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Oct 5, 2017 1:03 PM CET

From Tele2 Kazakhstan to HQ in Stockholm

Switching from Kazakhstan’s Almaty to calling Stockholm your new hometown is nothing you do in a hustle. But for Zurab Galumashvili, Tele2’s new CFO International, it is exactly what has happened for him and his family.

"Arriving during summer is great, and the meatballs are just as tasty in Sweden as in Kazakhstan", Zurab adds with a laugh answering our questions about how it's like to move to Sweden.

According to Zurab Swedes are in general organised, polite and also entrepreneurial and highly creative, but this isn't something new for him, after three years working with Tele2's Kazakhstan operations he is familiar with the Swedish culture and way of working.


Being a challenger and always challenge yourself and your team is some of the aspects that brought Zurab to Tele2 in the first place. The international aspect of Tele2 and the fearless challenger culture, made him move from a role as CFO at Georgia's biggest company to a CFO position at Tele2 Kazakhstan, a small but fast-growing operator 2013. After a couple of years at Tele2 Kazakhstan, Zurab was ready to challenge himself and advance internally within Tele2. He advanced to CFO international and moved to Stockholm with his family, a great example of how Tele2 encourage internal mobility within our operations.

The role as CFO international is different compared to his previous position within the company. In Kazakhstan, you can negotiate with multinational telecommunications equipment companies one day, and placing orders for sugar or coffee to the office the day after, now his role is more organised, and his goals are clear. I want to make our operations great, now we are good, but we should be great in relation to our customers, subsidiaries and our own operations.

For colleagues who want an international career Zurabs advice is to be open for new possibilities.

"Tele2 is a liberating workplace where possibilities exist, but you always have to keep your eyes open for new challenges", Zurab concludes.