Freedom Holding's Chief Technology Officer and head of Freedom AI, Renat Tukanov, explained how the idea for Freedom SuperApp emerged, why building a unified digital ecosystem proved a difficult task, and what distinguishes a successful super-app from an ordinary set of services. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

He shared this in Ruslan Shayekin's podcast "101+ Drug Shayekina."

How the idea emerged

According to Tukanov, the idea of combining the holding's services into a single app began to take shape around 2022-2023. Its initiators were Freedom Holding founder Timur Turlov and Freedom Bank board member Aidos Zhumagulov.

It was impossible to start building a unified ecosystem right away. By that time, the holding had gone through a series of acquisitions and mergers of companies whose technological systems were at different stages of development. One of the priority tasks was bringing IT infrastructure and technology management approaches to common standards.

"In fact, we first needed to standardize all approaches. Because one of the tasks of the technology strategy was to make sure that all our companies were at roughly the same level of technological maturity," Tukanov explained.

SuperApp and its difference

Speaking about SuperApp, Renat Tukanov emphasized that Aidos Zhumagulov, Vyacheslav Kim, who is responsible for SuperApp development, and the entire bank team managed to create a product that competitors find very difficult to replicate.

During the conversation, it also became known that the number of Freedom SuperApp users exceeded 6 million. Shayekin recalled how the app's promotion was discussed, including the idea of holding a bloggers' race.

According to the host, the concept of this advertising campaign emerged during three-day discussions involving Timur Turlov. The main task was to find a way to accelerate the growth of SuperApp's popularity.

Tukanov paid separate attention to the widespread notion that creating a super-app is easy enough if you gather several digital services in one interface.

According to him, such an approach yields a multi-app, but not a full-fledged ecosystem. The main difference lies in how closely the products are integrated and how convenient the transition between them is for the user.

"It's very easy to assemble a multi-app, when you just gathered many applications inside. But it's very difficult to assemble exactly a SuperApp," Tukanov noted.

He explained that users should receive an equally convenient experience regardless of the chosen service. This concerns a common design, comparable speed of operation, and clear interaction between products.

Sustainability of ecosystems

Tukanov also referenced a BCG Henderson Institute study of business ecosystems, which estimates that in the long term fewer than 15% of such projects prove sustainable.

As a historical example, the top manager recalled French entrepreneur Aristide Boucicaut, who developed the department store format in the 19th century.

Tukanov drew a parallel between modern super-apps and department stores, which allowed customers to get different goods in one place under unified service rules.

According to him, the development of such formats shows that the value of an ecosystem lies not only in the number of combined products, but also in creating a single convenient space for clients.

About Freedom Holding

Freedom Holding Corp. is an international financial group registered in the state of Nevada, USA. The group's main market remains Kazakhstan, with its headquarters in Almaty. The holding develops brokerage, banking, insurance, and payment businesses, as well as telecommunications, media, and other digital services. Freedom Holding Corp. shares trade on Nasdaq under the ticker FRHC, as well as on KASE and AIX.

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