Forbes Georgia has observed the large-scale transformation of Mastercard in Georgia with great interest. The Mastercard country manager in Georgia and Armenia, David Zgudadze, is leading this process.
Mastercard is a global payment industry giant. It operates the world’s fastest payment processing network that connects customers, financial institutions, retail chains, governments and businesses in over 200 countries.
For many years, Mastercard has tirelessly implemented payment systems everywhere, from street shops to online stores. As a result, electronic and contactless payments in Georgia have become fast, safe and comfortable.
Beyond payment systems, Mastercard is establishing itself as a tech firm. The famous slogan “There are some things money can’t buy; for everything else, there’s Mastercard” will assume additional meaning and create added value in our country.
Mastercard’s plans for Georgia are extensive. The first steps have already been taken under the leadership of a manager with a wealth of experience.
David Zgudadze is the Mastercard Country Manager in Georgia and Armenia. He has more than 15 years of experience in the banking sector. His professional career started at Cartu Bank. According to David, he was one of the organizers of the first e-commerce transaction in Georgia and still remembers when the first transaction occurred in a Georgian online store. He realized that it was the beginning of something significant. After Cartu, he spent ten years at TBC, again working in the e-commerce department. He joined Mastercard during the pandemic as an account manager and became Country Manager in the summer of 2022.
David is proud that Georgia holds leading positions in the technology and innovations market. Globally, Georgia is in the top five in terms of contactless payments: 95% of transactions in our country are cashless. Nevertheless, he says there is still a lot to achieve. He wants the added value created by Mastercard to be more visible to customers. To this end, Mastercard has many ambitious initiatives, some of which you can read about in the Forbes Georgia feature interview below.
Mastercard is no longer just a bank card. It is increasingly turning into a tech firm. How did this trend come about?
Time brought about the need for transformation. We accumulated a lot of experience and data over the years. Although this data is not personalized, we can still learn a lot from it through proper analysis and use it for further development. Data analysis and payment card classification may give us valuable findings about economic trends or specific industries. We decided to use this expertise to create added value.
In what ways can this information be useful?
We have been working with the financial sector in a consulting capacity for many years. Our advisory groups operate in all cluster countries. The public sector, financial institutions, fintech, and other businesses seeking our consulting services contact us. We form a group of experts with relevant competencies based on our client’s needs. We then start working jointly on specific projects, which can be implemented both physically and remotely. Our involvement may be related to business growth or resolving other challenges. We can also embed our advisors in an organization for a more extended period of time to help with a project’s implementation.
Can you think of a specific example?
Open banking is one example. This is quite a new field. The financial sector is interested in knowing about it and how it can use this service in the future. Our consulting groups are already involved in specific projects, showing managers how to use open banking platforms effectively and create added value for customers. A good example is e-commerce. We see online store customers changing their habits – they are increasingly focusing on conducting payments using mobile devices. Online store owners are, therefore, interested in knowing what strategy they should use to develop their platforms over the next four to five years. Once again, we have shared our experience and expertise with them. We get similar requests all the time, and we try to help them within our competence. Recently, we have involved our consultants from Turkey, Portugal, Canada and UAE in our projects.
Who are your direct clients in Georgia?
Mainly the financial sector, electronic wallets and payment service providers licensed by the National Bank. They then apply to us and get a license. We have two main fields of operation: Issuing cards and providing card acquiring services.
However, it is evident from this interview that you wish to introduce many other elements in Georgia.
That is correct. For example, we offer the financial and commercial sectors the “Test and Learn” and “Dynamic Yield” platforms to increase customer communication effectiveness. These days, it is crucial how you attract clients. It is not necessary for the data to only be related to payments. For example, entry and exit data from fast food establishments can provide companies with invaluable information about business optimization or expansion. Today we have services that are used internationally by the likes of McDonald’s to create personalized experiences across digital channels. We are considering offering the same services and expanding the choices in Georgia.
You also want to create an emotional attachment with the customer. What do you mean by “priceless emotions”?
The Priceless brand has existed for over 25 years and is linked to priceless emotions. Our goal is to create emotions, priceless experiences and memories that money cannot buy.
For example?
For example, attending the Cannes Film Festival means more than just buying tickets to a premiere. It means experiencing the event like a movie star. In this case, the person we choose will walk on the red carpet, stay in a hotel next to the stars and take photos with them. The days spent in Cannes with our support will live with them forever. This is more than just attending the event.
Have you had a similar experience yourself? Are you telling these stories first-hand?
Indeed, I have personally experienced what it is like to feel like a star for a day. Football events are the same: The best seats, photo sessions with the players, and a wealth of emotions – more than just attending a match.
Do you intend to replicate these experiences in Georgia?
Yes, Georgia has the potential to become a center of attraction, where priceless experiences are created. These will be new experiences for locals and foreigners alike: People will get much more than a tourist experience when they visit Georgia.
In what areas do you see the development potential for such services in Georgia?
Georgia has many beautiful locations, but we aim to offer customers an emotional experience. We have many visitors from the region. They want to see the sights and experience something new. This is where we aim to create unforgettable emotions for them.
The priceless brand has existed for over 25 years and is linked to priceless emotions. Our goal is to create emotions and memories that money cannot buy.
What exactly is needed to implement this process?
We have already picked several internationally recognized partners, mainly from the field of arts. These include the Georgian National Ballet (Sukhishvilebi), Nikoloz Rachveli, and businesses operating in the tourism and entertainment industry – GMT, Silk Hospitality, and 8000 Vintages. We already have an example of such an experience in Georgia – a culinary expedition to Adjara, exploring dishes not widely known among the public. Afterwards, experienced chefs added modern elements to these dishes, revitalized them, and allowed us to try them. It was indeed an emotional dinner for our team. We will soon offer our clients these unique dining experiences. The Priceless platform has much room for creativity. We are still at the beginning of this road in Georgia, but our goals and ambitions are vast.
How can customers discover what kind of priceless emotions are accessible to them?
We want to create a specific platform where customers can choose the packages they want. This is now an accepted practice across the world. We already have a Priceless platform in Turkey that includes all the services available to Mastercard owners. We are now in the process of making these offers available in Georgia as well. In addition, more and more partners are coming on board to offer a variety of choices to our cardholders.
Is this entirely a private initiative?
That is correct. However, we also met the new head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration. We want to use our channels to attract premium cardholders from the whole region, which will be great for the development of tourism. The main challenge will be to develop a unique experience that would otherwise be unavailable to people. This may be an unforgettable concert programme or something else. This is where our creative team comes in. We are ready to work with everyone.
Do you have any ideas yet, based on your international experience? Do you need to conduct further studies to establish demand, or perhaps your approach is to create demand yourself?
From our global experience, we know precisely how this process should be structured. The next step is to link this international experience with something specific to Georgia. Experience will then show us which offers are worth retaining and which are not. We are keeping an open mind in this process and have not set strict boundaries.
What will the next steps be?
Our priority is to increase the number of our partners. We aim to have around 20-25 offers each month. As mentioned, this will be a dynamic process: The offers may be altered, diversified and adapted to customers’ requirements. Ultimately, clients should receive several offers from us during the year that will give them unforgettable and priceless emotions.
From our global experience, we know precisely how this process should be structured. The next step is to link this international experience with something specific to georgia.
We understand that this is more of a premium offer for premium customers, but looking at the Georgian market in general – how tech-friendly is this country currently? Also, since you represent a global firm, could you compare Georgia to other countries?
I attended an annual corporate meeting in the United States, where current global trends were discussed. As I listened to these deliberations, I realized that Georgia is ahead of many developed countries in several fields. To summarize, the Georgian market is quite dynamic and open to innovation. That is why our country’s online payment industry has experienced such solid and quick growth. Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Tap on Phone are all available here, which cannot be said for many countries in the region.
Regarding the pace of innovation, which segment faces the most significant challenges today?
Micro and small businesses. We are actively working in this direction as well. The results may not be visible yet, but we have already identified this segment as a priority, so we expect further developments in the future. At this stage, we are working with USAID and commercial banks to conduct field training at our regional headquarters to introduce small businesses to the benefits of Tap on Phone technology and show them how easily they can receive contactless payments with their Android phones.
The size of the market often presents a serious challenge for the Georgian economy. Do you view this as more of an opportunity or a challenge?
Georgia is an excellent lab for innovation. Here we can test things, turn them into business cases, and implement them on a wider scale. It is great that Georgia is open to change. This is a small country, but we have well-developed cities where the population is highly receptive to modernization. Thus, Georgia becomes a role model for other, larger markets where the strategy can be developed more efficiently.
So, not only does the famous slogan “There are some things money can’t buy; for everything else, there’s Mastercard” still apply, but also, in the case of Georgia, it is expanding even further…
Absolutely. Our model is B2B2C. We do not have your personal details, but we still want to provide certain information to our customers directly. We want clients to see the value created by Mastercard. Naturally, the services provided by commercial banks are the most important, but we want customers to understand that Mastercard provides them with global offers in addition to these services. The client’s integration in numerous global benefits can directly be attributed to Mastercard. This includes a variety of international travel services.
Photo Credits to Khatuna Khutsishvili / Forbes Georgia
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