Female successors in Turkish business shaking the thrones of the males

This view is so widespread that in cases where there are no male heirs to take over, sons-in-law are often brought in rather than handing the business over to female heirs. The perceived importance of the participation of the son-in-law in business leadership rather than having a female successor is a culturally significant point. Experiences and changes in the structure of family businesses in recent years, however, have begun to indicate that these views may be changing.

When the terms "heir" or "successor" are mentioned in such businesses now, no longer does everyone think of males. And this is not just true for the larger companies in big cities such as İstanbul, but also for companies throughout Anatolia that are in the process of growing, becoming well-known brands and opening up to world markets while allowing their female successors to take the steering wheel.

There can be little doubt that it has been some of Turkey's best known companies that have been leading the way in these developments. There are now female heirs who control the boards of directors and some of the highest positions in companies that have made the list of the 500 largest industries in Turkey announced annually by the İstanbul Chamber of Industry (İSO). Despite the fact that these female heirs currently don't number many more than you could count on your fingers, these are still women who are climbing fast in their businesses and who have increased the level of their influence to be equal to that of their brothers. In Anatolia, in the meantime, the idea of a "female boss" is becoming more and more widespread. For now, women are finding success in reflecting the characteristics that are particular to their gender right back onto the businesses they head.

Becoming heir to a business: the process begins in childhood

The process of adapting an heir to his or her business is one that begins in childhood. Heirs are family members who grow up alongside the businesses they will one day inherit. Often the childhood of these second generation company leaders corresponds with what is actually their training period for inheriting the business. Hande Berkmek Başoğlu, who took over one of Turkey's leading electronics companies, Tekofaks Panasonic, from her father, Ayhan Bermek, is one of those people who has been in the business since she was a child, thanks to the active work of her parents. Her first serious business relations with Tekofaks began after she received her university education, after which she worked in every part of the company, from accounting to marketing, and from the warehouse to human resources. And, of course, she accompanied her father on numerous business trips during this period. She points to all of this experience as being critical for a family member who is a candidate for taking over a business.

For Kütahya Porcelain board member Sema Güral Sürmeli and her siblings, the process of adapting to business life in the family company began with going back and forth to the company by riding on the Kutahya Porcelain employees' bus. Currently, Sema Güral is responsible for the porcelain aspect of her family's business, while her sister, Hediye Güral Gür manages their giant health tourism investments in Sapanca, and her youngest sister runs the packaging factory. Of course, the presence of many siblings in this family has made it easier for them to open up into different sectors, with each sibling having a different natural interest in different areas. Sema Hanım herself became an expert on ceramics and porcelain at university and is now quite satisfied to be heading up a business in which she is both genuinely interested and in which she received an education. Despite the fact that she runs the business as a whole, she spends most of her time in the center where the porcelain is designed.

12-year-old at a business meeting

One interesting story from early life in a family business comes from the Deputy General Manager of Malkan Makine, Mutlu Alkan. When Alkan was only 12 years old and was on her spring break from middle school, her father brought her along on a trip to Germany to attend a trade fair. Though Mutlu had only studied a few months of English in school, her father told her, "Alright, why don't you try to meet a few people here and find out what business they do and where they come from." Thus, he basically left her to her own devices at the trade fair, a memory that Mutlu refers to as her "first serious test" in business life.

Mutlu notes that following primary school she began to go back and forth between her father's businesses and that after she formally joined the company, she received training in everything, from servicing the equipment itself to the cleaning of the business headquarters, and then working her way from secretarial work to accounting in the ranks of the company. Now she is responsible for exports, in addition to occupying the position of deputy general manager.

Gözde Sarar, a board member of one of Turkey's leading clothing companies, Sarar, started out her adventure in business by playing with pieces of fabric but later had her first serious experience with responsibility for men's dress shirts for Sarar. Now she heads up Sarar Kadın (Sarar Woman).

At Tat Bakliyat, based in Mersin, Deputy General Manager Tuğba Memiş started in her family business by using the fax and photocopy machines and then working her way up. She was eager to work in every department of the company to try and get to know it better. She is now responsible for the company's export and human relations departments.

As for Leyla Alaton, she believes that as companies begin to grow, sign more partnership deals with foreign entities and become more international, the classic views of succession no longer apply the way they used to. Noting that the sons and daughters of many well-known company owners now study subjects such as photography, art and architecture when they head off to university, Alaton says: "Let's say your father works in textiles, but your spirit is one of an artist. How can you be locked into doing textiles? Is there really such a requirement? These days a significant number of families are no longer forcing their children to follow in their footsteps like this." She notes that her own children are under no obligation to work at her family's business, Alarko. In fact, she even goes as far as to say, "I would prefer that they didn't." She believes they will be freer and happier in simply finding their own paths.

Nuşin Oral, the president of the Shopping Centers and Retailers Association (AMPD), is also a board member for her family's company, YKM. She is highly involved not just in the retail business itself but in the institutionalization of family businesses in general. She believes the third generation of a family is often in a more advantageous position than the second generation. This is because when the second generation starts to work in these companies, the first generation is still involved in the business, and their perspective is still what guides the way the company is run. Thus, the third generation, if and when they decide to come on board, have more freedom of movement and choice. Oral notes that starting from the second generation of family business leaders, businesses generally start to distance themselves from their original entrepreneurial spirit, feeling the need instead to put down deeper institutional roots. She says: "Companies that do not do this actually experience problems because they start getting more and more crowded in the third generation, and the problems begin to increase. But if you can take some serious steps toward institutionalization, you have taken steps in terms of the future stability of the company itself. Just as every ship can only have one captain, there cannot be a company with lots and lots of leaders. If you don't institutionalize, the company will have problems later." In fact, in companies that experience steady growth and no problems in harmony between the company founders themselves, the fact that the company starts getting more and more crowded by the third generation actually gives more of a chance for different kinds of investments due to all the different interests of the third-generation family members. This is why in certain sectors, settled companies often trust the trained family members that only recently joined the company to head up investments in new sectors.

Women are detail-oriented, prudent and reasonable

So what is the unique difference for the companies out there that are seeing an increasing number of female successors rising in their leadership ranks? What is it that female heirs to businesses are set to change in business life? In fact, one shared dimension of female successors is the similarity in their positions. Nearly all of them seem to be responsible for their companies' export, marketing and promotional divisions. In this sense, they lead the functions that guide their companies outward and head them toward institutionalization. Hande Bermek notes that women are generally detail-oriented and stresses her own belief that women business leaders tend to be more disciplined. Gülden Güral seconds this, noting that women's attention to detail in leadership positions allows them to grab on and work with topics that men might have missed. Her older sister, Hediye Güral, says that women tend to have more common sense and prudence in leadership positions than men, noting that this allows them to make healthier decisions at critical moments. Esin Keskinoğlu also draws attention to this point, talking about her experiences as the only female on her company's executive board: "I tend to act more calmly in the face of various situations. I am able to draw on my empathy for people. My human relations skills are good, and I contribute to the strengthening and straightening out of inner family dynamics. I don't act impulsively, I usually base my actions on reason. I don't react immediately. My leadership style involves more tolerance and understanding."

For her part, Tuğba Memiş notes that it does appear to be a shared attribute among women that they tend to be more successful, especially in marketing and communications. In pointing this out, she underscores the communications abilities, emotional intelligence and determination of many women in these leadership positions. These are all characteristics, she notes, which tend to push women forward during the process during which their companies are growing and becoming more institutionalized. Gözde Sarar of Sarar clothing points to an even more concrete example of the difference women make, using an example from her own experience: "I try on every item that we produce. I examine the cut, the lengths, everything about the style. So of course, these are advantages."

As for company leader Ayşe Bağcı, she points to a concrete and dramatic experience from her own life. Noting that when she began working in her father's business there were no other women working in the fishing sector, Bağcı says she was forced to make herself accepted despite reactions to her position that in retrospect seem like jokes: "We don't want to talk with you, isn't there someone else there?" or "Aren't there any men in charge in your firm?" Bağcı was not swayed by these reactions and managed in just two years to prove herself a capable female leader within Turkey's fishing sector. Another woman with experiences that could be classified as tragicomic is Mutlu Alkan. She had to work for a long time before gaining acceptance in the machinery sector, one that had long been dominated by men and men alone. For some time, she was even referred to as "Mutlu Abisi" or "older brother Mutlu" by those who had never actually met her in person.

Much more can be said about women's contributions to the businesses they work for, but Sema Güral ends the discussion by noting the multidimensional aspects of the general lives of these female business leaders. The mother of two children, Sema Güral could literally write a cookbook if she wanted to; at the same time, she could also be creating her own porcelain in an atelier if she so chose. She underscores her belief that what really makes women unique is their ability to plan and implement so much at the same time. She notes that women who are in leadership roles at work are also able to organize the schedules of their children at home. Güral notes that while women think about both their homes and their jobs, men tend to simply go off to work and forget the home. No matter how much a woman goes to work and takes on leadership responsibilities in a business, she still remains responsible for everything at home as well. Women working in this system have absolutely no choice but to be detail-oriented, disciplined and perfectionists.

Children join business trips

In talking about what women contribute to family businesses, it seems inevitable for the conversation to turn to matters of family and children. The roles of wives and mothers are often the shared dimensions between the women in these leadership roles, no matter what else is different. For women in higher leadership roles, if they have children at home, the question becomes how much time they are able to spend with them and how to make the most of this time. Sema Güral has two boys, one 7 and the other one-and-a-half years old. She says she believes that having children ties people to life more closely and changes their perspective, allowing them to feel more empathy for others.

As for Hediye Güral, she notes that while having children and a career can be difficult for women, women who run their own business are definitely at an advantage. She herself returned to work only one month after giving birth to her baby and decided to take her baby to work with her. Of course her work hours were more limited at the time, but she underscores her belief that it is important for a child to not be separated from his or her mother until a certain age. Other businesswomen speak of similar situations. They have all experienced the advantages of working in a family business. For example, Esin Keskinoğlu gave a room at her workplace to her daughter in order to not be separated from her. Hande Bermek is another business executive who not only brought her child to work with her but even on business trips. Perhaps not surprisingly, most businesswomen executives we spoke with brought their children with them on any long business trips they had to take.

In fact, our conversation with Mutlu Alkan occurred right on the heels of one such trip. Mutlu Hanım, who brought her 4-year-old daughter along with her on a business trip to South America, says: "She came with us to our trade fairs in Argentina and Peru, dusted our machines, helped pass out brochures and offered some of our customers candy, though of course she wound up eating most of it herself. She sometimes misbehaves at home, but she never bothers me at work."