FinFly analyzed open data — current Forbes profiles, corporate reports and holding websites, official statistics on direct investment and foreign trade, as well as materials from international journalistic investigations — and compiled a ranking of Azerbaijani entrepreneurs operating in foreign markets.
Why these are two different rankings
The first phenomenon is capital of Azerbaijani origin abroad: people born in Azerbaijan whose business is built and operates outside the country, almost exclusively in Russia. Their wealth is verifiable because they appear in Forbes lists, but these operations do not affect the Azerbaijani economy.
The second is business from Azerbaijan that has expanded to foreign markets: groups headquartered in Baku with verifiable foreign assets, deals, and revenue. Here, there are no wealth estimates because the companies are private and do not fully disclose beneficiaries, so ranking is based on the scale of foreign operations: the number of countries with operational presence, the size of confirmed deals, the share of foreign markets in the business model, and data verifiability.
State-owned companies — SOCAR, AzerGold, ADY — are not included in the ranking: they are not entrepreneurship, although SOCAR remains the largest Azerbaijani player abroad.
How much business the country actually exports
- Azerbaijan's direct investment abroad in 2025 — $2.528 billion.
- About 4/5 of these investments go to just two countries — Turkey and Georgia.
- In 2025, $214.4 million was invested in Georgia, accounting for 11.3% of all investments attracted by the country and second place among investors.
- Geography of non-oil exports: Russia — 33.2%, Turkey — 16.4%, Switzerland — 9.4%, Georgia — 9.2%.
- Non-oil exports to Georgia for January–April 2025 — $175.9 million, up 66.3% year-on-year.
These figures show that the external expansion of Azerbaijani private capital is geographically narrow. Exceptions are those who have gone beyond the neighborhood.
League A. Capital of Azerbaijani origin abroad
In the Forbes 2026 world list (3,428 billionaires) — four Azerbaijan-born individuals, all residents of Russia, totaling about $41.4 billion.
1. Vagit Alekperov — $29.5 billion, #79 in the world (Forbes data as of September 5, 2026). Born in Baku, started in the Caspian fields, founded LUKOIL in 1991 and controls about 30% of the company. In April 2022, he left the post of LUKOIL president after UK sanctions, and transferred the Dutch shipyard Heesen Yachts to a Dutch foundation.
2. Zarakh Iliev — $5.1 billion, #37 in the Russian Forbes 2026 list. Born in 1966 in Krasnaya Sloboda, Guba district, owns 50% of the Kievskaya Ploshchad group.
3. God Nisanov — $5.1 billion, #38. Born in 1972 in the same place; Iliev's partner since the 1990s. The pair's joint assets include the Evropeisky and Shchelkovsky shopping centers, Riviera, Food City and Sadovod markets, Depo food malls, the Ukraina Hotel, the Olympic Stadium, the Central Children's Store on Lubyanka (2024), and the Vremena Goda shopping center (April 2025, about 16 billion rubles). Forbes estimated the group's rental income for 2025 at $2.4 billion — first place in the ranking of Russia's largest landlords.
4. Farhad Akhmedov — $1.7 billion, #2463 in the world. Made his fortune in gas: a stake in Northgas, sold in 2012 for $1.4 billion. Under UK and EU sanctions since April 2022, EU sanctions lifted in September 2023. Invested $55 million in a pomegranate processing plant in Azerbaijan.
Separately, Araz Agalarov, founder of Crocus Group, born in Baku: his Forbes profile lists his fortune at $1.2 billion as of April 2021, but he is not in the 2026 world list. For comparison, in the Russian Forbes 2018 ranking he was 54th with $1.8 billion — the discrepancy between sources is too large to publish a single current figure.
League B. Companies from Azerbaijan operating abroad
1. Nasib Hasanov — NEQSOL Holding: 11 countries
The only Azerbaijani private group that has made deals of international scale, not just opened representative offices. Vodafone Ukraine was acquired for $734 million, including a deferred payment of about $84 million; the buyer was Bakcell, financing was arranged by J.P. Morgan Securities and Raiffeisen Bank International, and the deal closed in December 2019. This is Ukraine's second-largest mobile operator with more than 20 million subscribers.
In October 2024, the Ukrainian Cabinet allowed the holding to privatize OGKhK, for which ₴3.94 billion was transferred: today it is UMCC Titanium — Europe's largest producer of titanium and zirconium raw materials with about 4,000 employees. The portfolio also includes Nobel Upstream (exploration and production in the UK, USA, and Azerbaijan), Norm — the largest cement producer in the South Caucasus, and AzerTelecom with the Digital Silk Way trans-Caspian digital corridor project. In 2026, the group signed an agreement with Uzbekistan's Ministry of Mining and Geology on joint development of critical minerals, including titanium. According to the holding — over 17,000 employees and more than 25 million customers.
2. Pashayev family — PASHA Holding: 6 countries
The country's largest private financial-industrial group: revenue of 5.12 billion manats for 2025 (about $3.0 billion), assets of 23.3 billion manats for 2024, more than 25,000 employees, presence in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, Montenegro, Uzbekistan, and the USA. Key assets — Kapital Bank (81.08%), PASHA Bank (71.75%), PASHA Real Estate, PASHA Insurance, and PASHA Life, and the Bir ecosystem.
The foreign contour is banking: an office in Georgia opened in 2013, in Turkey in 2014. But the scale is still incomparable to the domestic market: assets of PASHA Bank Georgia as of January 1, 2026 — 661.7 million lari, down 6.3% year-on-year, while in the first half of 2025 the bank reported a 54% increase in net profit. According to open sources and international investigations, the ultimate shareholders of the group are said to be the Pashayev family and the daughters of President Ilham Aliyev — Leyla and Arzu; the company does not publicly comment in detail on its ownership structure.
3. Zaur Akhundov — Silk Way Group: 40+ destinations
The clearest case of service exports. The cargo airline Silk Way West Airlines was founded in 2012, is based at Heydar Aliyev International Airport, has a fleet of 12 Boeing 777F, 747-8F, and 747-400F aircraft, annual cargo turnover exceeds 500,000 tons, and the route network covers Europe, CIS, the Middle East, Central and East Asia, North and South America. Fleet renewal orders include five Boeing 777F, two 777-8F, and two Airbus A350F. President of Silk Way Group — Zaur Akhundov.
4. Abdolbari Gozal — Azersun Holding
The largest private exporter of non-oil products: more than 30 enterprises, 28 food brands, representative offices and branches in Russia, UAE, Turkey, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Georgia, Iran, and Iraq. The holding was founded in 1991; the founder and owner is listed on the company's website as Abdolbari Gozal. The model is export-oriented, not investment: the group sells abroad but rarely buys assets there. The holding's ownership structure links to offshore jurisdictions have been the subject of ICIJ and RFE/RL investigations.
5. Kamal Ibrahimov — Baku Steel Company
The largest metallurgical company in the Caucasus, among Azerbaijan's top 50 taxpayers, and awarded by the State Tax Service in the category "Active Private Sector Exporter." Products are supplied to more than 20 countries — Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Spain, Italy, and other markets.
Separate category: capital abroad is not business abroad
The Heydarov family and structures around Gilan Holding, liquidated in 2023, are widely represented in foreign jurisdictions, but as asset owners, not export operators. According to investigations by OCCRP, The Sentry, and Eurasianet, this involves a stake in the holding through a UAE company, nine properties on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai worth about $33 million, the French Heritage Collection, and real estate in Marbella, Spain. This does not qualify for the external expansion ranking by methodology: capital placement does not equal market entry.
League C. New economy: the scale is honestly small
- 22 startups raised a total of $2.62 million in 2025.
- The ecosystem ranks 81st in the world according to StartupBlink: 151 startups and $28.92 million in cumulative funding ever.
- Three venture funds — Caucasus Ventures, INMerge Ventures, and Tumar Ventures — have about $11 million in disclosed capital.
- For comparison: Kazakhstan attracted about $130 million in 2025 and has more than 20 private funds.
- The state goal for 2026–2030 is to increase the number of startups entering international markets, with pitch days for at least 50 companies.
Notable international expansion cases — CorpoWid (digital accessibility, founders Orkhan Mammadov and Islam Rizabeyli), AldMD Technologies (AI platform for clinical processes), and BirEcosystem launched in 2025. Incentives include a twenty-year income tax exemption for qualified repatriate specialists and corporate tax holidays for digital, AI, and cybersecurity companies.
Outside the ranking, but important for the picture
SOCAR — a state-owned company and therefore outside the entrepreneurship ranking, but in terms of foreign market presence it surpasses the entire private sector combined: investment in Turkey is estimated at $18 billion, the company owns 51% of the Petkim holding, and the $6.3 billion STAR refinery covers about 25% of Turkey's oil product needs.
A historical case of lost positions — Mubariz Mansimov and the Palmali group. The shipping company, founded in 1998, operated more than 100 vessels. The Russian LLC Palmali was declared bankrupt in November 2018; in March 2020, Mansimov was arrested in Turkey on charges of links to the FETÖ organization, the fleet sale was suspended, and he disappeared from Turkish lists of the richest families. A clear illustration of how much foreign market positions depend on the political and legal environment.
Summary table
| # | Entrepreneur / Group | League | Foreign Market | Verifiable Figure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vagit Alekperov (LUKOIL) | A | Russia | $29.5 billion, #79 globally |
| 2 | Zarakh Iliev (Kievskaya Ploshchad) | A | Russia | $5.1 billion, #37 in Russia |
| 3 | God Nisanov (Kievskaya Ploshchad) | A | Russia | $5.1 billion, #38 in Russia |
| 4 | Farhad Akhmedov | A | Russia | $1.7 billion, #2463 globally |
| 5 | Nasib Hasanov (NEQSOL Holding) | B | 11 countries | Vodafone Ukraine — $734 million; OGKhK — ₴3.94 billion |
| 6 | Pashayev family (PASHA Holding) | B | 6 countries | Revenue 5.12 billion AZN for 2025 |
| 7 | Zaur Akhundov (Silk Way Group) | B | 40+ destinations | >500,000 tons of cargo per year |
| 8 | Abdolbari Gozal (Azersun) | B | 8+ countries | >30 enterprises, largest non-oil exporter |
| 9 | Kamal Ibrahimov (Baku Steel) | B | 20+ countries | Award "Active Private Sector Exporter" |
| 10 | CorpoWid, AldMD, and others | C | International markets | $2.62 million for 22 startups in 2025 |
