Agah Uğur: “We must understand very well where and why we need to digitalize.”
Mr. Uğur, we have known you for over a year as a member of Yesim Group's Board of Directors, but you are also a person we have been following and looking up to for a long time due to your valuable work in the business world. We want to get to know you better and draw inspiration from your achievements in the business world. First, could you tell us a little about yourself?
I was born in Istanbul and completed my university education in Industrial Engineering in the UK. After returning to Türkiye, I worked as the Financial Affairs Group Manager at Emlak Bank and later as CFO and CEO at Borusan. During my career at Borusan, we increased the company’s revenue from $540 million to $4.8 billion. After retiring in 2018, I served on the boards of directors of companies such as Yeşim Group, Doğan Holding, Pegasus, Anadolu Efes, Coca-Cola Türkiye, Gözde Girişim, and Abdi İbrahim; and stepped into technology investing, and invested in a total of 31 start-ups. Currently, I am a member of the TÜSİAD’s Presidents Council and the Board of Trustees at Sabancı University.
You have been on the Board of Directors at Yeşim Group for the past year. Can you tell us what you have been working on during this time?
Boards of Directors have three primary responsibilities: setting a direction for the management, supporting the management, and overseeing the management. At Yeşim Group’s Board of Directors, I work to fulfill these functions within the framework of modern and effective governance principles. I am actively involved in issues such as strategic focusing, growth-based approach, financial discipline, and organizational structuring. Coming from another professional background, I provide a different perspective to support the chairman and members of the board of directors. Essentially, I assume a role akin to a "sounding board", offering an alternative viewpoint and facilitating the exchange of ideas.
For the past year, you have been with us in many different settings and in the meetings that we hold each month. During this time, you have had the opportunity to observe us from various perspectives. What do you think are the strengths of Yeşim Group?
Yeşim Group has many strengths. Its deep-rooted history and corporate culture, which highlight its values, put the company in an advantageous position in every relationship. It has a determined leadership team capable of making fast and bold decisions. The synergy between the owners and senior management is very evident. There are people who are highly knowledgeable in their fields, and their expertise is at a level that can be taken as a reference in the industry. Additionally, there is a corporate culture that encourages the desire to improve and learn. Yeşim has successfully established long-term relationships with major clients and has a structure that demands constant efficiency and strategic thinking. These characteristics are just a few of Yeşim’s strengths.
A matter of utmost importance to us is the principle of "People First," which we inherited from our late founder, Şükrü Şankaya, and have advocated for years. What does "People First" mean to you, and what significance does it hold for you?A matter of utmost importance to us is the principle of "People First," which we inherited from our late founder, Şükrü Şankaya, and have advocated for years. What does "People First" mean to you, and what significance does it hold for you?
The "People First" philosophy highlights the fact that your founder was a prominent entrepreneur, and this principle is such a valuable legacy. The fundamental elements that drive the growth of organizations are finance, people, and the way of doing business. However, without people, neither finance nor the way of doing business is possible. From a company’s perspective, people are the most critical asset. On a personal level, every individual's fundamental responsibility is to be happy. Long-term happiness rests on two main pillars: love and appreciation. To love and be loved, to succeed and be appreciated are crucial for an individual to feel valuable. For someone spending 10 hours a day at work, feeling valued there is critical for their overall happiness. Therefore, the way the companies approach their employees determines their happiness.
Everyone says "People First," but this is often just a phrase. People want to be trusted and take on tasks and responsibilities. They need support systems to achieve success, and this success is crowned by both material and moral appreciation. Working in a corporate climate based on love and respect promotes happiness, and this, in turn, elevates the company's performance to another level. The difference in saying "People First" emerges as part of a corporate culture that was established by your late founder and has continued to the present day, and this is very important for me.
Corporate culture and values are the most important elements that make a company survive from generation to generation. Thus, we aim to share these values and culture with all our employees through events like "Conversations Among Us." What are your thoughts on this?
Rooted companies have their unique way of doing business, which is shaped by the behavioral codes of the individuals. Elements such as how you make difficult decisions, your approach in daily interactions, and your understanding of authority determine these codes. The climate of every organization is shaped by its values, and these values should in fact be the guides of our behavioral codes. Looking at Yeşim’s values, I see a few but significant values, and I commend you for that. They have been very well defined from the past to the present. You have clear values like performance orientation, sustainability, walking alongside the customer, and saying "People First."
Rooted companies have their unique way of doing business, which is shaped by the behavioral codes of the individuals. Elements such as how you make difficult decisions, your approach in daily interactions, and your understanding of authority determine these codes. The climate of every organization is shaped by its values, and these values should in fact be the guides of our behavioral codes. Looking at Yeşim’s values, I see a few but significant values, and I commend you for that. They have been very well defined from the past to the present. You have clear values like performance orientation, sustainability, walking alongside the customer, and saying "People First."
You should view your values as impeccable as the grass courts in tennis and act accordingly. Each employee contributes to the company's success by internalizing and reflecting these values in their daily lives. Values are the cornerstones of a company’s success, and each individual is responsible for upholding them.
Digitalization and technology are of great importance for companies and organizations. Where do you see Yeşim in this regard? What should we do to seize the opportunities?
No company can say "I’m good" in the journey of digitalization. A company making such a claim might find itself in a difficult situation in a few years. The definition of digitalization now also includes artificial intelligence. Using data effectively and strategically in digital environments is a situation whose effects we have not fully felt yet, but we should be afraid of falling behind. Digitalization is crucial for creating dramatic efficiency. If we want to change our customer approach, satisfaction, presentation of new products, and business models; and if we want to increase our revenue, digitalization is our only option. Therefore, if we want to be different in 3-5 years, this may be a necessity and a trend beyond our preference.
Some sectors, particularly banking, digitalized very early. Others are lagging behind, but everyone will reach a certain point. We must use digitalization. Words like digitalization, innovation, and entrepreneurship have become generic due to their overuse. We need to understand very well why and where we need to digitalize. We should focus on topics that touch the customer, increase revenue, and enhance the customer experience. We must focus on areas that can significantly improve our efficiency and provide cost advantages, and we should not dilute these two main focuses.
The success stories of others will guide us towards new and more significant projects. To move on to bigger and more ambitious projects, we can consider the less significant ones and use them as a source of motivation. However, we must at least acknowledge that we are at the beginning of the road. Even if we are good, we are still at the beginning of the road, and I believe we are making a new beginning in this area.
At Yeşim Group, we have placed great importance on gender equality since our establishment. We also know about your sensitivity to this issue from the companies and NGOs you have been involved in. Why do you think gender equality is so important, and how does women's participation in the workforce benefit the economy?
I am pretty clear on this issue. For the world's future to be better, women must have a greater representation in management. Many academic studies show that companies with women in management are generally more successful. Women are capable of making balanced decisions and bringing a different perspective to life. When equality is achieved, these balancing attributes brought by gender provide a significant advantage. Women are often more objective and eager to find the truth. With half of the population being women, not utilizing this potential is a huge loss. The world discovered this reality in the last 100 years, but there are still barriers in this regard. Factors like religion complicate this progress, but we must overcome these barriers and ensure that women have a greater presence in the workforce. In the future, we will look back and be astonished at how few women were in critical roles at the present day.
Thank you for this inspiring conversation.
