DEMSA EXECUTIVE BOARD CHAIRMAN
DEMET SABANCI ÇETİNDOĞAN
This month our guest from the business world is the decisive and industrious Demet Sabancı Çetindoğan, who is one of the most important business women in Turkey, featuring on Fortune magazine’s list of the “Most Powerful 50 Business Women in Turkey”. Rather than taking the easy route and joining the Sabancı Holding family business, she chose to start anew and established DEMSA with her husband, channeling extensive investments into many fields, including retail sale, media, medical and tourism sectors. While the Sabancı name comes with certain pressures of responsibility, she said, it was an advantage in certain areas: “We are trained to utilize what we have at hand for our nation, not ourselves. We are now educating our children with this same approach of responsibility.”
Article by M. Ferhat YÜKSEL, Photographs Çetin PEHLİVAN
DEMSA EXPLAINS US BETTER
Following your 20 year career with Sabancı Holding, you left to establish a new company. What led you to take such a decision?
Yes, I worked for 20 years at a textile plant belonging to Sabancı Holding, but our dreams (with her husband, Cengiz) were different. We saw new horizons in the service sector and so chose to take that difficult path. In the end, we forged our own path as we wanted to set an example for those with a desire to go their own way. In fact, DEMSA is a means of expressing ourselves as Demet & Cengiz Çetindoğan. Sabancı Holding is of course my foundation, and the trust of my family is extremely valuable for me and for my country. DEMSA, however, expresses us better. The story of Sabancı carries the signs and spirits of my father, my uncles and my grandfather. Their accomplishments are so great that none can equal them, but naturally, Turkey needs new and other works as well.
How has the Sabancı surname and Sabancı Holding affected your experience today?
People think the name we have makes our lives easier, and you cannot change that. Frankly, I admit the name Sabancı was an advantage at certain situations, although most of the time it brings responsibility. We were trained to utilize what we have at hand for our nation, not ourselves. We now are now educating our children with this same approach to responsibility.
“LUXURY IS EASIER TO REACH”
What do you think about sales on the internet? Is it a prerequisite target for you?
We are recording vast increases every year on comparison to the previous year. For example, we have seen 60 percent a growth in our orders this year, and this momentum keeps going. In 2017, we ranked in the top five shops in sales, and we intend to hit the top 3 this year. We receive close to 1 million clicks per month, and thanks to advances in technology, products with a “luxury” label but with a more affordable price are now reachable by more consumers through credit card and installment purchases. In the cities where we have no physical store, we can reach everyone through Internet sales. Making luxury fashion reachable by everyone has been expressed as the “Democratization of Luxury”, and it is the Internet that makes this possible.
FUTURE VISION OF TURKEY: ONKİM
Can you elaborate on the establishment of the ONKİM stem-cell center, founded in 2016? How did you get the idea for ONKİM?
We made an investment with ONKİM for the future. We could have established a hospital, but instead we chose to open a stem-cell center. We always look for a social aspect in the work we do, and the aim with ONKİM is to bring new longterm benefits. In this regard, ONKİM is our most precious investment, as in a way it represents the future vision of Turkey. The future of the healthcare sector is in stem cells, and this leads us to work with top-level scientists. We see this as an investment for tomorrow, and we believe its real value will be understood much better in the future. I am trying to prove my responsibility to mankind with this investment, and our hope is to become a regional power in this field. We cannot say that a general awareness has yet been created, however, though the importance of our efforts is started to be understood by some people. In the future, this field will develop not only in Turkey but in all over the world, and even would be redefined by some legal criteria. Come that day, because of the efforts of ONKİM, Turkey will be at the forefront. ONKİM has completed skin revitalizing works through stem cells. What we do as ONKİM, we specially multiply stem-cells extracted from a person in our laboratory for stem-cell revitalizing works on that person.
You are operating two hotels in Istanbul. How do you evaluate the latest developments in the tourism sector?
Yes, we are operating Pera Palace and St. Regis Istanbul. Pera Palace is in Beyoğlu and is somewhat of a fairy tale, being over 125 years old. Pera Palace shares the history of over a century, and has a guest list featuring many famous people, starting with Agatha Christie, who inspired many writers, and who holds a special place in Turkish and foreign literature.
St Regis, on the other hand, is the pearl of Nişantaşı as a brand new hotel. It is the white-collar facility of Istanbul with its enlightened appearance.
2018 WILL BE A RETURN TO NORMS IN TOURISM
Evaluating the sector, I try to be optimistic. In fact, the sector started to improve in the second half of 2017 and has been continuing along a positive path. We hope that 2018 will be even better than the previous year. 2018 is important for the tourism sector, and is expected to be a “back to normal” year.
You entered the world of media with thematic broadcasting? What was your intention there?
Starting with retail, fashion and textiles, we decided to enter the media world with Fashion TV and so we established MediaSa Broadcasting Co. In the fields of fashion and culture, I had some projects that I wanted to realize with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and we were able to initiate them. In fact, we were the first in many areas for Turkey. We initiated entrepreneurship in broadcasting, but I should admit that we were not very successful; it is a difficult sector.
Which sectors do you think have potential for the near future in Turkey? Is there one that is winking at you?
As I mentioned earlier, digital marketing, but also informatics and technology, stem-cell in the health sector, renewable energy, industry, education, defense. All of these are showing promise. For example, it was 10 years ago that we established the ONKİM Stem-Cell Technology Co., and in January 2010 we signed a contract with the Arthro Kinetics Company and started producing cartilage tissue.
How do you feel about investing abroad? Do you have any plans in this regard?
As a basic idea, we invest in Turkey, for Turkey. We are trying to create employment opportunities.
FIGHTING CENTURY-OLD HABITS
Let’s talk about women and the difficulties they face, such as violence and inequality. We see that the violence and negative discrimination suffered by women is still there and is more visible thanks to social media. What do you think is the reason for this?
At this point, we are fighting century-old habits that are in the genes of our society. One can say that this is a global problem, because the modern world cannot break this habit. It is for this reason that new generations should grow with new messages, as this could be the guarantee of welfare, peace and security.
VIOLENCE PASSED DOWN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION
Unfortunately, violence against women is a problem in Turkey. The pressure, mobbing and violence sustained by women have reached a worrying level in our country. We see that women face more abuse in societies where men are seen as superior, and where the roles of men and women are more clearly defined. In other words, violence passes down from father to son, while victimization passes from mother to daughter; this is how violence is passed down from one generation to the other.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IS EXPANDING
What do you think should be done to raise awareness of the problem of violence and pressure against women?
It is at this point that we need long-term positive policies to be put in place by the state, because this is a subject that brings with it serious sociological problems. Women need to be well-educated and integrated into the economy, as this will boost the welfare and peace of our people and society as a whole.
Violence against women is unfortunately spreading quite rapidly. I believe the perpetrators of these crimes are increasing in number due to lack of legal punishments, and the negative results of this are reflected on society.
No one should try to find logical explanations for such behavior, nor should they feel the need to explain the sociological reasons behind them. The only way to protect women against violence is through legal routes, although the education of women is also a must.
You have a special interest in social responsibility projects. Can you tell us about this interest of yours?
I allocate a significant proportion of my time to social responsibility projects, and to this end, I am working voluntarily on many social projects in support of, for example, talented children and female entrepreneurs, and in the protection of antique art, and I am happy to do this. Maintaining a sense of responsibility within society puts at the threshold of new and significant ventures. I work to support women and children alongside TİKAD (Turkish Business Women Association) and the Creative Children Association.
Within all these responsibilities you are also the “Adana Honorary Consul” of Hungary. Is it not difficult to find the time for such endeavours? And why Hungary?
Yes I am the Adana Honorary Consul of Hungary, and at first I was worried about taking up the role, but I believe balance and planning are extremely important for our lives. I strongly believe in the need to develop economic relations, as well as historical and cultural ties, between Turkey and Hungary, increasing the quality and quantity of services to Hungarian citizens related to Turkey, and sustaining the historical ties between our two countries well into the future. I love Hungary, and I see many similarities between Budapest and especially Debrecen and Adana.
You are also somewhat of a collector. Can you talk about this?
We love art and visiting art galleries, and we love researching paintings. When you do this, you find the meaning of colors, expressions, forms of expression and the real story. It is like a riddle. I believe we purchased our first painting five years before the Millennium, and I have come to love paintings and sculptures. My husband Cengiz is more professional in this field, and we now own a valuable collection that includes classical Turkish paintings and modern Turkish art. We also own examples of Islamic art that date back to the 13th century. We do not concentrate only on one art form, and we are trying to build a DEMSA collection that currently includes pieces by Yakut Mustasimi, Ahmed Şemseddin Karahisari, Şeyh Hamdullah, Hafız Osman, Mahmud Celaleddin and Mehmet Şevki, who were experts in Turkish Calligraphy, and there are also paintings from the second half of the 19th Century, which is accepted as the advent of Turkish painting in history, including portraits by Osman Hamdi, landscape paintings by Şeker Ahmaet Paşa, still lives by Süleyman Seyyid and Hüseyin Zekai Paşa, portraits by Halil Paşa, figurative landscapes by Ibrahim Çallı, Bosporus paintings by Nazmi Ziya and works by Şevket Dağ.
