Despite the pandemic, Yıldız Holding maintained its employment targets set at the beginning of the year and offered employment opportunities to 5,300 people in the first half 2020. Creating employment especially in food and retail industries, the Group increased its total number of employees in Turkey to 51 thousand.

Exporting goods to more than 100 countries through its snacks, frozen food, and fat & oil business units, Yıldız Holding made USD 330 million worth exports with the products it manufactures in Turkey and delivers to all continents.

“We created employment for 5,300 people in the first six months of 2020”

• After a successful performance of TL 65 billion revenue in 2019, we maintain the same performance with a strategy focusing on food and retail businesses. We started the year 2020 with the goals of contributing to the national economy and gaining competitive edge in global competition, retaining our strong position and leadership in the markets, and ensuring a double-digit growth.
• In parallel to these goals, despite the unexpected emergence of the pandemic, we successfully managed all operations in the first half of the year and continued to contribute to the national economy and the society. In the first half of the year our Group increased its consolidated revenue by 18 percent and EBIDTA by 16 percent year-on-year.
• In the same period, our Group companies offered employment opportunity to 5,300 people and the total number of employees in Turkey reached 51 thousand. 
• Employment especially increased in our growth areas of food and retail. In our technology and e-commerce organizations, we recruited earlier than planned, i.e. end of the year, and we created new job positions. Except for some functions that require frequent travelling, we did not postpone recruitment for any position.
• We will continue to recruit in various functions such as IT, finance, strategy, sales, marketing, HR, and corporate communication until the end of the year. In addition to new graduates, we will also recruit mid and senior level executives.

“Turkey is the production base of our Group”

• As of today, Yıldız Holding has 61 factories, 38 of them being in Turkey. 21 factories abroad are located in 13 different countries.
• Thanks to many products of various categories produced in Silivri and delivered to the USA, our exports in the first 6 months of 2020 reached USD 330 million.
• We are proud to see that the products manufactured in our factories in Turkey meet consumers throughout the world, carrying the label “Made in Turkey”.
• Our goal is to make Turkey an even stronger production and exports center. We plan to reach double-digit growth in export rates by the end of the year.
• As we currently grow in the West African, Middle Eastern and American markets, we also aim to increase our sales in Europe, especially in Germany, Italy, France, and Spain.

“We planned an investment budget of TL 800 million in Turkey”

• We continue to make investments that will contribute to improving Turkey’s strength. The total of our investments in our country in the last five years reach TL 3.8 billion.
• In line with our strategies and Turkey’s growth potential, we allocated a budget of TL 800 million for investments in 2020.
• In addition to these investments, we aim to increase the number of Şok Marketler stores to 8,000 and Bizim Toptan stores to 179, while also raising the number of the vendors of SEÇ Marketçilik, our new joint stock company, to more than 1,000.
• Obviously, these increases also mean creating further employment for our country.

“Our teams introduced many digital applications”

• Digitalization is one of the major topics we work heavily on. As Yıldız Holding, we adopt an end-to-end approach to digital transformation, covering all areas – from the supply chain to consumers.
• Our IT and Internal Communication teams cooperated to meet the need for teleworking due to the pandemic and introduced many digital applications.
• For instance, to make sure that our employees feel well and get support whenever needed during the pandemic, we launched the digital application “How Do You Feel”. The chatbot developed by our IT Directorate is activated as soon as employees launch Microsoft Teams on their PCs or mobile devices at 8:30 AM. If an employee is not feeling well, responsible workplace doctor and the HR department is informed immediately. Then, through constant communication with the employee, the process is monitored and taken under control. 65 thousand Yıldız Holding employees of more than 70 different nationalities start the day by using this application.
• We have transferred coincidental encounters and quick conversations that we used to have at our Çamlıca Campus to the “Digital Corridor” within the framework of the “new normal”. The “Digital Corridor” application matches employees randomly per week and enables them to socialize online. The system brings randomly selected employees together on the online platform every week. Currently available for the employees of Çamlıca Campus, Digital Corridor will be extended to all Yıldız Holding companies soon.
• Job@Yıldız Holding program that we designed to support young people in making more informed career choices and gaining corporate experience before starting their professional business life is held online this year with the title ‘Virtual JOB Experience’. Through this program, we provide internship opportunity to 3rd and 4th-year university students and a career opportunity to new graduates with the aim of supporting the employment of young people, while also introducing the industry and business life to them.
• We used to have face-to-face Job@Talks meetings and we continue to hold them on the digital platform. Thanks to this program, we regularly come together with young employees and share our experiences with them. We also discuss Yıldız Holding’s strategies within the framework of unity of purpose and hear their suggestions. In our most recent online meeting, we had the opportunity to come together with employees in various countries.
• We believe that those who make the best of time will be forerunners of the future and therefore we take actions today to prepare our employees for the future of the business. We launched the Analytical Academy program to support our employees in adapting to the data-oriented technologies. With this program, we aim to make sure that our employees adapt to the new digital business world and improve their intellectual know-how in data literacy.

“We announced 2020 to be the Year of Investment in People”

• No matter what we go through, 2020 will be remembered as the “year of investment in people” at Yıldız Holding. Next generation leaders ready for the future of our business and experts with very diverse approaches will be raised.
• Throughout the world and in Turkey, “the future of our business” changes rapidly. It is vital for us to accurately analyze what awaits us both individually and in a corporate sense and to be prepared for potential conditions before everyone else.
• As our needs, technologies, and ways of doing business are being updated all together, so will the competencies required for “success”. Digital technologies will become the major drive in economic growth.
• Therefore, all companies need to invest in developing new competencies that will be required in businesses of the future. That is exactly what we, as Yıldız Holding, work on.
• We have been investing in employee trainings such as digital transformation, agile project management, and design thinking for approximately three years.
• Our goal is to consider this period as the “year of investment in people” and shape our human resource accordingly.
• In addition, we employ competent professionals in this area to strengthen our functions. We aim to work with people who are open to learning and change, who are highly tolerant against uncertainties.
• We will improve the competencies of our existing and future employees in line with the needs of our corporate culture and the digital world. By closely monitoring new business areas, we will implement individual and organizational plans accordingly.