Intrapreneurship Hub

EFES KZ INTRAPRENEURSHIP HUB - CORPORATE INTRAPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM LAUNCHED MAY 11, 2023 

Discovery Bootcamp/Acceleration Program in EFES KZ Intrapreneurship Hub

On May 11, EFES Kazakhstan launched Corporate Intrapreneurship Program to nurture innovation & entrepreneurship and start mindset shift within the corporation. This is a program where employees are offered to experience entrepreneurship journey as so-called intrapreneurs, while remaining working within the company.

EFES Kazakhstan initiated the Corporate Intrapreneurship Program on May 11 with the aim of fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, and initiating a mindset shift within the organization. This program provides employees with the opportunity to embark on an entrepreneurial journey as "intrapreneurs" while continuing to work within the company.

This year, participants were asked to come up with project ideas in three priority areas:

• Green Transition

• Beyond Beer

• Smart Digital Solutions

In a span of two weeks, the program received 61 applications from employees. Consequently, 8 of the most potential ideas were chosen, and their respective teams underwent an acceleration program where they validated their ideas alongside guidance from mentors and experts. Each of the eight teams participated in the Discovery Bootcamp and had the opportunity to present their pitches before the Innovation Board, which comprised top management and representatives of Anadolu Efes. The event took place at the Barvikha Bar in Almaty.

These are the ideas that the juries have chosen for pitching:

1. Cosmetics & Personal Care Products Out of Beer Waste. Team: Philip Stepanov, Dinara Tajikulova, Gaukhar Seiilova.

2. 1Hub: Meeting point for talented people. Team: Svetlana Chvanova, Oxana Timofeyeva.

3. Mobile Street Food Outlets. Team: Anastasiya Skoptsova, Yalkunzhan Mukhtarov, Aigul Rahimbekova.

4. Online Subscription for Efes KZ Beer Delivery. Team: Alisher Gubaidullin, Aizhan Sadyk, Eliza Konussova, Murzakhan Shurayev.

5. Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles. Team: Anastasia Beize, Gaukhar Omirbek, Svetlana Davydenko.

6. Smart App Tracking Products Leftovers at Sales Point. Team: Dana Nuradil, Diana Ismailova, Madi Matanbai, Akzira Manasheva.

7. Digital Cooler. Team: Ali Sadykov, Darkhan Omarov, Alina Kondrashina, Farmuda Khalissova.

8. Non-alcoholic Beer with Probiotics. Team: Aliya Tapenova, Ksenia Sikorskaya, Dina Teleuova.

The pitches of the participants were assessed by a panel of judges, including Ertan Kurt, the General Director; Tuba Gökcan, the Director of Strategy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship at Anadolu Efes; Jason Lau, a Partner at CORE Strategy; Chingiz Kaskeyev, the Director of Government Relations and Corporate Relations; Fedai Coskun, the Technical Director; Fatih Teksal, the HR Director; Metin Ekinci, the Financial Director, and Ozgur Bağirgan, the Sales Director.

Three projects emerged as winners during the Discovery Bootcamp Demo Day and advanced to a three-month incubation phase. In this stage, each team will receive a budget to implement and develop their ideas further:

1. 1Hub: Meeting point for talented people

2. Complete line for processing beer stillage into dry distillery stillage with soluble substances

3. An application for tracking product balances at points of sale.

INCUBATION PHASE AT EFES KZ INTRAPRENEURSHIP HUB

After the Acceleration 3 teams underwent the Incubation phase at the EFES KZ Intrapreneurship Hub, which ran from July to October, where projects were able to develop their business and financial models, turn their ideas into MVPs, attract customers and make their first sales.

As a result of the Incubation program, the Vita Group team acquired 14 farmer clients and 3 dealers. The project is processing raw stillage and the team consists of 4 people: Anastasiya Beize, Svetlana Davydenko, Gauhar Omirbek and Filipp Stepanov. During the pilot, the team managed to earn 4.1 million tenge, where the net profit was about 480 thousand tenge. 10 tons of dry stillage and 16 tons of feed were sold, and 14 farmers and 3 dealers who sell the products became their clients. The team was able to determine its competitive advantage - delivery; also, under annual contracts, the team is ready to store feed in its warehouses and deliver it to customers as needed.

At the commercialization stage, the team plans to search for equipment, as well as collaborate with the Feed Hub company, which produces unique feed formulations for different types of animals.

The Aluan project, led by Dana Nuradil, Ali Sadykov, and Aliya Tapenova, is in the process of developing the Aluan application, designed to monitor store goods' inventory. Addressing three key challenges—lack of real-time data, warehouse shortages, and long-term consumer loss—the application is particularly relevant for large FMCG companies grappling with similar issues. With over 100 thousand retail outlets in Kazakhstan, where sales representatives typically visit no more than twice a week, the Aluan app transforms any user into a virtual sales representative. By allowing users to capture and send photos of refrigerators or shelves with products, the pilot phase successfully attracted 100 daily photo contributors and a total of 350 users. The primary user demographics comprised students and housewives. During the pilot, Aluan effectively covered over 1 thousand retail outlets, offering a cost-effective solution that is ten times cheaper than deploying on-site staff. For the average B2B company with 20 thousand retail locations requiring three visits per week, this translates to a cost of approximately 70 cents per outlet, while users receive 150 tenge per outlet.

The third 1HUB project, founded by Svetlana Chvanova and Oxana Timofeyeva, offers to transform pubs and restaurants, where there are free places during the day, into a network of workspaces for freelancers and people working remotely. Instead of buying or renting a space, you can purchase a subscription, which gives you the opportunity to choose a new space for yourself every day. This will enable businesses to save about 17% of their traditional costs. In this case, there is no need to pay for rent, staff salaries, utilities, decoration and furniture - these financial obligations lie with the owners of the establishments. Similar formats are already common in the USA, Japan and European countries, where they demonstrate excellent economic efficiency. During incubation, the team attracted 6 paying clients and 70 applications for the purchase of a subscription, partnered with 4 establishments and is actively moving towards working with B2B. This product can be a solution for many organizations that are growing their staff, but do not want to expand their office space. The founders began holding master classes for businesses and startups, where they talked about the benefits of their solution. One of them attracted more than 20 people. Plus, the team plans to work with bloggers and use more targeting

As a result of the Incubation Demo Day on November 8, 2023, two projects 1HUB and Vita Group were selected by the Investment Committee to the next Commercialization stage and received investments from EFES Kazakhstan for further development. Once Commercialization is completed, the Investment Committee will decide whether these internal startups will leave the company through a spin-off or a new internal department will be created.

It is worth noting that EFES KZ Intrapreneurship Hub is the first Corporate Entrepreneurship Program rolled out first in Kazakhstan as the first operation country with a record number of applications for participation and a high level of involvement.