There's a particular kind of ambition that doesn't make noise. It doesn't issue press releases every week or chase headlines. It shows up in corporate filings quietly registered in April, in construction crews breaking ground in Almaty, in logistics frameworks being assembled across Central Asia while most people aren't paying attention.

That's always been the signature of Yerkin Tatishev (pictured below) and Kusto Group. And in 2026, that quiet ambition has reached a scale that's hard to ignore.

Across logistics, agriculture, real estate, and manufacturing, Kusto Group is executing what may be its most consequential expansion in over two decades of operation. Each project is significant on its own. Taken together, they tell a much larger story. One about a company that has spent years laying groundwork and is now ready to build on top of it.

Kusto Group's Logistics Push: Cargo Airlines, Tankers, and a 28-Billion-Tenge Complex

If there's one theme defining Kusto Group's 2026 agenda, it's infrastructure. Specifically, the kind that underpins everything else and that Kazakhstan has long relied on foreign operators to provide.

In April 2026, Kusto Group registered two new entities that make the direction unmistakably clear. Nomad Tankers Ltd will focus on sea and coastal cargo transport. JanaPort Holdings Ltd targets airport management and air cargo operations - a sector that has become increasingly strategic as Central Asian trade corridors attract global attention.

Alongside these registrations, Kusto Group's managing partner Kanat Kopbayev announced plans for a dedicated cargo airline, budgeted at approximately $30 million. The reasoning is simple and compelling: Kazakhstan's dependency on foreign carriers creates real vulnerability in its supply chains. Kusto Group intends to address that gap directly, on its own terms.

Yerkin Tatishev has spoken consistently about the importance of load-bearing infrastructure: the unglamorous foundations that make trade, agriculture, and industry actually function. These logistics moves are exactly that philosophy in action.

Record Grain Exports in 2025 - And a Smarter Agricultural Operation in 2026

Kusto Group's agricultural arm quietly had one of its best years on record in 2025. The group achieved record grain export volumes from Kazakhstan into Asian markets - a result that didn't happen by accident. It was the payoff of sustained investment in storage infrastructure, logistics coordination, and supply chain optimization that had been building for years.

What makes 2025 significant isn't just the number. It's what it signals about Kazakhstan's role in regional food supply, and about Kusto Group's position within it. Under Yerkin Tatishev's long-term strategy, Kusto Agro has been systematically turning Kazakhstan's natural agricultural advantages into a reliable, export-oriented operation.

In 2026, the focus has shifted from hitting the milestone to making it repeatable. Data analytics tools for yield forecasting and resource optimization are being integrated across operations, alongside improved irrigation efficiency and soil management practices.

Diamond Residences: Real Estate Built Around People, Not Profit Margins

In Almaty's Bostandyk District, across from the MEGA Alma-Ata shopping centre, Kusto Home is currently building the Diamond residential project: 15 blocks, each nine stories tall.

Nine stories. In a city where most developers are racing to build fifteen floors and above, squeezing units onto every available square meter, that restraint is deliberate. Kusto Home made the choice to go lower density and higher quality - designing spaces around how people actually want to live, rather than around the unit count that justified the project financially.

It's a quiet bet that in the long run, genuinely good product wins. And given how Yerkin Tatishev and Kusto Group have approached every other sector in their portfolio, it's not a bet made without conviction or precedent.

KazPetFood: Kazakhstan's First Pet Food Factory

It might be the most unexpected entry in Kusto Group's 2026 portfolio. KazPetFood, a subsidiary of Kusto Group, is set to begin operations this year at the Alatau Special Economic Zone near Almaty, marking the launch of Kazakhstan's first dedicated pet food factory.

The facility is projected to produce up to 40,000 tons of high-quality dry food annually for dogs and cats, targeting both domestic consumption and export markets. For Kazakhstan, it fills a genuine and long standing gap: a growing pet care market that has been almost entirely served by imports. For Kusto Group, it creates local employment, stimulates domestic raw material supply chains, and reduces the country's dependency on foreign suppliers in a fast growing category.

It might look like an outlier in a portfolio built around grain, coatings, and cargo logistics. But the logic is familiar: identify a structural gap, build something durable to fill it, and execute with enough quality that it lasts. That's the Kusto Group playbook, applied to a new sector.

What All of This Actually Adds Up To

Step back from the individual projects and a coherent picture starts to emerge. Yerkin Tatishev and Kusto Group aren't simply diversifying - they're building an interconnected system.

Logistics infrastructure moves goods more efficiently. Agricultural operations export those goods at record volumes. Industrial subsidiaries like Tambour expand internationally and approach public markets. Real estate developments invest in the communities where Kusto Group operates. New ventures like KazPetFood fill domestic gaps while creating export potential.

Each piece reinforces the others. And that's not accidental, it reflects a philosophy that Yerkin Tatishev has articulated consistently over two decades: that durable value isn't created by chasing trends, but by building foundations strong enough to support everything that comes next.

In 2026, those foundations are becoming a skyline.