Women cooperatives to empower women in work life in Turkey

On May 13, 2014, an explosion at a coal mine in Soma, Manisa, caused an underground mine fire, which claimed the lives of 301 miners.

One of the e-mails I received on this horrible incident’s anniversary was about the success of the relatives of those who lost their lives.

The “First Women Entrepreneur and Management Cooperative,” which the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey (KAGİDER) has initiated with the municipality of Soma has turned into a cooperative run by women.

The cooperative produces uniforms to be exported by KAGİDER member Rana Tülin Yazıcı, who is the founder of the company Dres Best. The uniforms exported by Dres Best to 42 countries used in airports, hotels and hospitals are produced by the women of Soma.

Some 98 percent of Dres Best’s revenues come from it exports. The company has donated the whole infrastructure, including all the machines in the atelier.

In addition, the women of Soma were provided a year-long training by the tailors of the company.

The target is to go beyond 10 percent of production 

Tülin Yazıcı, who has been working with the cooperative since 2016, has encouraged other companies to work with the Soma women cooperative.

Yazıcı who was selected in 2016 as woman entrepreneur of the year by KAGİDER, said her aim is to grow the cooperative and to carry 10 percent of Dres Best’s production to Soma.

Getting organized within cooperatives in different work branches will empower women in work life.

Nestle to invest 100 million liras

NESTLE is one of the oldest companies investing in Turkey.

Its story in these lands started in 1875 with ready-made baby food. In the same years, it assumed the official title of supplier of chocolate to the Ottoman Palace. In 1909, it opened its third sale office in İstanbul in Karaköy, after London and Paris.

I recently had a chance to talk to Nestle’s Turkey CEO Felix Allemann about the company’s 109 year-old journey in the country and its future investments.

Nestle, which recently made headlines by announcing it would pay Starbucks $7.15 billion in cash for the rights to sell the U.S. coffee chain’s products around the world is set to continue its investments in Turkey.

The company is planning a 100 million lira investment for the period 2018-2023 according to the information provided by Alleman.

Support to Antep pistachio 

With an outreach to more than one billion people in 189 countries, Nestle is a company with one of the biggest R&D networks in the food industry.

It has an annual $1.7 billion dollar R&D investment, employs five thousand scientists and has its signature under 80 patents.

The most important innovation in Turkey is its production of the world’s first chocolate with Antep pistachios in 1933.

In collaboration with the Antep Pistachio Research Institute and the Turkish Foundation for combatting soil erosion (TEMA), Nestle has invested 7 million liras in a project to promote the local product.

It has provided seven years of training to more than 150 producers, which have increased productivity by 52 percent with 10,000 pistachio trees.

This is important for Turkey, which produces 20 percent of the world’s production. Some 120,000 people in Turkey make a living from of it.