Business Dinner in Kazakhstan

On October 29, effie hosted an exclusive business dinner in Almaty, bringing together top executives and company owners for an evening of shared experiences, knowledge exchange, and meaningful dialogue focused on the latest developments and innovations in our platform.

The event aimed to foster open discussions about transformation — both personal and organizational — and to provide practical perspectives on driving growth, technology adoption, and strategic change in today’s business landscape.

The evening unfolded through three inspiring sessions, each offering a different perspective on transformation: from human psychology and leadership readiness to technology-driven execution and the future of AI in the FMCG industry.

Sharing Experience and Success Stories: Transformation in Action

Topic: The Psychology of Transformation: Navigating Readiness and Resistance.

Anna Belujiani, SO&D Manager, Eurasia at Mondelez Int. and Founder at Plan B Consulting.

Anna Belujiani is a business transformation expert with over 20 years of experience in commercial and strategic business processes in the FMCG sector. She brings practical, results-oriented solutions that help organizations grow smarter, transform faster, and achieve meaningful, lasting impact — with a strong focus on developing leadership capabilities that sustain growth and drive transformation from within.

Her session focused on how people and organizations experience change from within — exploring both the psychological and structural aspects of transformation. Anna raised essential questions every leader should ask before embarking on change:

• How to understand whether your company truly needs transformation?
• What transformation is made of — its levels and domains?
• And why “readiness doesn’t just happen” and how to build it: through people, processes, and communication?

Key takeaways from Anna’s session:

1. Transformation shouldn’t start when things have already gone wrong, plans have failed, or performance has declined. It should begin when your current “can” no longer matches your “want” — when you realize your existing resources aren’t enough to reach tomorrow’s goals.
2. Neither the team nor the system is ever truly ready by default — this readiness has to be built. And that work is about shaping a shared vision at the company, team, and individual levels, as well as addressing fears and setting new rules.
3. To choose the right transformation partner safely, you need to understand what type of partner fits your business and what goals you want to achieve. A true transformation partner should match not your company’s current state, but its ambitions.

Case Study: Transforming Retail Execution Through Technology: The Balton Trading Asia Experience.

Vitali Nikitin, Chief Information Officer at Balton Trading Asia

Vitali Nikitin presented a compelling digital transformation case from Balton Trading Asia — one of the largest distribution and 3PL operators in Uzbekistan, serving over 22,000 retail outlets across all 13 regions of the country.

With more than 1,500 employees and a fully automated operational ecosystem, Balton embarked on a multi-stage journey to enhance retail execution, visibility, and team performance. The integration of effie in 2023 became a milestone in unifying Modern and Traditional Trade operations through advanced analytics, AI-based image recognition, and real-time reporting.

His session revealed how technology can redefine retail execution and bring measurable impact through automation and data transparency.

Key takeaways from Vitali’s session:

1. Digital transformation is not a one-time project but a continuous process of improving data quality, systems, and people’s readiness to use them.
2. AI-driven automation — from shelf monitoring to route optimization — has drastically reduced manual reporting time (from 25 to 5 minutes per OSA report) and improved coverage quality from 24% to 74% in just one year.
3. Through the Balton–effie partnership, the core SKU assortment expanded by more than 50% and enabled the rollout of 100+ promotional mechanics, driving both efficiency and market responsiveness.
4. The foundation of transformation success lies in transparent data architecture, strong cross-functional integration, and the commitment of field teams — the true agents of change.

Topic: Effie New Capabilities Overview

Yurii Pryima, Chief Revenue Officer at effie, presented an overview of effie’s strategic vision and upcoming innovations designed to address current FMCG market challenges — from workforce shortages to the rise of private labels and the shift toward automation. His session demonstrated how technology, data, and AI are shaping the future of retail execution and commercial efficiency.

Mykola Guban, Vice President of Sales at effie, showcased AI ShelfCoach — a major step toward autonomous decision-making and proactive assistance for field teams. Using recognized shelf images, the system generates Next Best Actions directly in the mobile app, guiding representatives on the optimal next steps. This empowers field employees to perform as high-level experts while minimizing cognitive effort and response time.

Key takeaways from the session:

1. The FMCG landscape is evolving toward localization, hyper-personalization, and automation — with AI agents soon to play a central role in operational ecosystems.
2. Business systems are shifting from simple automation to intelligent, interconnected, and increasingly autonomous platforms. The next leap is action-taking AI agents that can be composed into end-to-end processes.
3. The effie 2026 Roadmap includes major advancements such as On-device AI recognition, Retail augmented reality, POS self-ordering, and AI Price Tags Analyzer — all aimed at creating smarter, more autonomous retail operations.

The effie team emphasized that the future of field execution lies in synergy between people and AI, where technology not only automates routine processes but also augments human decision-making, enabling teams to act fast and intelligently in an increasingly data-driven market.

Connecting Minds, Inspiring Change

Beyond the insights and case studies, the effie Business Dinner became a space for genuine exchange — where leaders discussed transformation not as a distant goal, but as a shared journey.

Effie extends its sincere appreciation to all speakers and guests for their energy, ideas, and active participation. Your valuable contributions played a key role in shaping an inspiring atmosphere and fostering a forward-looking dialogue throughout the evening. We are grateful for the meaningful exchange of perspectives that made this event both impactful and memorable.