More women joining corporate boards
Tat Gıda General Manager Arzu Aslan Kesimer, who received the “Boards Empowered by Women Award” at the “5th Independent Woman Directors Conference,” said there are three women, including herself, on the company’s board of directors.
“The chairperson of the board is Semahat Arsel. Caroline Koç is also in the ranks of the board. The meticulous approach of Semahat Arsel sets her seal on Tat Gıda,” Kesimer said at the conference, organized by Sabancı University’s Corporate Governance Forum of Turkey.
The other board members listed on the Tat Gıda website are Rahmi Koç as deputy chair, as well as Ömer Koç and Ali Koç among the other members.
“We will give votes to one of the two seats allocated for the independent members to a woman,” Kesimer added. Women will therefore hold more than 30 percent of the seats on the Tat Gıda Board of Directors.
Mert Engindeniz, a member of Board of Directors Member of Klimasan, also appeared on stage to receive an award at the conference.
“Ayşe Güçlü Onur and Gamze Cizreli have joined the Board of Directors and we have seen their significant contributions,” he has said.
Jesper Kjaer, Senior Executive for East Europe and Central Asia at World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, gave the message at the conference that two of the board members appointed to the five Turkish corporations they have been investing in are women.
“More efforts should be put in order to change the subordinate roles attributed to women by the society,” Melsa Ararat, Sabancı University’s Corporate Governance Forum Director, emphasized.
Austrian FM picks Turkish designer
Meanwhile, new Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl recently visited Turkish fashion designer Atıl Kutoğlu’s store in Vienna. Kneissl bought a gown from Kutoğlu for the Vienna Opera Ball that took place on Feb. 8.
Kutoğlu was in New York for business when Kneissl came to the shop but the minister reportedly invited Kutoğlu to the ball.
“I was very happy that the Austrian foreign minister wore a ball gown that has the feel of the Turkish culture,” Kutoğlu said.
Big success of the small company
After a meeting of daily Hürriyet at the İzmir Atatürk Organized Industrial Zone, I visited the facilities of Kastas Sealing Technologies at Menemen Plastic Expertise Organized Industrial Zone. There I had a chat with Haydar Atılgan, the board chair and CEO, and Bircan Atılgan, the company’s international marketing manager.
“We made our first export shipment to France in 1994. In 1996 we moved to a factory of 2,500 square meters in the Atatürk Organized Industrial Zone,” Bircan Atılgan said, adding that they have been granting distributorships overseas since 2000.
“By 2006, the number of countries where we have made trademark registrations reached 50. We opened a representative agency in the U.S. We founded the R&D center in the same year,” he said.
“In 2015 we set up Kastas Europe GmbH Sales and Logistics Center in Hamburg. In 2016 our exports figure was 10 million euros and it rose to 12 million euros in 2017. We are now in the top five in Europe in the sector and in the top seven in the world,” Haydar Atılgan added.
Joining the top five in Europe and top seven in the world with an annual turnover of 21-22 million euros is certainly a big success for a small-size business.