The Innotex International Exhibition has hosted key players in the innovation and technology ecosystem throughout its history, and this year, Golrang Ventures, with its presence in the side sections of Innotex, stood alongside the main and value-creating players in the innovation ecosystem.
The Innotex Stage, which is an opportunity for exciting and challenging conversations with the aim of building a culture of entrepreneurship and hearing the unheard… as well as the Innotex Pitch national competition, which is an opportunity to challenge the ideas of professionals and review startup plans in six provinces of the country.
Golrang Ventures CEO’s Speech on the Innotex Stage
Solmaz Sadegnia, CEO of Golrang Ventures, began his remarks at the Innotex panel with his 18-year presence at Golrang Industrial Group. The panel, held on the second day of Innotex 2024 at Pardis Technology Park, hosted individuals from the country’s innovation and investment ecosystem.
- امیر الحاجی مدیر عامل اسنوا ونچرز
- Yahya Palizdar, CEO, Mobarakeh Steel Venture Capital Fund
- Morteza Musakhani Consultant Golrang Industrial Group
This panel, titled “How are innovation processes created in large companies?” was held in the Innotex Stage section.
Business model innovation
Sadeghnia chose “innovation in business models” as the key phrase of his speech and continued:
When examining the innovation environment in Golrang Holding, which focuses on several industries, in addition to innovation in product production, the most important issue is “innovation in business models,” which distinguishes it from other related industries. Over the past years, various business models have been created and implemented in Golrang Industrial Group, which has led to different growth in its companies. Business models such as:
- Creating a capillary distribution network, which was the most extensive capillary distribution network in the country in the late 1970s.
- The first musical advertising teaser that still stands out after nearly 30 years.
- Dual branding, private label, and franchise are other business models of Golrang Industrial Group, which have been active in its various companies for many years.
In fact, Golrang has transferred its lived experience from one industry to another and used it to grow the market.
How to bring innovation into the heart of the organization
One of the red lines of the Golrang Industrial Group is addressing individuals with words such as “employees and personnel.” We all address each other at all levels only as “colleagues.”c
At Golrang Industrial Group, each person is the CEO of their own activity and accepts responsibility for everything they do.
We believe that the external manifestation of each of these thought and behavioral models can lead to creativity and the creation of different business models among our companies.
An experience of intra-organizational innovation
In the mid-1980s, we encountered a challenge in the powder industry that was causing customer dissatisfaction. After much brainstorming, a colleague’s solution was implemented in the production line, and the problem was solved by increasing the moisture content of the powder.
This model of ideas and thinking has increased so much in various companies of the Golrang Industrial Group that we have created the Golrang Innovation Prize and are working at all levels among colleagues to register ideas and solutions. In fact, innovation is ongoing within the Golrang Industrial Group and certainly stems from the thoughts of its founder, whose crystallization is visible in the organization’s performance.
The panel concluded with a memory from the second generation of the founder of Golrang Industrial Group; Mehdi Fazli, the current CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors, in which he emphasized human value and dignity.
We believe that each of these behaviors will have a significant impact on the performance of Golrang Industrial Group employees and on innovation within the organization.
*Winning and losing is not the end of this journey*
The last day of Innotex included the seventh final competition of the Innotex Pitch National Selections, where Solmaz Sadeghnia also participated as one of the judges. This competition was held among the selections of the 6 provinces of Kermanshah, Sistan and Baluchestan, Yazd, Tehran, Bushehr and Urmia, and after evaluation and judging by the respected judges, the Amir Farm team from Tehran and Dopamine Abi from Kermanshah finally won the national title of this competition.
Final words
In the end, the CEO of the Innovation and New Technologies Center of Golrang Industrial Group, while summarizing and announcing the criteria for reviewing the projects to the audience, stated that he does not consider winning and losing to be the end of this path and that ultimately it is effort and persistence that contribute to the success of the teams.
