The Hindu Business Line : Olives as Turkish delight

When you quiz her on the Turkish economy and the kind of progress the country is making, with a broad smile she warns you, "First of all let me tell you I love my country passionately. I'm really fanatic when it comes to all things Turkish. I think Turkey has a lot of potential but unfortunately we don't have the right people to manage us."

The passion and earnestness come through in the voice and eyes of Deniz Atac, General Manager of Zepa Marketing Inc, a big player in the table olive sector of Turkey, as she continues, "We need better people in key positions of power."

Would things improve if more women came into politics?

"Yes, but only if good women came into politics. More than men and women, I believe we need to differentiate between good men and good women," she says, adding that corruption is a big issue in Turkey. "But generally speaking, women tend to be less corrupt than men; I don't know why, but this is the case."

Deniz, one of the few women executives holding a leadership position in the olive sector, began her career in banking, but as Is Bank, one of the biggest financial groups in Turkey, owns Zepa marketing and Zepa Antgida, (the production company with a massive plant with a processing capacity of 50,000 tonnes of olives), she joined the company.

Deniz graduated in business administration from the Istanbul University in 1985, and opted to major in finance "as this was the time the financial sector in Turkey was growing. It was also a good time for women in the financial sector." She began her career with the Citi Bank in Istanbul and then shifted to a French bank.

For a year she was also the vice president of the Istanbul Stock Exchange, but is not a keen investor in equity because "the equity market here is still in the hands of a very few people, and is hence speculative. It needs to have more depth for regular people to invest in it."

On the transition from banking to olives she says, "I moved to Izmir (an hour's flight from Istanbul) for a while as I didn't want to live in Istanbul at that time. It was too difficult, with the traffic and the overcrowding so I moved to a more reasonable place. But in Izmir there were not many opportunities in the financial or banking sector, so I worked in a tile factory for a while and this opportunity came up. I knew people from Is Bank thanks to my long association with the banking sector. But it was a challenge because I didn't know much about the olive business but I did work hard and made it to this position, " she smiles.

Persevering efforts

On the kind of special skills or strengths she has brought to the job as a woman and a finance professional, Deniz says, "First of all, we women are more patient. This was a long journey so one needed patience to keep on and not give up during difficult times. There have been difficulties in this job and I believe lot of men in this position would have left. Two, coming from banking, I have a broader way of looking at things, and that also helps a lot. And on a personal front, I like it because this job involves dealing with a lot of people, farmers, consumers and our mandate is to push good production processes that improve the quality of the food."

She adds that through stringent quality norms, her company has contributed to improve the quality of the Turkish olive sector. It serves both the domestic and export markets, offering stuffed, pitted, sliced, wedged and halved olives and oil paste and olive salad. "Our policy is that we don't sell what we ourselves wouldn't eat. Food is an important and sensitive area with a lot of responsibility because you are directly intervening in somebody's nutrition. But I like it; it's like a missionary job and am proud that my company has contributed a lot to improving the Turkish olive industry," she says.

In an Islamic country like Turkey, how do men react to a woman boss? Has she faced difficulties in this area?

"Not at all. Only once in Izmir, when I first went to a company I had the feeling that they didn't take too kindly to a woman boss, but I cannot say that I had disadvantages in my career being a woman. To tell the truth, I had advantages because women are very well accepted, people deal with you very politely. If you use your `feminity' they treat you differently. But if you go as a professional they treat you as an equal and a professional. I never brought gender into the picture in my work and so it never came in the way!"

Deniz is divorced and when asked about children, she says, "This (her workplace) is my only child and it is eight years old. But talking about children we have recently introduced interesting olive products for children which are fortified with vitamins and flavoured with caramel, etc."

Gender issues

When one expresses surprise that for a Muslim country there weren't too many women wearing the veil or hijab, she says, "Well, we have everything, but some women do cover their heads. On women's rights, I'd say it's okay but things have to improve for the women on the Anatolian or east side."

On the personal front, Deniz thinks she was "very lucky because my family is not typically Turkish; my parents are broadminded and always treated my brother and I equally. In 1975 I studied in Dallas for one year; my brother was there, so I applied for a scholarship and got it; it did good for my English! My mother's parents didn't let her go to school so she always said: `You will go to school, you will finish education, and not get married before completing it.' She never put pressure on me to work hard at school and said just go and study. I was really lucky. But if I say all Turkey is like that, it wouldn't be true, I was really lucky."

The political sphere of Turkey is male dominated, and there isn't adequate representation of women yet. But in the financial and insurance sectors women have a very strong presence, though not at the very top. "Even in our office there are a lot of women; our marketing chief is a woman and the IT and foreign trade managers are women too!"

India positive

On the perception of India in Turkey, Deniz says, "There are very positive feelings about India here and I too am very positive about India. I find Indian people very intelligent and particularly good at maths and engineering. I have met them in banking circles; the last time I went to Dubai I found the financial sector full of very good Indian professionals. I'd love to come and spend some time there and I will. It's a growing market that we have to look at sooner than later. There is also a lot of interest at the culture of India, and your economy is doing very well too."

She is bullish on the Turkish economic growth too but feels "there is still a lot of hot money in our economy." When you marvel at the high interest rate — above 20 per cent — at which farmers and corporates alike borrow, she says, "But it is at the lowest now; we used to have 70 per cent interest rates about 7-8 years ago. We have very high inflation, which they are fighting, and we have a long way to go to balance our position."

Deniz admits that she's a workaholic; "I don't relax, I work a lot. I used to do a lot of sports, but in the last eight years really haven't had time for much activity. I'm trying to walk, realising that I'm getting on in age. I used to play a lot of squash, which was very good, but I'm not in good shape to play it anymore!"

So how long does she work?

"To tell you the truth, in the first two years I used to work for 16-17 hours a day, seven days a week; it was a big challenge." Her work, she adds, continues to be a challenge but she enjoys it tremendously. "We emphasise a lot on new products; right now we are working on different types of olive paste — plain, with garlic, onions, pepper... or one that can be put in cookies. I travel a lot and it is really interesting to study different markets, try to understand their eating habits, and try to weave in your products into their eating habits."

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