LA-based businessman Timur Tillyaev helps provide life-saving equipment to UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital to support sick kids
Timur Tillyaev made his fortune creating the fifth largest market in Central Asia from shipping containers.
And the donations he and his wife, Lola Tillyaeva have made during the pandemic have helped provide life-saving specialist equipment.
Johnese Spisso, MPA, President of UCLA Health and CEO of the UCLA Hospital System, said: “We were facing a shortage of face shields for our front-line healthcare workers, and thanks to the kindness and generosity of the Tillyaev Family, UCLA was able to secure enough shields to equip our entire patient-facing workforce.”
He added the financial support came at a critical point this year when specialist equipment was in desperate need for health workers during the pandemic.
Timur said: “We have been extremely lucky to be able to build successful businesses and careers.
“We always felt that we must give back to the world.”
Originally from the city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Timur first came to the US in the 1990s on a student exchange program shortly after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
After attending high school in the city of Hooper Nebraska, he went on to study at Midland College in the state.
Timur worked two jobs — as a cleaner in a cafeteria, and a cook in a snack bar to fund his tuition.
When he graduated in 2001, Timur returned to his native country and came up with his multi-million-dollar business idea to create an open-air market from shipping containers and later transform his venture into a sophisticated logistical company.
Using the expertise he had learned at Midland College studying in the US, he was able to transform an empty land plot with 500 shipping containers on it into a business that gave jobs to over 1,000 people and supported livelihoods of thousands more.
Abu Saxiy, the 5th largest market in Asia, was born.
At its peak under Timur’s ownership, around 10,000 people shopping at the market daily and had ~3,000 shops almost all of which were built and then sold directly to merchants (a small portion were leased to merchants). The footprint grew to about 42 acres — that’s about 32 NFL US football fields, by the time Timur sold in 2017.
By this point, Abu Saxiy, located on the outskirts of the city, was no longer only a textile market; it had grown into a general shopping mecca over time with a dedicated public transit center.
At the peak of their business success, Timur and Lola, continued to tirelessly work on a variety of charitable activities and direct substantial resources to Lola’s Foundation ‘’You Are Not Alone” which supports orphaned and abandoned children to have a better quality of life and a better future.
By providing financial help to low-income families and orphans in her native Uzbekistan, the foundation enabled them to have life-saving operations they couldn’t even dream of paying for themselves.
Timur quietly supported his wife’s passion project from the sidelines.
He said: “for the past two decades my wife and I have been involved in various charity projects in Uzbekistan and internationally to support the vulnerable and to support initiatives that helped people.”
One beneficiary of the Foundation’s support has been Umida Abidjanova.
She has been able to walk again after losing the use of her legs when she was six weeks old.
She was born with a spinal hernia, and a failed operation meant she couldn’t learn to walk.
As a young girl, she got severely burned when she was sitting next to an electric fire because she had no feeling in her legs.
Umida met Lola at a concert to mark the International Children’s Day in June 2015.
She said: “Lola asked me what I dreamt of, and I said I dreamt of being cured and starting to walk.”
Over the last five years, Umida has gone through
five complex spine operations in Duisburg and Hattingen, as well as three months of intense rehab.
She said: “Only I know how I felt when I stood up for the first time. Words cannot express it. I was so happy I could get out of the chair and walk.”
Lola and Timur Tillyaev have also handed out scholarships and grants to students to study at universities in Europe.
Fields include Energy and Nuclear Engineering, Architecture, and Painting.
Now the couple are supporting the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital.
Timur sits on the board and is delighted to be supporting the work they have been doing, specifically in recent months.
He added: “I believe that by giving our children the best opportunities we are investing in a better world.
“Most of our past philanthropic activities focused on children: their health, education and professional opportunities in life.
“We support children’s hospitals in the USA and Uzbekistan, provide scholarships for children from Uzbekistan to study in Europe.”
Johnese Spisso, MPA, President of UCLA Health and CEO of the UCLA Hospital System, said: “Tim’s dedication to improving the health of children globally is truly admirable, and we are grateful to have his leadership, active participation, and philanthropic support.”
“The philanthropic support of Lola and Timur Tillyaev has greatly helped UCLA Health at critical moments such as early in the COVID-19 pandemic,” Johnese added.
As valued members of the UCLA family, they stepped in to help us in a moment of uncertainty. For that, I am deeply grateful.”
