LEAD Turkey Chapter
18 October, 2017

 

Women of Retail aim to soar

“Increasing the number of women at the upper management increases company profitability”

LEAD Network Turkey, established with the mission of supporting women leaders in retail and consumer goods sectors and increasing the number of women in upper management by helping their progress, held a press meeting on October 18th in Istanbul.

The meeting was hosted by Fusun Tavus, the President of the Board and Aysun Zaman, the Vice Chairwoman with the presence of Mick Broekhof, one of the founders of the LEAD Network, to bring the role of women leaders in retail and consumer goods sectors to the table.

Fusun Tavus made a presentation highlighting women leaders’ challenges, gender diversity issues and the development of LEAD Network Turkey. She elaborated on employment in Turkey and shared research findings and figures, underlining that the Retail industry employees 13.6% of workers in Turkey. Within the Retail Industry in Turkey, 23% of employees are women. She also added that women globally make 70% of the purchasing decisions and that companies that have women in upper management increase their net profits by 6%.

She shared exciting developments and that LEAD Network Turkey has now reached 125 individual members and plans to reach 200 by the end of the year. Tavus mentioned that major retailers such as Migros, Carrefoursa, Metro, Tchibo Turkey and major producers of consumer goods such as Unilever, P&G, PepsiCo, Coca- Cola İçecek, Lila Kağıt are among the many supporters of LEAD Network Turkey.

Tavus also highlighted the LEAD Network Conference that will be held in Amsterdam on the November 2nd & 3rd, where the Turkish members will have the opportunity of meeting Muhtar Kent, Chairman of the The Coca-Cola Company, at a special event.

Mick Broekhof, called attention to number of women leaders in Turkey and Europe and stated that the figures are not at a desired level within the retail and consumer goods sector. Further, Broekhof shared the research done at the LEAD Network in Europe. He said that he is greatly impressed with progress and works done in Turkey and how Turkey has set a great example for other countries.