"RedCore is a business group where everything is built around the core: people, products, and shared values"

RedCore is an international business group whose brands develop and implement innovative solutions for digital markets. In this interview with Yogonet, Oksana Izmailova, Chief Human Resources Officer, explains how to create an effective system within such a large-scale structure, what opportunities specialists are given, and what makes the company attractive to top managers.

RedCore encompasses multiple areas, such as fintech, e-commerce, and regtech. How do you manage to get specialists from all these fields to work as a single system and deliver results?

It all starts with the core, as is literally reflected in the name of our business group. At the core of RedCore are our corporate values, which underpin the profile of our professionals. This is a shared vision of business goals and strategies, and how we move towards them. At the core, naturally, is our team of managers who work on the projects. And, of course, our CEO, Marina Ilina, is someone who is involved in the creation of absolutely all brands.

The products themselves are designed around this core, which is the main focus of the business, and each new direction should strengthen us. Now, to answer your question, our business group is built around this core. Accordingly, we may have many areas of work, but they are all united by shared principles, processes, and goals. It's a single organism built around the RedCore core.

You’ve talked a lot about the people who form this core. How do you find and retain these kinds of strong professionals in a highly competitive environment? Everyone offers salaries and bonuses. But what else do you offer as a top employer in the market?

For C-level professionals, working with us is a unique opportunity to gain entrepreneurial experience and bring your ideas to life, using all the resources of the business group with maximum support. Specialists can create a product, introduce it to new markets, and test their hunches in real life — opportunities like this are few and far between.

At the same time, managers have access to both the financial and expert resources of a large business group. To give you an idea, many of the brands that are now part of the RedCore line were conceived and created by our professionals, who were bold and motivated enough to say, “I have a great idea, the market needs it, so let’s do it.”

That is, if I am the Team Lead of a small team, can I propose a new idea, pilot it, and bring it to market?

Exactly. First, the idea is piloted within the group. If it works and is useful, the product’s economics are calculated, and then it can be launched externally. There are cases of RedCore professionals rising from small teams to CEOs of their projects.

What motivates those already at C-Level? How do you recruit people like this?

I’ll answer with a personal example. Five years ago, I was faced with a choice: did I want to join RedCore? Three things motivated me:

First, a chance to build something new. Here, professionals are truly tasked with launching new products, teams, or entire divisions. Simply put, working here is very exciting.

Second, a long-term collaboration strategy, both with professionals and with partners and clients. This reassures you that the business group is consciously establishing itself in the market and growing steadily. This gives you reassurance.

Last but not least, sound management and a competent team. It mattered to me who I would be working with, what values people had, and how much they wanted to grow together. I knew I could grow with Marina Ilina. She listens. What we have is partnership and dialogue. This is extremely important.

Incidentally, open communication is one of our principles. All specialists working at RedCore know that they can contact a manager at any level and receive a response. This gives them an understanding of how and where they can move forward, what they need to do to grow.

The result is: rewarding work, confidence in the future, career growth opportunities, and a healthy team environment. Plus, obviously, competitive salaries, bonuses, and other benefits. Sounds good, I think.

When a business grows rapidly, the structure can become overly complex. Is the growth of young professionals hindered by red tape?

We keep red tape to a minimum. We aim to maximise response speed. If someone is passionate about implementing an idea, we hear them out as soon as possible. So you propose an idea, and within a couple of days, you get a thumbs-up or some clarifying questions.

Obviously, implementation also takes time — not because of approval, but because of resource allocation. It may be necessary to start recruiting talent or rebuild the team for new business goals, calculate the budget, or simply change the priority of projects.

What matters most is that our organization encourages new ideas and the desire to try something different.

But this isn’t about red tape — it’s about efficient processes. And ours is very transparent and understandable for every specialist and applies to all brands in the business group. This is imperative so that every specialist understands the rules and knows what steps to take for growth, both in terms of business and personal development.

What’s more important to you when scaling: developing your existing specialists or attracting new ones?

We consider the people on our team first. They know our product, our client profile, have the necessary expertise, and share our values. They’re already part of our team, they have already been through a certain journey with us and may be ready for promotion.

Sometimes there is no right person inside the business group, so we open an external vacancy. This has been the case for all nine years.

What about fresh ideas? Doesn’t a business miss out by not getting external expertise?

Perspective is also an important component of succeeding in the digital industries. Especially since we have numerous partnerships and connections with investment funds, and we attend major global events almost every month.

At the same time, we actively seek to strengthen our current team of professionals. If we see that a person is capable of strengthening a specific area, even if we don’t have an opening, we will most likely offer them a place on the team.

Recruiting is increasingly moving online. You, on the other hand, actively seek out people at conferences. Is that effective?

Very effective indeed. Face-to-face, you can immediately get a feel for the person and see how much they share our values. It can be said that offline communication is becoming rare, but it remains an essential element in hiring.

HR processes work especially well during conferences because the entire industry, and often the people we need, are all under one roof. Oftentimes, we meet a great professional, but they are not currently looking for a job. They come back to us after a while, open to new career opportunities.

If I asked you to describe RedCore in three words, what would you say?

Inspiration is the first word that comes to mind. But also respect and, naturally, pride. These words describe the way I feel about the business group best.

Today, RedCore has over 4,900 specialists working with brands. What are your plans for future development?

Honestly, we’re not aiming for a specific number. We do not have a target of reaching 6,000 or 7,000. Our priority right now is automating processes where possible, so that our specialists can focus on strategy and creativity rather than wasting time on routine tasks.

We’re building an environment where everyone can implement their ideas while effectively achieving business goals.

RedCore is a business group where everything is built around the core: people, products, and shared values. RedCore facilitates the implementation of ideas, professional growth, and strategic development. This, arguably, is the formula for being a leading employer — the ability to offer not only an interesting project, but also room for professional growth.