Azerbaijan has become the first country in the South Caucasus to successfully build a comprehensive digital ecosystem centered around financial services, Farid Mammadov, CEO of Bir Ecosystem, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Kapital Bank, member of the Supervisory Board of PASHA Technology LLC, and Deputy CEO of PASHA Holding, said during the AmCham Lead x Talks session, according to EDnews.

“Starting around 2018–2019, analytical reports including those from McKinsey began clearly stating: 'Those who don’t become an ecosystem will disappear.' That was a turning point for many companies, but only a few have succeeded in implementing the ecosystem model. And examples built specifically around financial services are especially rare,” he said.

Mammadov pointed to Kaspi.kz in Kazakhstan as the most well-known and resilient example:

"They created a dual ecosystem on one side, B2C services, and on the other, infrastructure for merchants. Uzum in Uzbekistan took a different route via e-commerce and marketplace. We maintain close ties with them and regularly exchange experiences. In fact, Kapital Bank is part of their ecosystem too. In Russia, the most prominent examples are popular and personally, I think it has the more sustainable model.”

He also highlighted the scarcity of such examples in neighboring countries:

"Kazakhstan has one. But in the South Caucasus, we were the first. TBC Bank in Georgia has made attempts, but they don’t position themselves as an ecosystem. We, however, built our business from the start as an ecosystem with finance at its core. Why finance? Because it’s a natural point of entry: nearly every citizen in Azerbaijan either has an account with Kapital Bank or has a close family member who does."

Mammadov emphasized that the registered user base is roughly equal to the working-age population of Azerbaijan, and about 70% of the population are active users that is, people who regularly engage with services within the ecosystem.

Madina Mammadova\\EDnews