Bakhtiyor Fazilov. Bakhtiyor Fazilov (born July 30, 1975) is an Uzbek businessman with a portfolio that includes Eriell, an international oilfield services provider, and Enter Engineering, one of Uzbekistan's largest construction companies.

Biography
Bakhtiyor Fazilov was born and raised in Samarkand. In 1992, after graduating from high school, he studied in the Faculty of International Economic Relations at Tashkent State University of Economics.

Fazilov is married and has three children.

Business career
Fazilov's first business venture was an import-export company for leather and food products. In 2002, he entered the oil and gas industry as a supplier of drilling equipment. Eriell is now an international oilfield services group that engages in oil and gas production, exploration and drilling. Eriell carries out projects in Uzbekistan, Bangladesh and the Middle East, often in difficult terrain.

Fazilov is also a major shareholder in Enter Engineering, an industrial construction company founded in 2012 with over 25,000 employees. Enter Engineering was the contractor for a 10,000 bed infectious diseases hospital near Tashkent that was built during the COVID pandemic but has remained as a permanent health facility.

In 2022, Enter Engineering built Uzbekistan's largest tourist center, Silk Road Samarkand, which includes 8 luxury hotels, a congress center and a culture and entertainment complex, Eternal City.

In 2021, Fazilov became a co-owner of Jizzakh Petroleum, later Saneg. Saneg is the first company in Central Asia to establish a methane emissions reduction project.

After the opening of a new airport terminal in 2022, Fazilov was among the founders of Air Samarkand, which plans to fly to Turkey, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and China. Fazilov described the launch of the new airline as significant for the inbound tourism market, which he is involved in developing. He views Samarkand as a hub that can served as a transport crossroads, being relatively easy to reach by air from China, Western Europe and the Middle East. 

Fazilov is the main beneficiary of Gazli Gas Storage, the operator of Uzbekistan's largest gas storage facility.

Fazilov's companies employ over 70,000 people.

Public service and philanthropy
Fazilov is the president of the Uzbekistan Ice Hockey Federation, which held its first national championship in 2018. In October 2019, Uzbekistan was admitted as a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation.

Fazilov's company was a partner in the construction of the Humo Arena in Tashkent, a 12,500 capacity sports venue that opened in 2019. Fazilov is a sponsor of the Humo Tashkent professional ice hockey team. He is also the owner of FC Surkhon Termez professional football club. The Eriell Group is renovating the Surkhon Arena stadium to meet the licensing standards of the Association of Football clubs.

Fazilov is chairman of the World Society for the Preservation, Study and Popularization of the Cultural Heritage of Uzbekistan. He founded the MESCA Foundation (Medical Excellence and Science in Central Asia), a non-profit organization that sponsors medical and clinical research to improve public health and access to healthcare.

Awards and recognition
In 2019, Fazilov was awarded Uzbekistan's “Selfless Service Order.”

In 2022, he won the Avicenna International Prize in Paris for his
contribution to the preservation and study of Uzbek cultural heritage.

See also
Culture of Uzbekistan
Economy of Uzbekistan

References

Uzbekistani businesspeople
Living people
People from Samarkand
1975 births