Great skills, a fertile business environment and a rising level of competitiveness have brought Romania on the innovation and business radar landscape. To complete this finely developed scenario, a programme that can propel the right business ideas into success has also joined the party — meet BCR-InnovX, the business accelerator you need to keep an eye on if you want to take your ideas to the next level.

Fostering the power of knowledge and innovation altogether, BCR’s dedicated programme has gathered elite resources and opportunities to offer their candidates, from carefully-detailed educational materials to global display and European funding. We had a chat with Ana Cretu, Head of Social Banking, to find out more about their plans and history:

When has BCR-InnovX been initiated and what are the best accomplishments of this programme so far?

BCR-InnovX accelerator officially started in February 2019 and we are proud to see that it’s grown and developed to be one of the most reliable and professional business accelerators on the market. The proof for this is the growing number of candidates applying for each phase and, moreover, the quality of the solutions and ideas they present. We are proud to say we have had over 70 start-ups and scale-ups participating in the incubation and acceleration phases so far. And the most important accomplishment is the fact that after finishing the program, almost all of them have had a great course, either by receiving funding (EU-Horizon 2020 grant, Norway grants), being part of international programs (Startup Grind Europe — Asia Connect, Tech Crunch), partnering with strong companies (BCR, Microsoft, UiPath), winning important awards (The Seal of Excellence from the European Commission) and becoming well known in their field of expertise.

By supporting and having a deep understanding of tech-startups, you have had a valuable impact on our entrepreneurial ecosystem. Can you tell us more about what the trends observed within the Romanian businesses and where are they headed?

Since the start of the program we have indeed had the opportunity to get familiarized with the entrepreneurial ecosystem and not just train and teach, but in turn, learn about the trends of the ecosystem and the needs of entrepreneurs. We are happy to say that there are many opportunities ahead and the fact that more and more funds, particularly from angel investors and crowdfunding are becoming available. The accelerator program is preparing entrepreneurs to scale-up globally and to have the mindset and knowledge to do that.

In the pandemic context, some tech start-ups had the chance to come up with solutions to the new way of working and doing business, proving very adaptable and resilient. They have transformed potential threats into opportunities. On the other hand, the associated economic crisis took its toll on some enterprises, so it will be very important for accelerators and educational programs like BCR-InnnovX to continue their work and support young businesses.

BCR-InnovX includes unique opportunities for all business development stages. Please give us some examples of what it has to offer and which are the most sought-after.

One of the biggest advantages of the program is that it brings the startups that are just taking off face to face with experienced entrepreneurs, active in important companies that can offer them first-hand advice and mentoring about how to grow a business. The power of example, as we know, is very important and seasoned practitioners, both clients and investors, have many stories of both success and failure to share.

Moreover, we prepare young companies for funding opportunities that are very important in the early phases. When you have a big investor backing you up it not only proves you have financial support but also endorsement and recognition for your business. And last but not least, we pride ourselves with our MIT curricula that is constantly tested and improved according to feedback and results reached so far.

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BCR-InnovX is one of the official partners of Techsylvania 2020. Discover more about them at: https://www.bcr.ro/ro/business

The post Accelerating the Romanian Business Ecosystem — in an Interview with Ana Cretu, Head of Social Banking at BCR appeared first on Techsylvania.

With the future knocking at our door, even the banking system had to adapt and step into the 21st century. BCR is one of the banks that fully embraced this idea and planned for the years to come.

With this in mind, George, the first intelligent banking in Romania, was launched. Here at Techsylvania, we were curious to find out more about the innovative app and all the services George is providing.

• Let’s talk about George, the first intelligent banking in Romania. What can a customer expect from George and how is the service revolutionizing the user’s experience and contact with the bank?

George was developed following advanced digital research, being created by IT teams, designers, psychologists, and sociologists. With George, anyone can become a bank customer with a current account and a dedicated card, exclusively online, on the phone, tablet or laptop, without getting in contact with a bank branch. All the banking onboarding system, which includes the entire Know Your Customer process, electronic signature, account activation, and card, delivery is unique in Romania and unique even in Erste Group, taking into consideration the need to comply with the restrictions and regulatory conditions.

Basically, you can become a bank client in about 10 minutes with all the steps you need, from scanning ID, video identification, to signing documents, account activation, ordering a personalized card and, finally, access to George’s digital ecosystem. As a result of customer involvement in all aspects of the project, George app offers exceptional personalization: everyone can create their own version of George, tailored to each and everyone’s specific needs.

The access is easy, but secure via id, pattern, fingerprint or facial recognition. The platform has a simple structure, intuitive menus, advanced custom account options — names, images, pseudonyms or colors for accounts, a radically simplified search function that is as intuitive as the one in Google, up to seven years of archive with the transactions, write and reply transactions — like in mailbox, barcode scanning or IBANs from any support, drag-drop function for sorting and moving operations without additional clicks and efforts, everything as simple as in Social Media. In fact, George is inspired from Social Media, it is a Social Media way of doing banking.

• Is George the future of the banking system? How do you think innovations will further impact the ecosystem?

Confronted with digital transformation throughout the entire society, banks are required to provide solutions that are not pressed by traditional ways of providing financial services. The operating model of traditional financial institutions needs to be radically changed at the structural level to respond to new challenges. This is one of the reasons why over 80% of global banks have developed at least some form of partnership with fintechs. And many of them are successful. The banking industry needed these so-called disruptors to get out of the traditional comfort zone. To adapt to change. Banking needs to understand what new expectations are, deliver a new model and, last but not least, communicate otherwise.

Our path in the development of George has started from the expectations of the public, that demanded a change in the way the banks speak and act. The world is rapidly evolving today and our lives are quickly changing from one day to another thanks to technology. Under the pressure of daily rhythm, people are looking for more and more digital experiences to satisfy their desires. And they feel good when finding only simplicity, comfort and support. In their financial lives especially, they need right here, right now and in a secure manner. And they also need a good friend. This is why we’ve called it George and it represents basically a new manner of doing banking, especially created for the digital era in which we live. George is now like a new-born baby in Romania, the very beginning of a complete digital financial universe. Once matured, George will stand as our bet that the Romanians’ experience in operating with a bank will never be the same again. Over the following months, George will be raised, endowed and permanently equipped with financial functions and services from the front line of financial innovations. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come!

George is the creation of George Labs, a fintech hub from Vienna developed by Erste Group, that has an enthusiastic team of designers and IT developers from several countries, including Romania. BCR continued its tech journey by launching the BCR-InnovX Accelerator, a program meant to scale-up the Romanian tech start-ups and SMEs. We found great insights also about this inspiring initiative.

• Tell us more about the BCR-InnovX accelerator and its purpose. Why should startups apply and what benefits do they get?

BCR-InnovX accelerator is an intensive entrepreneurial educational program dedicated to technology, with the aim of scaling up the companies or business ideas, by compressing years of learning from the experience of internationally renowned partners in just a few months. It’s a consultancy program focused on education, preparing the companies for a large spectrum of funding opportunities (banks, private equity investors, EU programs, etc). The initiative aims to encourage innovation, facilitate the exchange of ideas, and foster networks that might be the beginning of strategic opportunities and long-term partnerships for start-ups and SMEs.

BCR-InnovX accelerator aims to make Romania a European business center and an enterprise innovation center where entrepreneurs have the opportunity to constantly test what works and what needs to be improved in their business.

This accelerator has many opportunities for tech start-ups in terms of alternative financing, such as European Grants (Horizon2020 Program on Technology), and Demo days for attracting business angels and private equity investors (Startup Grind events in Barcelona, London, Silicon Valley). It offers business education through mentorship from relevant entrepreneurs, investors, tech people and financial specialists with a strong track record (former and current Start-up entrepreneurs that already did several exits business with high value and now focus on helping others). The Accelerator has an MIT curricula, tested and strongly enhanced in the BCR-InnovX Bootcamp.

It is a non-equity accelerator because we have a responsibility towards the Romanian business community and to the young companies from emerging industries that have the most urgent need for advice, easy access to tech services, financing and international promotion. We share the same vision with our partners from the accelerator (UiPath, European Center for Services, Investment, and Financing, StartUp Grind, Mind Space, Swissway) and we wanted to offer free access to these benefits for each company selected in the three cohorts — Start-ups, Grinders, and SMEs.

In 2019, Techsylvania is proudly presented by George, the first intelligent banking in Romania.

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