26+ years, one throughline: build, then scale
From telecom C-suite to startup ecosystem builder to Mastercard's Eastern Europe growth lead — every chapter compounds into the next.
Director, Retail & Commerce Business Development
Mastercard · Eastern Europe Lead (Türkiye + CIS) · 12 marketsOwns go-to-market across a US$2.2B GDP territory. Drives C-level partnerships in retail, telco & fintech. Deploys Mastercard platforms — Dynamic Yield (hyper-personalization), SessionM (loyalty), Test & Learn, Digital Labs, Cyber & Intelligence. Scaled regional services revenue by an order of magnitude in three years despite war and hyperinflation, and defines and sells multi-million-dollar services.
Strategy & Innovation Section Manager
Azercell Telecom — TeliaSonera Group13+ years C-level telco executive trajectory. Led strategy, innovation and new-business incubation at Azerbaijan's tier-1 mobile operator.
Co-Founder & Managing Partner / CEO
Lotfi Zadeh Technology Center (LTC)Scaled Azerbaijan's largest tech hub — 5,000+ sqm across two locations, 500+ resident capacity, coworking, acceleration and investments.
Manager — Barama Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center
First corporate-backed startup incubator in AzerbaijanBuilt the national-first incubator to 20+ events and 100K+ engagements per year.
Founder & CEO — IBMS Solutions
Lean Six Sigma & Analytical CRM consultancyDelivered US$4M+ client savings; 150+ local & 5+ cross-border projects in 8 countries; 50+ LSS projects; 30 belts certified.
Advisor & Board Positions
Seedstars (Global Ambassador) · Innovation Labs · Gold Ventures Investment (Partner)Global startup advisor (2x Innovation Lab), mentor to founders, advisor to corporates; investor partner.
Finance · Marketing · Analytics · ICT
Business Intelligence 5+ yrs · Pricing 4 yrs · Investment banking 2.5 yrs · Systems 2.5 yrsA rare blend of analytical, financial and technical depth before executive leadership.
Where the time went
Innovation Management · 9 yrs
Strategy & Business Dev. · 5 yrs
Marketing, BI & Analytics · 5 yrs
Finance & Investment Banking · 2.5 yrs
ICT · Dev & Sysadmin · 2.5 yrs
Customer Experience · 2 yrs