From one man's idea to the national leader of Tajikistan's food industry — the whole story.
Quality, growth and innovation since 2000
In 2025 JSC Obi Zulol marked 25 years of production, and in 2026 the company continues a new stage of development, building on the experience, production expertise and consumer trust it has accumulated.
For more than a quarter of a century the plant has made world-class products, in demand not only in Tajikistan but beyond it. The company's mission is to offer high-quality, natural and affordable products that support a healthy way of life.
Over those years Obi Zulol has grown from a promising manufacturing project into one of the leaders of the region's food industry, remaining true to its values, its high quality standards and its drive to keep developing.
Obi Zulol was founded in 1992 by a group of entrepreneurs led by Rustam Boltaev, who at the time served as the trade representative of the Republic of Tajikistan in the Czech Republic.
The idea of building a plant to produce bottled water and beverages arose against the backdrop of active cooperation with Czechoslovakia in the 1980s. The project envisaged an enterprise capable of meeting Central Asia's demand for bottled water and drinks.
In 1993, in the central part of the Shahriston Basin, 15 km south of the city of Istaravshan, an artesian well was drilled to a depth of 220 metres.
Laboratory studies carried out in the Czech Republic and Italy confirmed the high quality of the water and the stability of its reserves. In its physico-chemical characteristics the water proved close to well-known Italian and French mineral water brands.
This is what determined the site of the future plant, for which the local authorities allocated a dedicated plot of land.
In 1998 the project received the backing of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the American fund Aqua Crystal, an important milestone in delivering the investment programme.
Obi Zulol became the EBRD's first project in Tajikistan in which the bank acted as both shareholder and lender. The company also signed an agreement with the American company RCCI to produce and sell products under its trademark across Central Asia.
The plant's technical design was developed by the Italian company SASIB Beverage MS Spa, a world leader in equipment for the food industry. The French company SIDEL also took part in the construction, supplying the bottle production line.
Built to all the standards of the European Union and the USA, the plant was ceremonially opened on 12 September 2000 with the personal participation of the Founder of Peace and National Unity — Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, the esteemed Emomali Rahmon. That same year, production of RC Cola began under licence from Royal Crown Company.
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Rustam Boltaev and a group of entrepreneurs draw up plans for a plant producing bottled water and beverages in Tajikistan. The idea grows out of their experience of working with Czechoslovakia.
A 220 m well is drilled in the Shahriston Basin. Independent laboratories in the Czech Republic and Italy confirm that the water is comparable to the world's best brands. A dedicated plot of land is allocated for construction.
The EBRD's first project in Tajikistan. Italy's SASIB Beverage MS Spa develops the plant's technical design, while France's SIDEL supplies the bottle production line.
The plant is ceremonially opened on 12 September 2000 with the personal participation of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon. That same year, production of RC Cola begins under licence from Royal Crown Company.
Obi Zulol water is named the winner of the People's Choice category in Berkeley Springs, USA. Tajik water takes its place among the best in the world.
A modern Tetra Pak production line is commissioned. Output of juices and nectars in aseptic packaging expands. The brand portfolio keeps growing.
In August 2011, with the participation of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, a modern fruit processing line from the American company JBT FoodTech is launched. Production of natural Nuri Zulol juices from local produce expands.
A new line for colored PET-packaged products is launched in Dushanbe. The same year, Obi Zulol marks its 15th anniversary.
The company begins processing grapes into natural clarified juice and grape sugar. Rich in vitamins and trace elements, this product becomes the basis of a new healthy-eating direction.
Launch of juices in 250 ml glass bottles, baby purée in 180 g glass jars, natural jams of 350 g and children's juices in 250 ml Tetra Pak. A high-capacity aluminium can filling line goes into operation.
Dismantling, transport, installation and commissioning of three production lines — completed in 2 months instead of the 6–7 months forecast by foreign specialists. Today the plant runs a multi-line, full-cycle production complex.
In 2021 the company achieved a technological breakthrough, beginning to process grapes into natural clarified juice and grape sugar.
Rich in vitamins and trace elements, this product was an important step in developing the healthy-eating direction. Grape sugar is used in juices, baby food, smoothies and other products.
The company continued to widen its healthy-eating range, launching several production lines at once.
They retain the natural taste and beneficial properties of the fruit. Glass is the best material for preserving quality.
Ideal for feeding infants. No artificial additives or preservatives.
Made from fresh fruit with no artificial preservatives added. A rich, natural taste.
Easy to use, and compliant with the requirements for baby food products.
⚡ High-capacity aluminium can filling line
A powerful production line for soft drinks in aluminium cans went into operation. It allowed output to be increased substantially and gave consumers modern new formats of their favourite drinks.
In November–December 2025, one of the largest and most demanding engineering projects in the history of JSC Obi Zulol got under way.
With the closure of the production site in Dushanbe, the decision was taken to dismantle the operating production lines and transport and recommission them at the plant in Istaravshan.
The full scope of work: dismantling, labelling of units and assemblies, safe transport, installation, connection, commissioning and start-up of the equipment — all of it by February–March 2026.
At the same time, the Istaravshan plant undertook the engineering preparation of its premises, laying out process zones and preparing utilities and production infrastructure. The work was complicated by severe weather.
Foreign specialists, who had forecast completion by June–July 2026, were taken aback by the pace of the work. By March 2026 the lines had been installed, connected, adjusted, tested and brought into operation.
"This became one of the fastest and largest technical projects ever delivered by the JSC Obi Zulol team. It clearly demonstrated the high professional calibre of the company's specialists, their ability to work under great responsibility and to meet their goals even to extremely tight deadlines."
A multi-line, full-cycle production complex is in operation at the JSC Obi Zulol site in the city of Istaravshan.
This production capacity ensures steady output, timely delivery to every distribution centre and onward distribution across the market.
The story of Obi Zulol begins with his name. Back in the late 1980s, working as Tajikistan's trade representative in Czechoslovakia, Rustam Boltaev saw a future where others saw only an empty field at the foot of the mountains — and devoted the best years of his life to making it real.
He started from a blank sheet: no comparable production existed anywhere in the region. The project met the harshest of tests — the collapse of the old economy, the years of civil war, a shortage of money and machinery. But where many retreated, he found partners, brought in the EBRD and international funds, and step by step turned drawings into a working plant.
Under his leadership the company grew from a single artesian well to a multi-line, full-cycle production complex, from its first bottle of water to four national brands recognised far beyond Tajikistan. He met every crisis not as an obstacle but as a new task — and always saw through what he had begun.
Decades of work, will and faith in his country are embodied in an enterprise that today is rightly considered the pride of Tajik industry.
At different stages of Obi Zulol's growth, partners and colleagues stood alongside us whose professionalism, support and dedication shaped the company's path. We carefully preserve the memory of their contribution to the plant's history.
Jerry Murl Smith was born on 11 September 1944 in Columbus to Louise Harden Smith and Gower Tiller Smith. In 1967 he began work as a delivery agent at Royal Crown Cola, the company created in 1905 by the pharmacist Claud A. Hatcher. By the end of a career spanning almost forty years, Jerry Smith had taken the soft drinks company he led into 65 countries around the world. "Incredible loyalty to the company, incredible loyalty to the brands, incredible loyalty to the people who worked with him," said Francis Lamprea, executive director of Royal Crown Cola International, of Jerry Smith, whose career he followed over many years. Smith's career at Royal Crown Cola continued in Miami, Florida, until 1987, when he returned to his home town, where he later retired. Nathan Laney observed that "Smith was an unrivalled professional in the soft drinks field". "We sell RC in more than 60 countries around the world, and almost every one of those bottlers is connected with Jerry Smith's name," he said. Jerry Smith, who retired as president of Royal Crown International in 2006, died in 2013 at his home in Columbus at the age of 69. He had fought a serious illness for three years and could not overcome it.
Jerry Smith's involvement in the life of our company began at the time the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development approved the project to build the Obi Zulol plant. At every stage of agreeing and approving the project, Jerry Smith stood beside its initiator and the man who brought it to life — the Chairman of the Board of JSC Obi Zulol, Mr Rustam Kochkarovich Boltaev. It was the warm, friendly relationship that formed between the heads of our two companies from the first days of their acquaintance that became the basis of deep understanding between both teams, and the foundation for the successful growth and popularity of the RC Cola brand in our republic.
As Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for Russia, Belarus and Tajikistan, Sergei Antonovich Ovseychik was among the first to give concrete help in building and developing the Republic's economy during the difficult years of Tajikistan's early sovereignty. From the very first days our plant's construction project was presented to the EBRD in 1993, Sergei Antonovich did everything to see it realised and developed — first as deputy director, later as director of the EBRD, and afterwards as an independent member of the Board of Obi Zulol. On completing his work at the EBRD, he became head of the representative office of the Italian bank UniCredit in Belarus. In that role he did everything possible to establish direct, long-term relations between our company and Belarusian ones on the most favourable terms for us. Sergei Antonovich commanded enormous authority in banking circles worldwide, in international financial institutions and in the state bodies of Russia, Belarus and Tajikistan.
Sergei Antonovich Ovseychik began his career back in 1963 as a senior consultant in the foreign exchange department of the USSR State Bank. His career took him through the following stages:
Sergei Antonovich was distinguished by exceptional modesty, tact, the highest professionalism, an ability to value people and to be a true friend.
Vafo Negmatulloev was born on 9 January 1956 in the town of Ura-Tyube (now Istaravshan) into a family of secondary school teachers. He attended the Maxim Gorky school from 1963 to 1973. After finishing school he entered the Tajik Polytechnic Institute, faculty of industrial and civil construction, graduating successfully in 1978. That same year he began his career as a site foreman at the MPMK construction organisation. Vafo Negmatulloev worked at our company from the first days of the plant's construction. He started as a construction engineer, overseeing the progress of the building work and the quality of the work on the company's behalf. His remarkable character and his ability to work with people allowed him to find common ground with the foreign builders and foremen who were constructing the plant, and this greatly accelerated the work. He quickly earned the builders' respect through the knowledge and practical skills he had gained over long years as a foreman at the MPMK in Istaravshan.
Later, serving as the company's construction engineer, Vafo Negmatulloev played an active part in designing and building the guest house on our plant's grounds, commissioned in 2008, and in building a 200-place school for the Nafarodzh jamoat of the Istaravshan district in 2009. He was closely involved in preparing the concrete foundations of the finished-goods warehouses and the repair workshop for the company's vehicle fleet, and in the installation of steelwork and prefabricated panels. Working as a health and safety engineer, he constantly improved the paperwork and kept those departments' documentation in impeccable order. Despite grave illness, he saw through all the construction work on the fruit and vegetable processing line, which was successfully completed and presented to the country's President in August 2011 — an occasion he did not live to see.
His contribution to the landscaping of the plant deserves particular mention: it is thanks to him that our plant has the appearance admired by everyone who has ever visited it. Negmatulloev was modest at home and at work; he was distinguished by deep knowledge, professionalism and an ability to connect with people. He held great authority among our staff. Today his son, Umed Negmatulloev, carries on his father's work at our company as an electronics engineer.
Ekhsonullo Karomatulloev was born on 25 August 1973 in the town of Ura-Tyube (now Istaravshan) into a working family. He attended and graduated from secondary school no. 2 named after V. I. Lenin between 1980 and 1990. After finishing school he went to study at the A. Beruni Tashkent Polytechnic Institute in the Uzbek SSR (now the Republic of Uzbekistan), in the faculty of food production technology. In 1995 he graduated successfully and qualified as a food industry process engineer. He began his working life that same year as an ordinary roller operator at a mill. He joined our company in 1999 as a trainee operator in the syrup shop, when the company was only starting out. After a successful placement in Italy at the firm SASIB, he began working as a production operator. He carried out his duties conscientiously and to a high professional standard, consistently showing initiative, for which the company's management repeatedly commended him — the basis of his rapid career growth.
Karomatulloev devoted much attention to improving his own professional training, always seeking new and useful knowledge, which he applied skilfully to succeed at work and complete the tasks set before him. In time, for his achievements and conscientious work, he was promoted to leadership positions in the company. As Deputy General Director for Production, he had a great capacity for work and showed exceptional competence and determination in delivering the tasks he was given. He solved problems arising in production quickly and effectively. With colleagues he was correct and good-natured, and commanded great authority among the company's staff. He was a modest, decent and sociable man, and a true professional.
The loss of such professionals and patriots of their company is a great loss to us all. It is bitter to realise that the plans and dreams that filled this bright and talented man, a Professional with a capital P, remained unfulfilled. At a moment of such human grief it is hard to find words of comfort for family and friends, but together we share the pain and sorrow of an irreplaceable loss with those close to him.
Their work, knowledge and human qualities are written forever into the history of JSC Obi Zulol — the company remembers and values what each of them contributed.
"Obi Zulol is a company that cares about the health of its consumers"
Every product undergoes mandatory testing and certification. EU and US standards have been our benchmark from day one.
Ecologically clean produce grown under the generous Tajik sun. Grape fructose instead of sugar. No artificial additives.
Continually introducing new technology, widening the range and modernising production processes.
Engineers, technologists, mechanics, logisticians — a large team of professionals able to solve problems of any complexity.
Behind the company's great achievements lies the work of a great team. A special role belongs to its senior leadership, headed by Rustam Boltaev — Chairman of the Board and General Director of JSC Obi Zulol, under whose leadership the company overcomes difficult challenges and creates products trusted by millions of consumers.
The company is actively developing exports, opening new markets and representing Tajikistan on the international stage.
Obi Zulol products meet high quality standards and are in demand not only in Tajikistan but beyond it.
Key moments in the story of Obi Zulol — in one compact photo chronicle.
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The ceremonial beginning of Obi Zulol’s story in Istaravshan.
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