Московский государственный технический университет имени Н. Э. Баумана
Zhakiyanov was born in 1963 in the village of Kuigan. He graduated from Moscow Bauman Moscow State Technical University in 1986 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Zhakiyanov worked for a time as a manager at a Soviet military plant. Right before the breakup of the Soviet Union, he started with other partners own business operating a coal and natural resources company in Kazakhstan.