At a recent meeting of the Rostov Region’s Council of IT System Designers, attended by the Russian Minister for Communications and Mass Media, Center-invest Bank spoke about the region’s achievements in developing enterprise and payments in the digital economy.

During a working visit to the Rostov region, the Russian Minister for Communications and Mass Media, Nikolai Nikiforov, met with IT start-ups at the Southern Technology Park and attended a meeting of the Rostov Region’s Council of IT System Designers.

The Council of IT System Designers, set up by the Rostov Region’s Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications in 2012, brings together major employers in the field of IT, leading universities and telecomms operators. Center-invest Bank’s Director of Innovation, Yuri Bogdanov, has been a member of the Council since its inception.

Mr Bogdanov spoke about Center-invest Bank’s experience of providing online training in financial literacy for young people. The bank’s "Enterprise for All" training portal provides open and free access to online training in the basics of entrepreneurship and taxation, including video lectures and masterclasses. To date, 28,400 people have registered on the portal and 11,800 people have already completed the course.

Center-invest Bank was one of the first banks in Russia to finance new entrepreneurs. We provide start-up projects, including IT and fintech projects, with preferential loans, free advice on business planning, and mentoring. To date, we have lent a total of RUB675m to 577 start-ups.

We have been a strategic partner for hackathons in southern Russia since the first one was held in 2013. This is in line with our strategic objective of developing southern Russia’s ecosystem by using its scientific and technological capacity and engaging creative young people.

Having heard from a number of start-up projects and members of the Council of IT System Designers, Mr Nikiforov praised the Rostov region for its high skill level and readiness to fight for leadership in the digital economy. Rostov-on-Don could become one of 50 "smart Russian cities" offering residents a safe and innovative environment, based on cutting edge technologies.