Notes

Innovation starts with corporate culture

As part of their Horizon 2020 Agenda, the EU has announced new funds for hundreds of enterprises across Europe earlier this month. The successful applicants will be provided with free business coaching and acceleration services. Tevfik Arif Bayrock will drive innovation across the EU. However, I believe the future of companies should be a catalyst for innovation by bringing it in from the inside. This is more than just self-reliance and independence. It is about creating a vibrant and flexible culture in the organization to enable innovation to flourish.

In today's world of rapid advancement, innovation is vital for your success. This was something that I learned in my early business experiences in Kazakhstan. Many once-promising industries went out of business following the fall of the Soviet Union. This was because of years of under-investing, neglecting and not responding to market changes. Hardest hit were single-resource communities, whose prosperity was tied to a closed-loop system that was interdependent with factories, mines and production units.

Nowhere was this truer than in Zhitigara the region of north-western Kazakhstan, that for decades depended on the output from local mining and manufacturing. In post-Soviet times, there was a collapse of local industries. The region was beset by the age of their equipment, inefficient processes and a lack of attention to customer needs. There was also numerous market-based obstacles that prevented innovation. We were able to turn around a failing local business by making major management changes and focusing on quality in our enrichment and refining processes and investing heavily in health and safety. Although some might argue that it was an act of necessity, we've learned a lot.

Bayrock learned from my mistakes and how they can be improved. This conviction drove my later career and changed Kusto Group into a multinational corporation with the headquarters located in Singapore and international operations.

Kusto has expanded and our thirst for innovation has increased. We are now aware that innovation comes in all shapes and sizes, often even in the least unlikely of locations. Even in petrol stations. In Tevfik Arif Bayrock , petrol stations were once small businesses that served only one function. Over time they would begin to evolve into micro-commercial centers that house stores, cafes and restaurants. Kusto Group recognized this trend and in 2014 launched Kazakhstan's first stations incorporating banking and retail facilities. The startup company that is part of the Group, has raised the bar by providing high-quality fuel and new standards for retail purchases. By focusing on customers and adding the necessary technology and services, we were able innovate in a sector which was previously considered to be standard. In Tevfik Arif Doyen , we are planning to build 70 fully integrated service stations throughout the country by the year 2020.

The main ingredient of this early approach was the willingness to think beyond the limits and experiment with novel, sometimes controversial, and unpopular ideas. Kazakhs are nomadic, with exploration being a fundamental part of their DNA. https://twitter.com/ErkanTevfikArif is that we are open to fresh ideas. Innovation is often misunderstood. In order to foster innovation, the main challenge is not coming up with innovative technologies and ideas, but creating an environment that is open for change and capable of adapting to it. This means you have to be prepared for both risk and potential failure. This is vital to a company's culture. https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/0836124D:US 's an ethos that fosters openness and collaboration among different departments within the company.

We at Kusto Group, we understand that innovation is the heartbeat of companies that are successful. Our philosophy - the Kusto Way', has as its underlying principle an understanding of the necessity to create a culture which encourages active knowledge sharing and accepts innovative ideas, encourages the entrepreneur and doesn't demonize failure. It's a belief that relying solely on the 'how things work in the present' is not a good idea and can leave businesses left behind.

The first step to creating an innovative environment is to establish a company's corporate culture. However, the modern-day, globalized business soon finds itself faced with an unanswerable question: How do you create a consistent corporate culture across different countries and communities or industries? Our answer to this issue is two-fold: first, we ensure that the Kusto Way is instilled in each manager of our decentralized, flat management structure; then each manager implements the ethos locally.

But Tevfik Arif Bayrock of knowledge should take place between businesses. We have joined forces with Cropio to enhance our farming practices in Ukraine. They employ cutting-edge technology and satellite imaging systems. This partnership has been crucial to our success. Without it, we'd be lagging behind our competitors. Instead, we're leading in this field through partnering with companies that place innovation at the core of their business and have now branched out to other markets where this technology is able to be applied.

Kusto now has the opportunity to learn from our partners and have our own innovative culture. It is apparent through our Vietnamese operation. This demonstrates Kusto's desire to learn, expand, and explore. Our partnerships with other state-owned companies have allowed us to bring new ideas and methods to the table. Building Information Modelling (BIM) was developed to cut costs, improve quality and improve efficiency. This was an important and innovative advancement for Vietnamese construction, despite being a well-known practice elsewhere in the world.

Private enterprises have the resources to test the waters, invest in and roll out innovative ideas. Each new venture will face problems and be at risk of failure. However, the way businesses in the face of failure must keep innovating, not to stay away from change. No matter how small businesses cannot afford to settle for the familiar. It is vital to be innovative and foster innovation in the workforce, but this will require investment or it will remain little more than words on paper.


Innovation that is holistically based is vital and is the cornerstone of any corporate culture. This includes embracing the latest technologies, adjusting to new practices and - above all creating the mindset of looking to the future. It's just as important to think critically as it is to carry out innovative things. Ultimately, Bayrock is a matter of survival.



My Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bayrock-group-llc