VEON Works to Bridge the Digital Divide: Joint Leaders Sergi Herrero and Kaan Terzioğlu Present the Approach

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Sergi Herrero and Kaan Terzioğlu

There may be typically fact in previous adages. “Two heads are higher than one” is well-known knowledge — but it surely has hardly ever been utilized to company management. There are solely a handful of examples of corporations with two CEOs. VEON, a world telecoms and digital companies supplier headquartered in Amsterdam, is a profitable addition to the record with Kaan Terzioğlu and Sergi Herrero as its co-CEOs.

This management pair is defining the following development part of the enterprise, bringing a wealth of complementary abilities and expertise to the combo.

Herrero hails from Fb, the place he served as the corporate’s International Director of Funds and Commerce. At Fb he oversaw the launch and development of funds and commerce ecosystems for Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. He additionally led the deployment of Charitable Giving and was instrumental in scaling the Fb Advertisements funds enterprise and the broader growth of the platform’s world market.

Herrero joined VEON in September 2019 to run the brand new VEON Ventures division, which is main the corporate’s development ambitions past conventional telecoms, with a concentrate on digital merchandise in adjoining markets like content material, AdTech and monetary companies. His experience in digital funds made him an ideal match for the brand new division and, later, a super associate for Terzioğlu.

Terzioğlu joined VEON with a monitor document in efficiently remodeling telecommunication corporations into digital operators. He’s a passionate believer within the want for the telecoms business to reinvent itself by placing altering buyer wants at its core. At VEON, this implies encouraging native management groups to ship 4G companies that rework buyer experiences to match linked life.

Terzioğlu’s 30 years of expertise in telecoms and expertise contains world management roles at Arthur Anderson and Cisco, in addition to 4 years because the CEO of Turkcell, throughout which he was acknowledged for his “Excellent Contribution to the Cellular Business” by the GSMA, the cellular business’s main world group, which he presently serves as a Board member.

Herrero and Terzioğlu had been appointed as VEON’s co-COOs in November 2019 and confirmed as co-CEOs simply 4 months later. Each are decided to proceed the corporate’s evolution from conventional telecoms to a supplier of connectivity companies designed round a superior buyer expertise.

“As telecommunications corporations, now we have large sources at our disposal to satisfy the altering wants of our clients” Terzioğlu explains. “It isn’t nearly offering minutes and gigabytes to the end-user. It’s about altering the character of their relationship with their operators, not least in rising economies the place our means to advertise digital inclusion and particular person empowerment brings with it huge social and financial alternative.”

Nowhere was this relationship extra evident than within the function VEON performed through the early levels of COVID-19. VEON’s working corporations not solely offered emergency connectivity within the fast aftermath of the outbreak, however sustained livelihoods and life all through by offering important companies for residence working, on-line schooling and e-commerce.

“Ours is a digital companies firm constructed across the aggressive benefit of enormous, regulated connectivity networks in a number of markets,” Herrero explains. “To achieve success we should hearken to our clients — to what they like, dislike and what they lack — and develop the merchandise and sources to match. Comply with that rule and there ought to all the time be an viewers for our companies.”

The corporate has already claimed a big viewers, with greater than 200 million clients throughout 9 markets, spanning three continents. It is without doubt one of the world’s greatest cellular operators, boasting community protection over 10% of the world’s inhabitants. This footprint is predicted to increase additional over the approaching years as VEON accelerates the roll-out of 4G networks throughout nations that rank amongst the world’s fastest-growing in smartphone penetration and digital adoption.

Digital monetary companies signify an instantaneous development alternative for VEON the place its plans are already nicely superior. “VEON operates in a few of the world’s most unbanked nations. In half our markets, greater than 50 % of the grownup inhabitants has no checking account. Pakistan tops this record, with round 80 % of males and near 95 % of ladies with out primary banking entry,” Herrero mentioned. “Bridging this hole by providing entry to monetary companies via a cell phone goes past the comfort profit and has the potential to alter individuals’s social and monetary circumstances profoundly.”

And with that comes the chance to unlock worth in lots of areas of the financial system, in addition to to spice up sustainability and truthful entry to sources.

“The applied sciences that now we have at this time may be extraordinarily highly effective instruments to stage and elevate the enjoying subject” Terzioğlu insists. “Alternatives to shut the digital hole, to offer custom-made companies to teams with particular wants, in addition to to enhance the effectivity of industries various from agriculture to manufacturing, are large once we spend money on connectivity and digital companies with the best mindset. We not solely have the chance, but in addition the duty to be a constructive drive for innovation and betterment in an period of unprecedented technological and social change.”