The presence of women in professional and private live, has been one of the most discussed topics of recent years. Although they legally and ethically have the same rights as men, women are exposed to almost all kinds of discrimination, especially social and individual violence, which is why they are trying to be heard more loudly with each passing day. One area they are trying to be heard is the business world. In many fields that are considered male-dominated, women started to create much more space for themselves. One of the companies that carry out effective, egalitarian, institutional and structural works in this field is the Limak Cement Group. The company makes a difference with its egalitarian approach and practices without distinguishing between men and women. Women managers tell us about the project and approach of Limak Cement Group towards women.
Ebru Sipahioğlu
Chief Technology Officer
Women engineers work effectively and success-oriented with their individual characteristics powered by women’s nature
After graduating from the Department of Chemical Engineering of Inönü University, I started my work life as Laboratory Engineer in the cement sector in 1995. Starting my career as a laboratory engineer, being a woman engineer in an environment with only male technical staff, and the evolution of my job description through a struggle to get myself and my job accepted as a Quality Control Engineer was a cornerstone for the industry and for me.
By demonstrating the awareness that this work cannot be managed by only being in the laboratory without existing in the field, I have seen every step of the process through experience.
I joined the Limak Cement Group in 2006 as Quality Control Chief at the Limak Gaziantep Cement factory. Until 2008, I took part in quality management system studies, and especially in the establishment of the laboratory and quality control system. In the same factory, I worked as Quality Control Manager between 2008-2011, as Group Quality Control Director between 2011-2020, and as R&D and Technical Center Director at the beginning of 2021 at the Limak Cement Group, and as of November 2021 I continue my work as CTO.
In my 26 years of cement industry life, I would like to say as a women engineer, manager,
and mother of twins that women engineers create awareness in the vision and dynamism of the sector and they show effective and success-oriented work performances with their individual characteristics powered by women’s nature.
The processes, in which I took part in the development, dissemination and certification of innovative and environmental products for the sector within the scope of our group’s R&D and innovation studies, included innovative products in the market, using alternative raw materials in cement production, cement with low carbon footprint, and industrial symbiosis. With these studies the ETA (European Assessment Documentation) certificate was obtained from EOTA (European Organization for Technical Assessment) under the name of Cement with Coal Bottom Ash (CCBA), which enables the use of bottom ash in cement production for the first time in Turkey. Our efforts to bring mineral additives and fuel alternatives of our country to the cement sector with resource efficiency continue.
Şule Öztürk
Corporate Sustainability and Climate Change Manager
Gender balanced development can only be possible with inclusion and diversity
When I started my career at Limak Cement Group as an Environmental Engineer in 2014, duties and responsibilities of environmental engineering were still being discussed in Turkey and in the sector, and similar problems were experienced in terms of employment.
As one of the companies that have adopted a sustainable business approach, our group acts with the awareness that long-term existence in the changing and developing world cannot be achieved only by monitoring and controlling legal obligations. At this point, we have understood that companies, investors, and governments should take precautions against the threat of climate change, and bitter experiences of losses caused by natural disasters.
We know that sustainability development goals for business life will determine the future policy direction at international, national, and regional levels, that companies will not be able to seize opportunities unless they align their business strategies with BBDs and translate them to their corporate governance language, and that those may be left outside the game with new business models developed.
I undertook the task of monitoring and controlling the compliance criteria of IFC, World Bank and Equator Principles regarding the international financing processes of the factories in Thrace, Kilis, Ivory Coast and Mozambique, whose investments we have completed. We have also taken serious steps to improve our group’s stakeholder management processes with our achievements in the necessity of carrying out the social approval mechanism simultaneously in addition to the legal processes in the fields of activity.
With the Corporate Sustainability and Climate Change Department, which I assumed the leadership in 2021, in line with the principle of Taking Urgent Action to Combat Climate Change and Its Effects (SDA-13), one of the Sustainable Development Goals, we carry out studies on the requirements of the Paris Climate Agreement and the European Green Deal, determining risks and opportunities, on behalf of our group, and act with the awareness of having a say in the determination of the investment strategies of the company.
With the vision of our CEO, who has adopted the principle of gender equality, which means women’s full and effective participation in the decision-making processes of political, economic, and social life, and ensuring that women are given equal opportunities to be leaders at all levels in decision-making mechanisms, we believe that gender-balanced development in the company is only possible through inclusion and diversity and fight for this matter.
Nihal Çatık
Limak Cement Academy Coordination Responsible
Raising leading, visionary, and innovative managers is among our most important goals
I have been part of the Limak Cement family since 2014. I am working as Limak Cement Academy Coordination Responsible and I have completed my 26th year in my career. I graduated from Anadolu University Faculty of Business Administration, and now I am doing my Master’s in Educational Administration and Supervision.
With the vision of our CEO, Erkam Kocakerim, that supports the leadership of our female employees in projects where they can use their knowledge and talents, and with the special importance and support he gives to education-development issues, we have founded the Limak Cement Academy. With the inclusion of our continuing education activities in our digital transformation processes, it will be much easier for all our employees to access information and education fairly and equally, and to acquire new generation learning experiences.
With Limak Cement Academy’s online and faceto- face training programs we plan to increase the emotional and cognitive skills of all our group employees in Turkey and abroad, provide opportunities for new talents to emerge, and encourage creativity and a participatory approach. It is amongst our most important goals to raise leading, visionary, and innovative managers within our group that are willing to gain new and share their own experiences.
With our New Generation Technician Project, we aim to establish a Mentor and Expert Technician structure in our group, ensure the training and development of ‘Next Generation Technicians’ by ‘Expert Technicians’, and to establish the necessary infrastructure for the training-supported education of the company’s mid-level technical managers.
In addition, qualified vocational training programs for students and employees, especially in Mozambique and Ivory Coast, are among our important projects in the academy, within the scope of training development activities that we will carry out with the motto of “Give Back to Your Country” and to increase local employment in our geographies.
Pınar Özdeş
Center of Excellence Manager
It is an indescribable feeling to be a part of the rooting process of women in a “male-dominated” industry
As someone born in the 80s, I can say that the first place where I combined the concepts of numbers, analysis, and money with each other was the table where my parents filled out the VAT envelopes. As a result of my education life continuing in parallel, I graduated from the Department of Economics of Istanbul University in the early 2000s and took my first step into business life. I opened my eyes in the finance sector. The role of women in the financial sector depends on where you want to look. Data analysis is, as in all areas, very fluid here. If you look at the representation in the workforce, the proportion of women is over 50%, however, at the leadership level, the financial world has opened its doors to women much less. To develop my management skills, I joined the MBA program of Sabancı University and graduated in 2008. Subsequently, I had the opportunity to take part in corporate finance, project finance, acquisition and merger projects and I have worked in the finance industry for about 15 years. Financial modeling and analysis are my areas of expertise.
I joined Limak Holding and got to know the Limak Cement Group in the year 2013. At the beginning of this year, I joined the Limak Cement Group upon the invitation of our CEO Mr. Erkam, to take part in the Group’s digital transformation project and to manage the Center of Excellence (COE) Unit, which is a first in the Turkish cement industry. Our aim is to unite the financial, operational, and other data of our group under an accessible and userfriendly central roof, to carry out analysis studies to increase the efficiency of our units, and to spread knowledge gained through experience within the group more effectively. When I think about numbers entering my life via VAT envelopes and calculators with giant buttons, it makes me even more excited that I oversee this unit and know that I will see it grow.
As someone believing in social gender equality, knowing that the factor that enabled me to take
part in this pioneer project is my knowledge; it is an indescribable feeling being part of the rooting process of women in another, even though it’s a term I don’t like to use, “male-dominated”, industry. The most beautiful thing is to know that there are other women managers in the Limak Cement Group that I can rely on when I fall to the ground or when I try to reach the top.
Huriye Tekerlek
Group Business Incoming Contract and Foreign Assets Director of Public and Investor Relations
We continue our efforts with all our strength to bring our business models to the age
I was born and raised in France. I received a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree at the Faculty
of Economics at Université Louis Pasteur. Since 2007, I have worked in various foreign companies and a state bank in Turkey. I joined the Limak Cement family in 2015. We have come a long way in transforming our company, which is one of the most important players in the Turkish Cement industry, into a multinational company. Today, we have completed and operationalized our factory investments in the east and west of the African continent, one of the most promising centers of the construction industry. We carried out turnkey business development activities. Again, we carried our company to an important place in terms of foreign trade during this period and moved it up 356 places in our country’s top 1000 exporters list and now rank 296th. The implementation period of the strategies established in this sector with economies of scale takes at least 3 to 5 years. Therefore, we constantly work to update our 2023, 2025, and 2030 plans. With this we try to create a new and dynamic human resource that are willing to work in distant geographies to increase our company’s recognition around the world with confident steps and continue our efforts with all
our strength to bring our business models to the age with a continuous development approach.
Özge Hanecioğlu
Lawyer
My main goal is to provide more support and inspiration to working/candidate women
I graduated from TED Ankara College High School, Çankaya University Law School and I have an MA in International Contracts and Arbitration from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland I have been a lawyer for 7 years. In August 2021, I joined the Limak Group, one of the companies that attaches the most importance to women’s employment in Turkey. As Limak Cement’s female and only inhouse lawyer, I work on contracts, consultancy and PDPL processes.
With the amendment made in the Civil Code in 1990, women can work without the permission of their husbands and have been legally entitled to “equal” rights with men ever since. Although this gain is still young, as a female employee under the roof of Limak Cement, it is hopeful to receive respect and support from everyone, male and female, and to move forward in a position that sits on the foundation of institutionalism by putting the existence connected to the individual into the background. My main goal is to provide more support and inspiration to working/candidate women so this way of thinking can reach everyone.
Tuğçe Demircioğlu
Group HR and Digital Technologies Expert
Limak Cement has a strong HR structure that can be adapted to its own structure and culture
As of December 2020, I have been working as HR and Digital Technologies Expert at Limak Cement. After graduating from METU Department of Business Administration, I completed my master’s degree at Hacettepe University, Department of Human Resources Management. By deciding to gain experience in the field of Human Resources with the courses I took during my undergraduate education, I did an internship for two years in the Human Resources department of a company that carries out European Union projects. I started my professional career in the field of HR and I have 5 years of work experience in various sectors.
Today, economic conditions that are in rapid change with globalization, new technologies, an increasing competition environment and changes in the demands of individuals, make it inevitable for company structures to change. The ability of companies to adapt constitutes the basic condition of sustainability in the developing and changing world. At this point, a strong HR structure that can be adapted to the structure and culture of the company comes to the fore.
With this awareness, we as Limak Cement Group, have started to carry out the “Organizational
Transformation and Wage Management Project” in November. The project includes the Measurement of the HR Maturity Level and creation of a Road Map, Employee Engagement and Satisfaction Survey, Determination of Institutional Values, Position Evaluation and Grading, Title Structure Study, Determination of Competencies, Base Pay System and Benefits Design, Short Term Incentive Plans (Variable Wage/Premium System), Performance Management Career Path Design and Promotion Criteria, Designing Good Governance and Mobility Management processes, and the creation of a new HR working model.
Since its establishment, Limak Cement Group has been a company that considers today’s dynamics and attaches importance to the necessity of change and transformation, and continues today with the same understanding. We fully believe that we will get one step closer to our goals with the “Organizational Transformation and Wage Management Project”.
