On 8 August the business incubator South IT Park held a demonstration day for potential investors. A total of nine start-up projects were presented to investors, venture funds, and Rostov region government officials. Center-invest Bank was the first to sign an agreement to invest in one of the projects: the “Homie” business messenger project.

“Center-invest Bank believes in this project,” said Yuri Bogdanov, chairman of the bank’s Executive Board. “It is a real marketing and technological innovation. The project developers created Homie, in its current form, with assistance from a team of mentors from South IT Park, and with regard for the methodology of the Internet Initiatives Development Foundation. It is also very significant that the project takes into account the views of experts from the Public Council of the Rostov Region Ministry for Information and Communications. Thanks to this integrated approach, we are confident that the project will achieve its objectives, and we are signing a Cooperation Agreement.”

The cooperation agreement sets out the responsibilities of both parties, the developers and Center-invest Bank, with regard to a new joint project to set up a loyalty programme for people with a Center-invest bank card. Depending on progress in implementation of the agreed measures and positive customer feedback, investment in the project could total RUB3m.

South IT Park provides business start-up support for all of the projects that it oversees: it runs a programme of lectures and practical sessions on market entry, and it provides the advisory, financial and administrative support that projects require if they are to take the market by storm.