Deputy CEO of holding: Azerbaijan has innovative potential, but it is held back by organizational barriers

The local culture in Azerbaijan is quite innovative - people have a lot of ideas and a desire to implement them, but internal organizational barriers often stand in the way, Bir Ecosystem CEO, chairman of the Supervisory Board of Kapital Bank OJSC, member of the Supervisory Board of PASHA Technology LLC and Deputy CEO of PASHA Holding Farid Mammadov said at the AmCham Lead x Talks session, Report informs.

“We see from our own experience: employees within the holding are full of initiatives, they want to share ideas and develop them. But what is stopping them? It is not the lack of creativity, but organizational limitations - processes, KPIs, regulations and that very “organizational inertia.”

Fear and resistance are born not because of people, but because of the structure, the logic of corporate governance,” he noted. According to Mammadov, specific steps are being taken within the holding to change this environment.

“We have identified innovation not just as a value, but as a separate strategic direction. Platforms have been created where employees can offer ideas, receive feedback and real resources for their implementation, including financial ones. We recently opened Future Lab, a special space where companies can work differently: according to the principles of design thinking, in a more flexible and open way,” he said.

In addition, the approach to internal processes, including budgeting and procurement, has been revised.

“Every business has a budget that is not based on KPIs. Even if it is spent without results, this is not considered a failure. We are not talking about thousands, but sometimes millions. We have also adapted procurement procedures - standard processes designed for organizations with thousands of employees are not suitable for quickly testing ideas. I do not believe that customers are not ready for innovation. They want better service - and if you provide it through innovation, they will accept it,” Mammadov added.