Bektas Aynur
Organization: Hey Tekstil
Year Founded: 1992
Country: Turkey
Website: www.heytekstil.com
Video Investing in less developed parts of Anatolia, Hey Tekstil has created the leading knitwear manufacturing company, employing and empowering communities. Focus: Enterprise Development, Women Geographic Area of Impact: Turkey Model: Social Business Number of Direct Beneficiaries: 600 (2009) Annual Budget: US$ 140 million for Hey Tekstil (2008); US$ 600 million for Hey Group (2008) Percentage Earned Revenue: 5% Recognition: Social Entrepreneur of the Year, Turkey, 2008 Background Hey Tekstil was founded in 1992 as a small family business. With its successful export operation, it expanded its customer and production capacity. Currently, it is the leading knitwear manufacturing company in Turkey, with four factories in four locations in Anatolia as well as four factories in Istanbul. It is the source of knitwear for the country’s biggest retail chains and employs more than 4,000 people. Hey Group companies operate in four areas: textile, tourism, foreign trade and IT. The expansion of the group’s companies and rising employment make its story unique. It is also an inspiring example for women entrepreneurship in Turkey. Innovation and Activities Garment manufacturing requires an intensive labour force and new investment. In cooperation with public authorities, Hey Tekstil has transformed empty building sites in Anatolia into manufacturing centres, thus creating employment opportunities for young people and women. Hey Group companies strictly follow international codes of conduct and apply social compliance procedures. As a leading industrialist, Aynur Bektas, in her capacity as president of the Turkish Clothing Manufacturers Association, pushed for relocating the garment industry to Anatolia. The first factory she invested in created 600 jobs, mostly for women. She then opened two more factories in central Anatolia as well as a fourth in Batman, where the highest rate in women’s suicide in Turkey has been recorded. The project to open garment factories here taught women how to organize a small production company and later expand into a big investment project. Today, Hey Tekstil AS is the biggest knitwear company in Turkey and is among the country’s top 50 exporter companies. The Entrepreneur Aynur Bektas was born in Çankiri/Çerkes in 1951. After completing primary and secondary schools, she graduated from Ankara Girls High School and then from the Ankara Economics and Trade Academy. In 1971, while still attending university, she started to work for Tobank. After 20 years at the bank as a trainer, assistant manager and branch manager, she started Hey Tekstil in 1992, becoming its general manager and a board member. Today, she is a board member of eight group companies, some of which she is president of the board. Aynur was the president of the Turkish Clothing Manufacturers Association from 2005 to 2007. Currently, she is president of the Women Entrepreneurs Board of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey. She is also a member of TÜSIAD as well as KAGIDER. In addition to being the 2008 Turkey Social Entrepreneur of the Year, she has received the following distinctions: Women Entrepreneur of the Year, National Productivity Center (2006); Women Entrepreneur of the Year, The Economist (2007); and Entrepreneurship Congress Special Award, Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2008).
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