1990 - 2006 PERFETTI VAN MELLE GIDA SANAYI VE TICARET A.S.
In March 1990 I have joined Perfetti at the very beginning of their investment in Turkey, as their Sales and Marketing Manager.
Perfetti is a family owned Italian Group in chewing gum and sugar confectionery. While the investment was continuing for building a manufacturing plant in Buyukcekmece, Istanbul, I have started to establish a sales force out of scratch in order to reach the wholesalers in Turkey. After the investment was complete, we have launched first Big Babol and then Center Fresh to Turkish market. Both of these chewing gum brands were very succesful. In fact Center Fresh became an iconic gum brand in Turkey for more than a decade. Under my leadership, the sales team performed a very succesful penetration in Turkish market despite having strong local competitors like Baycan and Dandy Turkey (Intergum). At the end of our first year, we have reached to 30% market share and 60% numerical distribution. In 1992 I have been promoted to the Commercial Director position.
Following the export hype emerged in Turkey after the end of the cold war, I have started exporting to East European and CIS markets from Turkey which helped the company to develop faster. Seeing the success we have made in exports to East European and Caucasian countries, Perfetti headquarters decided to start up a trading company in Romania and a branch office in Kazakhstan and appointed me to realise both projects in addition to my responsabilities in Turkey.
In 1995 my title have been changed as the General Manager of Sales and Marketing and I have been included into the Board of Directors of the company.
In 1997 I have been appointed as the Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Perfetti Turkey proceeding the two Italian Managing Directors. I was the first local Managing Director of Perfetti affiliates out of Italy at that time. Following the rapidly developing sugarfree chewing gum segment in Europe, in 2000 we have launched succesfully Vivident as the first locally made sugarfree gum brand in Turkey which still continues to be the leading brand of this category.
Under my management, we have also performed a breaktrough transformation in the manufacturing premises of Perfetti Turkey, and it became the best production unit out of Italy in the Group. Having high quality standards, flexible production abililties, well established supply chain infrastructure, Perfetti Turkey became a major production hub for European markets for Perfetti.
During my era of 16 years in Perfetti we have managed to stop Wrigley to penetrate in Turkish market two times. Under my leadership, Perfetti Turkey has adopted high professional standards and several local executives from my team have taken international assignments in the Group. We have also managed to adopt to the changes in the trade environment rapidly. In 1995 Turkish trade has shown a major change from wholesalers to exclusive distributorships which led us to change our way of working radically.
Perfetti currently has one of the best distributorship operations in Turkish trade with more than 400 sales vans visiting retailers regularly.
Perfetti still follows the premium pricing and fast innovation strategies developed during my tenure.
During my years in Perfetti I have reported first to Rag. Gianfranco Trippini and later to Dr. Ubaldo Traldi who were the CEOs of the Group.
I left Perfetti in 2006 accepting an offer from Yıldız Holding (Ulker Group).
Perfetti has acquired Dutch confectioner Van Melle in 2002 and Spanish confectioner Chupa Chups in 2007 and became the 3rd biggest sweet confectionery company in the world with well known brands like Mentos, Alpenliebe, Vivident, Fruit-tella, Chupa Chups.
2006 - 2010 YILDIZ HOLDING A.S.
In 2006 I received an offer from Yıldız Holding to reorganize their gum and candy business. I have assumed the General Manager and Board Member position in Baycan A.S. which manufactures gums and candies. I have increased the level of professionality of the management by eliminating the minority shareholder family members from the management ranks, and employed a professional management team. I have also realised major savings by improving quality standards in production and increasing three times the productivity per direct labor hour .
In order to increase the product portfolio, in 2007 the Group has acquired, with my proposal, a small liquorice candy manufacturer Horizon A.S. I have also assumed the responsability of this company. In Baycan, we have improved the gum quality within the available technology limits and have relaunched the suffering Chewydent gum brand under Chewy branding. However due to heavy competition and strong innovations in the industry, this relaunch has not performed as expected. Additionally, in order to control the distribution better, a dedicated distribution company has been established in 2008 under my management. The new distributing company, Etkin Gida Pazarlama A.S. has managed to build its own distributor network in a short period of time with 400+ vans and managed to cover more than 100.000 retail outlets regularly.
In 2007 I have initiated and managed joint venture talks between Wrigley Co. of USA and Yildiz Holding. However when Mars Inc. has acquired Wrigley, these talks ended unfruitfully.
In 2008 I have started joint venture talks with Danish Gumlink A/S (ex-Dandy) in order to obtain the missing gum technology. I have led all the negotiation process on behalf of Yildiz Holding, and in April 2009 the parties have signed a 50/50 joint venture agreement for manufacturing gum and candies in Turkey.
In 2009 I have been promoted to the Group Coordinator for Gum and Candy Confectionery position to coordinate all existing companies in gum and candy business unit and also the process of building the new joint venture company Continental Confectionery Company A.Ş.
I have erected a new manufacturing plant for the new joint venture in Corlu. I have also planned and executed the transfer of the production lines of the joint venture parties to this new facility.
During my tenure I have also served as a board member in five companies of Yildiz Holding.
I have left Yildiz Holding in November 2010.
Yıldız Holding is the largest FMCG group of Turkey with its11+ bill. USD turnover and companies all around the world. Yildiz Holding owns strong well known brands including GODIVA and ULKER.
2011 - Present
After leaving Yildiz Holding at the end of 2011, I have decided to sart my own business as a consulting company. Together with Mr. Guldenir Kurtar (CPA), we have established The Istanbul Consulting Company (TICC) to offer consulting services to foreign companies planning to enter in Turkish market, as well as to Turkish companies who look for foreign partnerships. We are also offering coaching for corporate transformation projects to companies. For more information about the services of TICC please visit our website.
