Sberbank of Russia : Sber holds online conference for entrepreneurs

Sber and OPORA RUSSIA have held an online conference Big Opportunities for Small Businesses on SberBusiness Live, where Sber presented some innovative services for entrepreneurs.

Conference participants were welcomed by Herman Gref, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank, and Alexander Kalinin, President of OPORA RUSSIA.

Herman Gref emphasized that small businesses account for the majority of the bank's corporate customers (over 2.6 million), and Sber has a mission to deliver accessible financial, nonfinancial, educational, and digital services, assistance, and support at all stages of business operations.

Anatoly Popov, Deputy Chairman of Sberbank's Executive Board, mentioned the Sber ecosystem offerings that save time and money for businesses, while heads of the bank's verticals spoke about the most important of those offerings in detail.

The Sber ecosystem is built around the needs of customers, who are its main beneficiaries. An entrepreneur should be developing one's business, rather than doing the paperwork. Therefore, we develop services that remove all the unnecessary things that don't add value distracting you from what's really important. At the moment, the Sber ecosystem includes not only financial products and services, but also more than 110 offerings that help businesses with logistics, trade, analytics, export, accounting, etc. All these services help you develop a business without intermediaries, increase efficiency, and reduce costs. We are becoming a reliable partner for small businesses, helping them to evolve.

Anatoly Popov

Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, Sberbank

Alexander Kalinin, President of OPORA RUSSIA, stated that Sber's platform is currently being used by millions of business people.

Sber has become a technology platform for small businesses in Russia. The bank's principles 'I am a leader, we are a team, all for the customer' are relatable and understandable for employees and entrepreneurs. OPORA RUSSIA is also a social and tech platform, and we learn a lot from Herman Gref and his team. We are undergoing transformation as dynamically and competently [as Sber]. Our common goal is to offer the business community modern and convenient services that will allow businesses to evolve successfully in the Russian market and globally. We are grateful to Herman Gref and the entire Sber team for holding this large-scale event.

Alexander Kalinin

President, OPORA RUSSIA

Conference participants discussed a new line of bundled cash and settlement services, talked about giving small businesses access to government contracts, discussed escrow accounts and letters of credit in public procurement, foreign economic activity, analytics and recommendations for small businesses, a supplier portal (a single marketplace for all purchases in the country), and other issues. The conference gathered more than 2,000 representatives of small businesses.