Fuad Akhundov - Legacy of Oil Barons (in Russian)

oftentimes barely literate, these first generation local entrepreneurs succeeded in accomplishing a real change by establishing the first secular school for girls and the first European theatre in town, as well as educating a cohort of Azeri intellectuals and erecting an important part of Baku's unique architecture. Wives of the oil barons were oftentimes a driving force behind these developments. The concept of turning the black gold of oil revenues into the gold of human capital, nowadays promoted by the Government of Azerbaijan, maybe, therefore, traced back to the traditions laid by local oil barons over a hundred years ago.