We sat down for an interview with Aram Sargsyan, Regional General Manager for EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) & CIS at Yandex.Taxi.

How would you describe 2018 in terms of the international expansion of Yandex.Taxi?

The year has been very successful. We launched our service in eight countries (Uzbekistan, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Serbia, Finland, Côte d'Ivoire and Israel), and in late 2018 we actually started operations in a new country every month.

I am certain we will keep up the pace and expand to new places in 2019 as well.

What would you name as the biggest success and what, on the contrary, still needs work?

In general, we reached good indicators in Baltic countries very quickly, although it is hardly expected in short-term period in our business. At the same time, we have countries of operation where we need to work on changing the mentality and habits, which is a long-term, difficult job.

We launched a new brand in 2018, Yango, in Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Finland and Israel. It was no easy task, which is why seeing it bring positive results feels so much better!

What new markets do you plan to enter in 2019?

I cannot name specific countries yet, but we intend to expand in Europe and Africa. We are also eyeing the Latin American states.

What 2018 was like for Yandex.Taxi in Armenia?

It was mad, but in the good sense (he laughs – Mediamax). I find it hard to recall how much we were able to achieve in Armenia in 2018, from meetings between Yandex.Taxi management and top drivers, launch of service in new regions and special “children’s” tariff to the support we provided to the Summit of La Francophonie.

In 2018, we registered huge growth in the number of users, partners and their drivers subscribed to the service, and therefore, trips. Armenia is among our most successful markets, and we all measure up to it.

We have been putting in some serious work into quality in 2018. We introduced a stricter approach to traffic violations by our drivers and started assisting our Yerevan partners with renewal of car fleets. I believe the results of our efforts should become visible soon.

Did you have any services or innovations introduced in other markets after successful testing in Armenia?

Yes, it is a common practice for us, and we have plenty of examples of it. We actually experiment a lot. We test new functions, and if our Armenian clients approve of them, we begin scaling those innovations in other markets.

I won’t name one particular function, but we initially tried it in Armenia and later used it in other countries, and in the end it brought 10-15% growth for the entire company. That’s awesome!

You mentioned in an interview that each country is specific. Does Armenia have nuances you won’t notice in other markets?

Armenians really don’t like indicating the destination in the app. While around 90% users in the majority of other countries name their destination, in Armenia, only one third of our clients at best do so.

The second particularity is the low number of users who make cashless payments, i.e. payments via a bank card added to the app. The share of cashless payments grew by 2 to 4 times overall in Armenia, but our indicator here is still one of the lowest compared to other markets.

Armenian cities Gyumri and Vanadzor have Yandex coding schools. Is it more of a social or an educational project for you? Do you intend to open new schools in Armenian marzes?

We do, but we aren’t ready yet to reveal any details. Indeed, we would be happy if the schools prepared specialists Yandex could hire, but that is not our goal. If the graduates of Yandex schools become proper experts, create their own products and apps as well as advance the market and the country, we will consider our task fulfilled.

Last August we had an interview with Yandex.Taxi Director for International Development Mushegh Sahakyan, who said that the company had established a constructive dialogue with Armenian government regarding the proposed amendments to the Law on motor transport. Is the dialogue ongoing?

Yes, and we support the changes proposed by the government. They concern formation of self-employment sector in Armenia. It is a rather progressive concept that many countries have yet to accept. I’m happy that Armenia can take leadership in this area.

Ara Tadevosyan talked to Aram Sargsyan