Azercell’s Barama Center announces new incubation program

Barama Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center of “Azercell Telecom” LLC is pleased to announce the 3rd Incubation Program specially designed for those who wish to turn their innovative ideas into business.

“Barama Incubation Program 2018” jointly carried out by “Barama” Center and “PASHA” Bank facilitates turning innovative ideas into startups while growing existing startups into successful businesses.

Aimed at development of startups and digital ecosystem in the country, the project provides resident startups with free office support, professional consultation, training programs for the period of 6 months and gives them an opportunity to build strong relations with a professional business network.

To join “Barama Incubation Program 2018”, applicants are required to get registered at www.bit.ly/incubation3 by filling in the online application form in the link “Apply to become a resident”. The deadline for submission of applications is September 5. The selection to the incubation program consists of two stages. In the first stage, the projects submitted for the program will be evaluated by “Barama” Center and selected projects will be invited to the second stage, where the qualified teams will need to pitch their projects with a business plan.

Finally, 5 teams qualified the incubation program will be announced at the end of the selection process. As a result, these teams will get an opportunity to realize their projects at “Barama” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center. At the end of the 6-month incubation program, the best startup will obtain a chance to conclude a contract in the amount of AZN 5,000 with Azercell as a corporate client of the developed product or service, and take part in one of the most famous conferences in technology world - The Next Web Conference to be held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. All expenses will be covered. Please, visit www.barama.az to learn more about the terms and requirements.

The leader of the mobile communication industry, the largest taxpayer and the biggest investor of the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. With 48 percent share of Azerbaijan’s mobile telecom market Azercell’s network covers 80 percent of the territory (excluding 20 percent of the occupied territories) and 99.8 percent of population of the country. Currently, 4.5 million subscribers choose Azercell services.

Azercell has pioneered an important number of innovations in Azerbaijan, including GSM technology, advance payment system, mobile internet services, Metro coverage, 24/7 call centre service, 7 day/week Front Office service, M2M services, one-stop-shopping approach Azercell Express offices, mobile customer services, Online Customer Care and Social Media Customer Care services, mobile esignature service “ASAN Imza” etc. Azercell deployed first 4G – LTE services in Azerbaijan in 2012.

According to the results of mobile network quality and wireless coverage mapping surveys by international systems, Azercell’s network demonstrated the best results among the mobile operators of Azerbaijan. Azercell is the only company in Azerbaijan and CIS region which has been awarded Gold Certificate of International “Investors in People” Standard.

The Constanta Port representative noted that the sea port is open to initiate joint projects with the Baku Port, in order to enable a better approach, knowledge and experience exchange, with the possibility of identifying opportunities for the development of cargo traffic.

"We will make all the necessary efforts to promote a pro-active approach to the current situation regarding this cooperation with the Baku Port authorities. We are strongly confident that new ways and means of cooperation will be found in the future," the source said.

He reminded that on Oct. 5, 2017 the Memorandum of Understanding between the Baku International Sea Trade Port and Maritime Ports Administration Constanta was signed. The document was signed on the occasion of an important event – the Silk Road Summit that was held in the Constanta Port.

"This event was the starting point for a number of other actions and events having as main objective the cooperation between the Constanta Port and ports located on the Silk Road, especially Baku Port. In this respect, we continued to promote the advantage of using the strategic position of our ports, emphasizing their important roles on the international corridors," the source noted.

He also mentioned participation of the Constanta Port in the International Association of Ports and Harbors Conference, held this year in Baku, an important platform for developing cooperation among ports.

"At the same time, the event 'The Constanta Port on the Silk Road', hosted by the Constanta Port administration in May this year, gathered representatives of the Silk Road states and on this occasion, we were much honored to have the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Romania as one of our distinguished guests," the Romanian port's representative said.

He underlined that during the events organized by the Constanta Port both in Romania and other countries, companies from different spheres had the opportunity to meet the Baku Port and what it can offer as an important logistics hub in the Caspian Sea area.

"The Constanta Port presented to its partners the potential of the Baku Port, as one of the largest and most developed sea ports in the Caspian Sea area, which is playing a very important role in the Black SeaCaspian Sea Corridor," the representative of the Constanta Port concluded.

Constanta Port is one of the largest Black Sea ports, covering 3,926 hectares and having an annual total handling capacity of 100 million tons.

Having a very favorable position on the Rhine Main-Danube Corridor that connects the North Sea with the Black Sea, the Port of Constanta has a major role in the trans-European transport network.

One of the priorities of the Constanta Port is to assure a sustainable connectivity between Asia and Europe, by developing its main assets: good connections with all transport modes (railway, road, river, airway and pipelines), good transportation infrastructure, quality and competitive services, safety and environmental port conditions, etc.

The Constanta Port has specialized terminals that can provide efficient operation of all kind of cargoes, including Ro-Ro and Ferry-Boat terminals. It is the largest hub for bulk grain for Europe and a distribution center for containers in the Black Sea area.

The Constanta Port has proved its competitive advantages due to its connection with the Danube river, assuring a shorter, cleaner and cheaper transportation alternative, as well as a reduced transit time for goods coming from Central Asia, Caucasus and Far East, to the states of Central and Eastern Europe.