Farid Ismayilzada

Azerconnect LLC is company is a shared services company for two large Mobile Network Operators of Azerbaijan: Bakcell and Azerfon (Nar). As Chief Innovation Officer, I am responsible for digitalization of  the both operators and also support Azerbaijan's innovation ecosystem using their marketing, financial and reputational power.

A boutique incubation center founded by myself with the mission to create at least 1 potentially 100M US dollars startup born in Azerbaijan by 2022

GoldenPay, the largest online payments company in Azerbaijan, was founded by me in July 2007. In less than 10 years, the company grew from being startup established in my home office to a multi-million dollar company. GoldenPay clears more than 10 million USD per months which now makes it the holder of 75% market share in whole internet payments industry of Azerbaijan. It is also in the process of establishing its operations in foreign countries at the moment with flow of new investment. As a founding CEO I was involved in everything starting with strategy, vision, technology, product development, sales and marketing to reception and call center activities.

Today, as Member of the Supervisory Board I am mostly responsible for strategy, high level networking and vision of the company. The company also owns the most valuable internet business brand in Azerbaijan: www.hesab.az

E-Mobile is a software development company which is in known for developing very complex IT solutions for telecom operators. The company is a highly profitable company with plans to do expansion to other countries. Company's current net profit is over half a million USD in year.

As a co-founder and member of Supervisory Board, I am responsible for high level sales, relationship management and strategic growth of the company.

The "Woooz project" is about an idea of developing a dating app called "Woooz" which has potential to take a market share in dating industry shaking dominance of Tinder, Match.com and other related apps.

Among the founders, I am responsible for mostly for IT, product development and general project management

Spinal is a wearable combined with a mobile app which helps people to gain a habit of good posture. It reminds you to stop slouching.

I am currently investing this project as well mentoring and couching the engineer founder of the project. I am also responsible for fundraising and business development. 

AIESEC is a global platform for young people to explore and develop their leadership potential. It is a non-political, independent, not-for-profit organization run by students and recent graduates of institutions of higher education. Its members are interested in world issues, leadership and management.

As a former AIESEC USA member, I helped the foundation of AIESEC in Azerbaijan and am currently supporting them both financially and strategically. 

Bakcell, The First Mobile Operator and the Leading Mobile Internet Provider of Azerbaijan, has launched an innovative mobile developer program “AppLab” in cooperation with Qualcomm, a world leader in next-generation mobile technologies.

The program is aimed at providing effective tools to young entrepreneurs and application developers to help accelerate their ideas and create innovative turn-key mobile applications for Azerbaijani and international markets. 

I am the member of the board who is responsible for selecting, mentoring and supporting entrepreneurs to drive execution on ideas, mobile apps and technologies from proof of concept to launch.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan is a private, non-profit business association supporting and promoting the interests of business in Azerbaijan. Established in 1996, AmCham is composed of over 250 members and associates active in every sector of the Azerbaijani economy.

I was one of 12 elected board members who is responsible for development and overseeing strategic direction of AmCham. Among board members, I was the voice of companies from the ICT sector.

The US-Educated Azerbaijani Alumni Association (AAA) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that unites alumni of the State Department educational exchange programs in Azerbaijan.  The AAA was established in October 2003 by a group of US-educated Azerbaijani alumni with the aim of uniting all alumni of Azerbaijan under one umbrella and using their knowledge and skills to help developing Azerbaijan.

As one of 13 elected board member, I was representing alumni from the IVLP program.

While I was member of Board of Directors, I was asked to act as an Executive Director of AmCham for a few months while she was on maternity leave.

During this time, I managed a small AmCham full time team, conducted important governmental and business meetings, ran events and brought new members to the chamber.

Komtec is largest kiosk based electronic payment system with the largest network of kiosks in Azerbaijan.

I worked for them briefly and was responsible in development for company strategy for the next 5 years.

Azerbaijan State University of Economics (ASUE)  is a public university located in Baku, Azerbaijan. It was founded in 1930 and is one of the biggest educational institutions of the South Caucasus. ASUE has 14 faculties, where 16 thousand students get education, and it offers master programs in 57 specialties, employing more than 1000 teachers, including 62 professors and 344 docents, among whom there are active members of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, New York Academy of Sciences, winners of state awards, honored teachers and scientists. ASUE is a full member of the European University Association, Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World, University Council of Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and Eurasian Association of Universities. There are 650 undergraduate and postgraduate students from 10 countries of the world getting education at ASEU.

I was teaching "Digital Economy" class to student from "Special Talented Group". 

SilverKey Technologies was US based company launched by AIESECers. It was famous for web based developments.

After setting it up in Azerbaijan, in a very short time, I was able to turn the company into the first choice web development company for small and medium size businesses in Azerbaijan.

Global Educational Program (GEP) was superior resource for developing and managing short term study tours with a focus on the global business environment. Such tours provide individuals with the unique opportunity to meet and learn from industry professionals first hand via personalized site visits; thus, connecting individuals with peers in their industry.

The company was co-founded by a friends of mine upon his graduation from SJSU in July of 2006 with bootstrapped funding from both personal assets and from winning 2nd place in the 2006 SVCE Business Plan Competition. He successfully established a base clientele which generated revenue over six figures annually; all based on Word of Mouth. The company created a Rolodex of over 2K Silicon Valley contacts ranging from large Fortune 500 companies to start-ups to government officials. He sold the company in March 2010 to Explora International for 3X annual profit margin.

AIESEC is a global platform for young people to explore and develop their leadership potential. It is a non-political, independent, not-for-profit organisation run by students and recent graduates of institutions of higher education. Its members are interested in world issues, leadership and management.

In my one year elected term as an Account Manager at AIESEC USA, I was responsible in managing 2 key accounts: Krafts Food International and Delphi Automotive. My job was mainly about dealing with sales, contract and relationship management with those accounts.

International Business Incubator currently known as MarketAccess is an organization helping foreign ICT related companies to establish their business in Silicon Valley.

As an International Visitor Progra Manager, I was responsible for setting up visits and meetings for international guests of US State Department at the companies, organizations and universities in Silicon Valley.

Truboprom was a small pipe producing company in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine.

I joined them as an intern in Market Research to help them build their website and grow their business in foreign countries. In my brief internship with them, I was able to put them into contact with some potential clients in Central Asian countries.

AIESEC is a global platform for young people to explore and develop their leadership potential. It is a non-political, independent, not-for-profit organisation run by students and recent graduates of institutions of higher education. Its members are interested in world issues, leadership and management.

I first joined AIESEC as volunteer member back in 2003 as soon as I started my education at SJSU. In just half a year, I became Vice President of Local Committee in AIESEC and in just another year, I became President of AIESEC in San Jose. My achievements in AIESEC San Jose were record breaking at that time in terms of number of student exchanges, growth in membership and finances.