Yakup Doğan, Assistant General Manager responsible for Limitless Banking at Yapı Kredi, reflects on the Turkish bank's victory at the Qorus Reinvention Awards Europe 2024. Yapı Kredi won gold in the Customer Experience category thanks to its My World Super App (read the full case study).
Can you introduce yourself and tell us more about your role at Yapi Kredi?
Hi, I am Yakup Doğan, Assistant General Manager responsible for Limitless Banking (ADC) at Yapı Kredi. I have been working in the fields of direct banking, digital transformation and payment systems. Innovation has always been a passion for me and I have been contributing to innovative works that transform the banking sector and create new business models in digital areas. My role involves developing Yapı Kredi's digital banking strategies, strengthening our digital channels with innovative services, and providing our customers with a high-quality digital experience. As part of my duties, I closely follow the fintech ecosystem, analyze new technologies and trends, and focus on contributing to our bank's digital transformation. Additionally, we run various programs and collaborations to promote innovation and support the entrepreneurial ecosystem. I am committed to reinforcing Yapı Kredi's pioneering position in digital banking and delivering the best digital experience to our customers.
What made you most proud of the My World Super App project? What was your greatest achievement in making it happen?
In our My World Super App project, we provide our customers with a comprehensive set of experiences and services beyond just financial solutions. When launching this project, our goal was to merge financial and non-financial needs on a single platform with a customer-centric approach. Our top priority was to facilitate our customers' daily lives and offer them a unique experience with our solutions. As we have continuously improved the My World platform based on customer feedback, it has become a mobile app that simplifies our customers' financial needs and allows them to use their time more efficiently. The platform's positive reception and its beneficial impact on our customers' lives have been a great source of pride for us.
One of our greatest achievements for this project was adopting the principle of open innovation and supporting the entrepreneurial ecosystem. By positioning Yapı Kredi Mobile as an ‘open platform’, we have facilitated the integration of various initiatives and solutions. By collaborating with third-party platforms, we integrated their services into Yapı Kredi Mobile and offered startups a new market for their products and services. This positioned Yapı Kredi not only as a payment provider but also as a ‘Collaboration Hub’ for third parties, including startups. As the first to embrace the super app trend in the banking sector in Türkiye, we paved the way for the industry, and other banks began offering similar solutions to their customers after us.
Additionally, as Yapı Kredi, we support the entrepreneurial ecosystem and promote a culture of innovation through our FRWRD brand. Through our local and global startup acceleration programs, continuously organized in our strategic focus areas, we address significant needs in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Under our FRWRD collaboration program, we accelerate the collaboration processes with startups, ensuring that the latest technologies and solutions reach our customers, and contribute to the development of the solutions offered by startups with our expertise. With our entrepreneurial spirit and innovative perspective, which are among the most important links in our value chain, we will continue to support and develop the ecosystem within frameworks of mutual benefit and collaboration.
What’s the most important thing you would tell someone considering embarking on a similar project?
We would primarily advise focusing on a customer-centric approach and a seamless user experience. Before starting the project, it is crucial to understand the target audience really well, identify their needs, and develop solutions that address those needs. Additionally, embracing a culture of open innovation and collaboration can enhance the project's success. Entrepreneurs should always be open to feedback, continuously improving the project to maximize customer satisfaction and experience. Therefore, it is essential to pay attention to these points.
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What’s coming next for the My World project?
In the upcoming period, we plan to further expand My World by establishing new collaborations and continuously enhancing the customer experience. By considering our customers' feedback, we will constantly develop the platform to meet changing needs and expectations, adding new features and mini apps that provide even more benefits. Furthermore, we have new projects and collaborations in our plans to support entrepreneurs and strengthen the innovation ecosystem.
What would you say to companies that might consider entering the 2024 Banking/Insurance Innovation Awards?
I think it is crucial for companies to ensure that their projects address a real need and add value to their users. Additionally, I believe the companies can achieve success through collaborations and an open innovation approach when their projects are innovative and user-focused.
What does this award mean to you and your innovation team?
This award has been a great source of pride for us. Every award we receive shows that our efforts and innovations are appreciated, providing us with inspiration and motivation to always do better in our future projects. We will continue to work even harder to always offer the best experiences to our customers and continually improve our financial services. As Yapı Kredi, winning the gold award in the Customer Experience category at the Qorus Awards also encourages us to contribute to the innovation ecosystem and maintain our leadership in the sector.
With Yapı Kredi FRWRD, we continue to support the entrepreneurial ecosystem and foster a culture of innovation. We recognize the importance of mentorship and networking for startups. Therefore, in our FRWRD programs, we have worked with over 30 local and global partners, and more than 60 mentors so far.
Yapı Kredi FRWRD's strong network, continuous startup scouting, local and global acceleration programs, and other initiatives that deepen engagement in the ecosystem help uncover high-potential investment opportunities for our startups.
In 2023, we launched an acceleration program aimed at startups developing products and services for SMEs. Fifteen startups were selected to participate in the Yapı Kredi Fast FRWRD Acceleration Program, the first acceleration program of 2023, which aims to contribute to SMEs and touch their lives with innovation.
Finally, we completed Yapı Kredi FRWRD Global, the most comprehensive program of the year with the strongest partners. Supported by KOSGEB (Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization of Türkiye) and lasting 10 weeks, this unique program provided 10 AI startups with opportunities to showcase themselves, grow, expand their networks, enter global markets, and attend Slush in Estonia and Finland. The program, which we ran end-to-end, concluded with a Demo Day in Estonia. To date, our program's startups have secured over US$3 million in total investments.
Nowadays, startups can access many training resources online or in-person from various places. At this point, we assess the real needs of startups and continuously develop our FRWRD programs with agile structures accordingly. This year, targeting this goal, we introduced a new structure to our startups with the FRWRD Collaboration Program.
