Almaty Tourism Department - this is carefully emphasized by the Department itself, and we will emphasize it as well. It also financed the courses. According to the data provided to us by the Tourism Department, 75 million tenge were allocated for this. We will talk about who received them below. For now - about the courses themselves.

Photo: Orda.kz

They were not training people off the street. These were advanced training courses for those who already work in the tourism industry, primarily as guides. 

There were three groups for guides in English, Russian and Chinese. As the "students" themselves said, they learned about the courses from professional chats. There were 38 people in total. As the national coach of WFTGA Zhanar Gabit emphasized, they are all citizens of Kazakhstan. Although the "students" from the Chinese group admitted that they were from XUAR, they have been living in Almaty for many years. It was with them that the Orda.kz journalist rode on the bus. He didn’t understand anything, but, in the language of rap battles, he felt the flow. 

"Each group studied for seven days. The classes were divided approximately as follows: 60% theory and 40% practice. They taught in three areas: walking tour, bus tour and museum tour. True, the museums have their own guides, but the basic methods were still taught in the courses. The guides were told about the history and geography of Kazakhstan and, of course, were given practical skills," said Zhanar Gabit.

Zhanar Gabit. Photo: Orda.kz

The Kazakhstanis were trained by foreign specialists from WFTGA: the Russian group was trained by an expert from Ukraine, the English group by an expert from Serbia, and the Chinese group by an expert from Singapore. The students were satisfied with the knowledge they received. In any case, no one said anything bad when talking to an Orda.kz journalist. And the communication was as trusting as possible. 

"In our profession, you need to regularly update your knowledge and skills, you need to constantly learn. For example, one of the useful things I learned from the courses is that a tourist’s attention is only held for three minutes on a walking tour," said guide Zhannat Suleeva.

At the end of their training, the "students" passed exams. However, as Zhanat Suleeva says, they will not know the results of the exam until mid-August. 

And what about the remaining 162 guides who are supposed to be trained? After all, we were talking about 200 people. As Zhanar Gabit explained, they will be given just basic knowledge. And this will be done by national guides, like her. 

Lot, lot again 

This is where the honey of tourism ends and the tar begins. To do this, let’s go back six months. On January 26, 2024, the Almaty Tourism Department announced a call for applications for a competition called "Conducting World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations - WFTGA courses for training and/or advanced training of guides and guide-instructors." 

The mysterious things with the financing of the courses begin right away. Remember the 75 million tenge mentioned at the beginning? This is the figure that the Almaty Tourism Department indicated in the official response to Orda.kz. At the same time, the lot that was played out in February 2024 indicated a sum eight million less.

It also appears in the contract. And the total amount of the contract, indicated on the public services website, is 59.7 million. 

This was the first oddity. 

The second oddity is the definition of the contractor. The competition for holding the WFTGA courses was held on February 27, 2024. The requirements for its implementation were quite strict. 

Then the winner in UT Almaty was chosen to be the Kazakhstan Tourism Association. And if you look at the results of those auctions, everything seems logical: KTA is a specialized organization that offered the lowest price in the lot and with the highest financial stability indicator.

The other three bidders are companies involved in media content production, advertising and trade. But:

"On March 5, EMD-Group filed an appeal to the Department of Internal State Audit for the city of Almaty, citing paragraph 61 of the rules on the availability of material resources. Namely, an electronic copy of the lease agreement for four conference halls or classrooms with a capacity of up to 40 people. Although we provided an agreement for the relevant premises in the tender documentation," said Rashida Shaikenova, Chairperson of the KTA.

As a result, the results of the first competition were cancelled and a new auction was held. 

"After the violations were eliminated, protocol on the results No. 11416901-OK2 dated 08.04.2024 was published, where EMD-group LLP was determined to be the winner, and the application of the Kazakhstan Tourism Association was rejected due to the potential supplier’s failure to meet the qualification requirements in terms of having material and labor resources sufficient to fulfill the obligations under the contract specified in the tender documentation," the official response from the Almaty Tourism Department says.

Although the conditions have not changed in general - the proposed prices have remained the same, as have the financial stability indicators. EMD-Group has the lowest of the four companies.

On April 9, KTA sent an appeal to the Department of Internal State Audit of Almaty. Representatives of the association pointed out that their lease agreement for training premises and the same document of EMD-Group are identical. 

"On April 29, the Committee for Internal State Audit of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan responded. It states that, having studied the appeal of the Kazakhstan Tourism Association, the committee came to the conclusion that the appeal contains arguments that were not considered by the Department of Internal State Audit of Almaty. In this regard, the department is instructed to review the appeal taking into account the said arguments. And if they are confirmed, take appropriate measures. But we have not yet received this response," says Rashida Shaikenova.

Rashida Shaikenova. Photo: Kazakh Tourism

According to Shaikenova, the situation with the WFTGA auction is not an isolated case, but a trend, when tenders in the tourism sector of Almaty are won not by local specialized organizations, but by capital organizations and those not related to tourism. 

“We have participated in such competitions several times, but we have never won and it is not a fact that we will win,” says Rashida Shaikenova.

A versatile company

But maybe this is all just nitpicking and EMD-Group is a very decent company, which is also very experienced in the tourism industry. Orda.kz studied information about it in open sources and found out that this company is incredibly versatile. It participated in public procurement tenders 1044 times!

True, it doesn’t win often. On the government procurement website, EMD-Group is listed as the winner of only 28 tenders, starting in 2021. What kind of tenders are these, and is the tourism sector among them? In fact, it is. The very first tender won was an agreement with the International University of Tourism and Hospitality for the supply of microphones and discussion consoles. 

And in the next three years, there was nothing related to tourism from what EMD-Group won. There was the completion of a children’s playground in Pavlodar, the purchase of office paper for the National Testing Center, even a steel cable for MAEK. And much more. No tourism. Until 2024. 

Starting from March 2024, EMD-Group wins four tenders from the Almaty Tourism Department and concludes contracts: 

• March 3, 2024 — “Production of souvenir products for delegations of the city of Almaty” — 41.6 million tenge;
• April 1, 2024 — “Conducting the “Welcome Gift for International Guests” campaign (image events)” — 22.7 million;
• April 4, 2024 — “Conducting facilitation sessions (trainings) for employees of the tourism industry” — 51.7 million;
• April 17, 2024 — “Conducting courses of the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations — WFTGA for training and/or advanced training of guides and guide-instructors.” 

The latest contract in the tourism sector was signed by EMD-Group on June 21 with the Almaty Tourism Bureau. This is a tender for the production of souvenir products for 44.6 million tenge. 

In total, the company, which had previously distinguished itself in the tourism sector only by purchasing a discussion console, in 2024 became the winner of five competitions announced by the Almaty Tourism Department and the bureau controlled by it, for a total of more than 160 million tenge. 

Moreover, EMD-Group won tenders for conducting tourist courses and trainings without having a tourist operator license. The company received it only in June 2024.

 There are plenty of other mysteries with EMD-Group. For example, in the contracts concluded between March and June, two different people are listed as directors: Manas Kalkabaev and Zhanar Tleulenova. It was not possible to find any information about them. Even at their Astana legal address. An Orda.kz correspondent personally went to the house at 39 Syganak. And there was an apartment there, the residents of which had heard of a certain Manas and Zhanar for the first time. 

The door of that very apartment. Photo: Orda.kz

The contacts listed in open sources and contracts also did not work. We had almost lost hope of contacting EMD-Group representatives. But when this material was being written, we managed to get through to one of the numbers. A young man named Almas answered. He introduced himself as the deputy director and was aware that their company was responsible for training guides, but did not know the details. 

Later, a girl named Asem called the Orda.kz correspondent himself. She introduced herself as the manager of EMD-Group. 

“We won this tender in the state procurement and are conducting it,” the girl said.

When asked whether they have experience in the tourism industry and employees who meet the requirements specified in the lot, Asem could not answer, stating that only the manager can comment on this, and he is abroad. But she promised to pass on the contacts of the Orda.kz journalist to her boss. We are waiting for a call.