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Centili is a global PaaS company with a wide range of digital payments solutions in its portfolio. Focused on driving clients' growth, Centili provides an innovative mobile payment platform and a frictionless customer experience. Centili platform is in-house developed and is trusted by content providers, telco operators, mobile apps, game developers, and social networks worldwide. It processes 1.5 million transactions daily, operates 24/7, and enables seamless monetization using a wide array of payment methods. Today, Centili is connected to more than 280 telco operators, reaching over 4 billion mobile users in 80 countries. With a local presence in 10 markets, Centili also provides local expertise and support. 

 

The company’s product portfolio is built on in-depth industry knowledge, local market presence, and years of large-scale cooperation with digital merchants and mobile operators.  

Centili recently pivoted from transactional business to a platform-as-a-service model, making the whole organization strategically driven, scalable, and growth-oriented. The company has also launched some innovative products like Centili Maestro - cloud-based platform for monetization ecosystem orchestration, Centili Fusion - a digital bundling platform, and Conversational commerce - a pioneering concept blending messaging and payments.

A Team Player with a Focused Mind 

Dina Janevski Farcic is the Senior Vice President of Marketing in Centili.  Dina focuses on building the company image and repositioning it from transactional to platform-as-a-service brand and business model. Dina says that this transformation and the recent launch of some groundbreaking products are helping the company make a shift in the revenue structure, implement new ways of thinking, and attract fresh talent globally. 

Dina is also engaged in developing Centili as a business brand. She believes that for companies, especially in the area of financial services, it is crucial to build a solid reputation and customer trust. Dina states that Centili can now display its industry knowledge and technical expertise, after being in the market for over a decade. She looks after the launch of this refreshed company story and new brand, as well as various product marketing activities considering the width and ambition of Centili’s product portfolio.

Throughout her career, Dina has supported companies in building a strong customer and employer brands, positioning in the marketplace, and enabled them to go through digital transformation, which is very much relevant in the current industry ecosystem. Dina reveals that she held managerial roles in international organizations, especially in fintech, telecommunications, broadband & multimedia, and spent most of her career in the areas of IT and telecommunications. Dina also possesses significant experience in the creative industry, which aids her in conceptualizing visual storytelling and building communication platforms.

Acknowledging Each Milestone in Her Journey

There is no specific one-time achievement, but rather certain experiences and people that profoundly influenced her thoughts and growth, says Dina. She moved abroad young and this transition, she believes, helped her in becoming more independent and expanded her viewpoints as she had to adapt to various cultures, navigate and manage everything by herself quite early.  

Dina elaborates how her education also played a significant role in shaping her career. Dina graduated from Webster University Vienna and later did executive education at INSEAD, London Business School and Columbia Business School. She says she encountered some of the most inspiring people in those classrooms, genuinely motivating her to learn and pursue what she enjoys doing further.

Lastly, Dina remembers some of her leaders and big projects she was a part of, which helped her in developing and finding sources of motivation in the business challenges. Dina says that these experiences have been valuable in her life and feels grateful for such a motivational journey.

Transcending Your Fears 

While speaking about challenges, Dina says that all people are sometimes blocked by their fears, including being too young or inexperienced, being new in an environment, and being a woman in a male-dominated industry. However, she feels that people most often fear the change and sometimes stop themselves from stepping outside the known terrain. According to Dina, all those feelings are natural and it is important to acknowledge them, but one should strive to grow a healthy dose of confidence and appreciate oneself for the strengths and achievements.

The World Needs Inspiring and Adaptive Leaders

Dina suggests that leadership is not about expertise (although it’s important to have professional credit), but that real transformational leaders are people with a strong sense of purpose, novel direction, and who can inspire and drive others. 

According to Dina, good leaders aim to surround themselves with great talent that complements their own. They don't see a risk someone will overshadow them, but rather embrace the opportunity to learn from others, with others, and create a bigger picture together. 

However, she says periods of uncertainty like the current crisis need leaders who can lead in change. And this often means not knowing the answers, but asking the right questions. Dina views that such leaders will be willing to take calculated risks, pivot and adapt quickly. They work by coaching others and delegating authority. In this digital era and with disruptive technologies, people seek leaders who are supporting innovation within the organizations and can build a culture of experimentation, concludes Dina. 

Walking with the Customers

Centili is committed to customer excellence and removing frictions. The company aims to know its clients well, understand their businesses and pain points, and then creates solutions to address them. Dina reveals that Centili always builds, tests, and validates ideas with clients when creating new products, and invests in development only after getting real-life feedback and insights. 

Centili offers highly customizable products and considers each client almost as a product itself. Dina mentions that in B2B world, it's crucial to solve the B2C problems your clients may have. So, at Centili they carefully monitor end-user behavior, do lots of AB tests, and aim to master the end-user experience to deliver value for their partners.

Excelling in Digital Monetization

To address the changing digital landscape, Dina states Centili will keep launching various ‘as-a-service’ offerings. The company believes that the post-pandemic recovery will accelerate a shift away from owned infrastructure. In Dina’s words, the company aims to ride the platform model as the next big thing in digital monetization and service delivery. She believes that this will be a vital shift as many businesses seek to recover from the pandemic's economic impact and accelerate their digitalization efforts.

Digital monetization is now developing in ways that encompasses customer acquisition, engagement, and experience, apart from payments. Dina says that the company anticipates conversational commerce to be a hot topic in this space, and is looking forward to future projects in which Centili pioneers new use cases that might innovate the industry. 

Believe in Yourself and Follow the Passion

Dina says that the key thing is to discover and pursue one’s passion - not what is expected or available, but what excites you. She believes that only then one can give his/her best and find a source of energy in the work done. Dina finds us lucky to live in the times where digitalization is bringing more opportunities, wider access to information and is lowering barriers. She suggests we should use this momentum and draw inspiration from great (women) leaders all around.