Yıldız Holding Chair Ali Ülker highlighted their commitment to their global values and continued growth driven by the “Make Happy, Be Happy” philosophy and said: “We consider inclusion and cultural diversity the richness that makes us who we are. Unlike organizations focusing on profitability, we focus on the common interest of our world and all stakeholders, driven by a sense of sustainable and responsible growth.”

Having focused on enabling social value in all its operations since its foundation, Yıldız Holding continues growing through its efforts towards contributing to society and the environment. Highlighting that they run their operations with a perspective based on sustainable and responsible growth at the press conference he held, Yıldız Holding Chair Ali Ülker shared up-to-date information on the social impact projects they have implemented in recent years. Yıldız Holding Global Public Affairs General Manager and Yıldız Holding Women’s Platform Ambassador Begüm Mutuş, Yıldız Holding Chief People and Business Officer Bahattin Aydın, and Yıldız Holding Chief Financial Officer Fahrettin Ertik also attended the conference.  

Reminding his statement, “In 2020, when I started my tenure during that major global paradigm shift, I adopted a leadership style that matched the conjunctural changes and the spirit of the time and chose to focus on social value driven by the belief that profitability cannot be the ultimate goal,” Ali Ülker said they made significant progress in such areas as sustainability, equal opportunities, and youth employment in the 4 years that have passed since then. Ülker added: “We aim to carry our Holding’s ‘Global Leadership’ another step forward through global investments while maintaining our steady and strong growth in Türkiye. We will continue our global leadership journey with dedication, driven by a perspective that delivers, inspires the future, and prioritizes social value as we grow with our stakeholders.”                                                                                            

“Our business has become time- and space-independent.”

Reminding that the global pandemic hit only 10 days after he became the Holding’s Chair, Ali Ülker said: “We gained significant experiences in that challenging period. The ability to ‘manage uncertainty’ amidst the global chaos stood out as the primary skill that was needed. With the global pandemic, our business has become independent of time and space. Of course, long-established organizations such as Yıldız Holding must preserve their essential values during sudden changes.” Remarking they aim to enable social value with each step and adopt such global values as equal opportunities, diversity, and inclusion to that end,  Ali Ülker added: “Such rooted values do not wither, however, some need reinforcing, updating, and adapting to the current state of affairs.” Ali Ülker also mentioned they took the opinions of the Holding’s three thousand employees worldwide as part of the “Corporate Culture and Values Survey” they conducted during the pandemic.

“We are creating a corporate culture that fosters equal opportunities and inclusion.”

Ali Ülker stated since 1944, they have been driven by their vision of “Investing in People” and philosophy of “Make Happy, Be Happy” across many regions worldwide with their business partners and tens of thousands of employees. “We believe that creating a value-based yet living and innovative corporate culture is one of the fundamental elements that will carry us into the future amidst the changing and developing global and local agendas. As Yıldız Holding, we carry out fair processes that include all our stakeholders and maintain our relations based on reliability and transparency in the light of our ethical principles. We respect diversity and create a climate that fosters equal opportunities and inclusion. We inspire the future by centering our operations around social impact.”

“We have created the final version of the Yıldız Holding Working Principles.”

Mentioning the efforts of the Yıldız Holding Working Principles Platform, Yıldız Holding Chair Ali Ülker said: “Our manifesto and commitments are ready. We will create these principles, which also aim to measure our values' action areas and performance, under ‘Justice, Transparency, Reliability, Inclusion and Equality, Effective Governance and Responsible Leading Holding.’ We are aware of the fact that these values are only significant to the extent that they are brought into action. We will also build a systematic, quantifiable, and monitorable structure for this purpose.” Ali Ülker highlighted they have around 80 thousand employees across quite a broad geography that extends from Türkiye, India, and China to the United States, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom, from 98 different nationalities, and that the greatest wealth they have is their ‘people’.”

“We will continue devising globally recognized, leading projects.”

Ali Ülker stated they created Yıldız Holding Women’s Platform to address equal opportunities with a more focused approach and align all companies under the same roof in 2021. He said they structured their approach toward equal opportunities and women’s empowerment under the ‘Yıldız Holding Women’s Platform Equal Opportunities and Women’s Empowerment Manifesto.’ He also mentioned that this initiative by Yıldız Holding was cited as an example to the world at the United Nations General Assembly and chosen as a case study at  London Business School.

Begüm Mutuş shared Yıldız Holding Women’s Platform’s globally recognized projects that were implemented within such a short time after its foundation and mentioned that the Holding created an impact of over USD 10 million for women entrepreneurs in the last three years through projects it implemented driven by this vision, such as “Women Stars of Agriculture” by Kerevitaş and “Count Me In” by ŞOK Marketler. Stating they offer global grants through the Lady GODIVA Initiative to non-governmental organizations working toward equal opportunities, inclusion, and women’s empowerment in their societies every year, Mutuş said Ülker’s project with the Turkish Soccer Federation (TFF Ülker Geleceğin Yıldız Kızları Projesi) was another such project aiming to offer equal opportunities to girls under the age 15 in soccer.

Highlighting they attach substantial importance to “diversity and inclusion,” which are closely associated with the principle of equal opportunities, Ali Ülker talked about how they create space and offer equal opportunities in recruitment to neurodivergent individuals (autism, attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity, and obsessive-compulsive disorder) by eliminating the barriers in hiring criteria through pladis’ “Neurodiversity Network” project.

“I learn a lot from this generation.”

Stating that particularly the youth prefers companies that can “give back to society,” Ali Ülker said: “Young people today want to work for ‘purpose-driven companies.’ The concept of purpose-driven companies is nothing new to us. For the last three years, we have been listed among the top Holdings as part of the ‘Most Favored Companies’ survey. We were featured on the ‘Türkiye’s Best Employers’ list for the last two years.  Today, we see four generations working simultaneously in our Holding and companies. I consider myself a ‘mentee’ of this generation. Gen Z makes up 29 percent of our employees. I am all ears around these young people. I learn a lot from them.”

Stating that they prioritize contributing to the youth’s continuous development along their career journey, Bahattin Aydın shared some information about their industry-leading projects: “We receive 30 thousand applications for our JOB Young Talent Program, which we have been running for 13 years.  1200 project-based interns and 500 people have benefitted from our program until now. We also implement other programs and projects that appeal to the youth’s expectations.  Most notably, our Youth Advisory Board where our young talents are involved in decision-making processes, continues its inspiring efforts. Our practices are not just aimed at our employees. We also wish to get together with young people outside of our organization.  We collaborate not only with Türkiye’s leading universities but also such prestigious global academic institutions as the Harvard and Cambridge Universities and host students from across the globe at our campus.”

“Our sustainability efforts are driven by our ‘Waste-Free Company’ business model.”

Emphasizing the “Waste-Free Company” business model as the core of their management approach at Yıldız Holding, Ali Ülker said: “Since the first day of my tenure, I have prioritized sustainability. Sustainability is the basis of our business strategies at Yıldız Holding. As we continue our global efforts to reach our goal of “net zero” by 2050, we have accelerated our green transformation investments in all our companies. We also develop innovative projects that positively impact our entire value chain. As part of our annual Stars of the Year Award Program, we reward the innovative projects of Yıldız Holding employees for the added value they create. I also give a Chair’s Award with a different theme every year. Last year it was dedicated to Environmental Sustainability. However, I didn’t give it to any project explaining I would give it the next year to encourage our companies to implement projects driven by a holistic perspective and touch our stakeholders as well. This year’s award went to Ülker for its successful performance at the London Stock Exchange Group and its integrated sustainability vision.”

“We believe in the healing power of healthy nutrition, exercise, and art.”

Ali Ülker said they assume responsibility for raising social awareness, particularly for upcoming generations, and added: “Giving back to society is essential to our operations. The ongoing projects of the Sabri Ülker Foundation, which we founded to contribute to social awareness on nutrition and healthy living, have already reached over 7 million students, parents, and teachers across 25 provinces and 250 schools. The books published by the Foundation’s publishing house have reached over 5 million readers. I believe in the healing power of art from the heart. Around 2000 works of art in the Yıldız Holding Art Collection are displayed for art lovers at our Holding’s Çamlıca Campus. And it is not just sports, education, and arts that we support. With our collaborations with NGOs and volunteer efforts to create social benefits, we are always there for those in need.”

“We back our social impact projects with our financial power.”

Highlighting that financial success is critical to implementing all these projects, Ali Ülker talked about their goal of achieving global growth through their focus strategy. Yıldız Holding Chief Financial Officer Fahrettin Ertik shared the following information on the Holding’s financial results: “We continued taking steps that added value to the national economy and employment uninterruptedly through Yıldız Holding and its companies in 2023 and we achieved a consolidated revenue of USD 13.5 billion with a year-on-year increase of 15 percent. Our overall export reached USD 817 million as of December 2023, with a year-on-year increase of 10 percent. We also brought our indebtedness down to a satisfying level. Yıldız Holding reduced its syndication debt to USD 1.1 billion, which was USD 6.5 billion before syndication in April 2024. Our investments within the last 5 years (2019-2023) have reached USD 1 billion. Our total investment budget for this year is USD 330 million in Türkiye and abroad. In 2024, we will continue our global leadership journey uninterruptedly driven by our focus strategy and goals.”

Yıldız Holding by Numbers

• pladis stands as the fastest-growing company in the global snacking industry
• Türkiye’s leading company in the snacking category
• Leading biscuit company in the UK, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt
• 46 factories 25 of which are located abroad
• 80 thousand employees (65 thousand in Türkiye)
• 6 R&D Centers in Türkiye
• Consolidated revenue of USD 13.5 billion in 2023 by a year-on-year increase of 15 percent  
• Overall export of USD 817 billion with a year-on-year increase of 10 percent as of December 2023
• USD 1 billion investment within the last 5 years
• Total investment goal of USD 330 million for 2024, with USD 246 million in Türkiye