27.09.2006 - CAPITAL

│Güler Sabanci│ She counts among the 100 most important managers of the world and is considered as the mightiest woman of Turkey. The Boss of the Sabanci Holding manages a multi-billion conglomerate with 45,000 employees. The 51-year-old Sabanci She is called a tough woman, a masculine woman. The fact that a woman makes her carrier surprises nobody in Turkey, but that she lives alone. Her private life is fed by what she has in her heart: Friends, science and art. She has humour. A modern installation decorates her office in Istanbul – the map of Turkey, consisted of coffee cups.

In the sombre room sit three men, they drink tea, smoke, and wait. A look by the window shows the wooden villa and the garden, surrounded by high walls, which are monitored by the watchmen. The broad-shouldered men guarded formerly the high-ranking military, now they stand in the service of the mightiest woman of Turkey: Güler Sabanci. For two years the 51-year-old lady leads the Sabanci Holding. The second largest group of the country, after Koç, consists of 65 companies, ten joint-ventures, 45,000 employees. Last year it achieved a turnover of 10.6 billion dollars, and a profit of 514 million dollars.

The telephone in the guardhouse rings. “Yes, okay,” the bodyguards hurry on ahead through the garden. A janitress opens the glass front door. interleaved initials of the mistress of the house constitute the golden door handle: GS. Sabanci stands in the entrance of her private empire in Sariyer, an expensive residential district of Istanbul on the European shore of the Bosporus. She wears a black blouse with golden buttons, an ankle-long chiffon rock and a chip hat. On her finger there is a ring equipped with diamonds is the form of a sultan's head. Güler Hanim, which means Mrs. Güler, fans herself with her hand. “I have already done my workout this morning, a mistake with this heat.” A masculine woman – as Sabanci is called over and over again. She has a deep, smoky voice.

It was agreed upon taking a photo in the garden, yet she then leaves the guests in her house. The question about her favourite place could soften her up: That has to do with art, which is in the salon. The press have never entered here before. Private is private. Even the Istanbul’s gossip journalists know only a little about Sabanci as a person. She loves art. She is fond of drinking wine. She is not married. She was a chain smoker.

In a rush Güler Hanim shows the first floor of her villa built in 1870, in which once an Armenian priest lived. “This is my ceramic collection from Selçuk,” she says, and points at a glass cabinet, while walking past, “This is a sculpture of artist Füreyya Koral. A bird, a woman and a fish come together in a work. Is this not miraculous?” The showpiece in the dining room is a head armour of the horse of Sultan Selim III. Museum directors would rejoice in the collection. “That's enough. Let's go” - the guided tour is over. She puts on her sunglasses, and trips to her armoured Mercedes. One of her uncles, Özdemir Sabanci, was shot dead in 1996 by left radicals. She being under constant security protection, “I do not want to complain about things which I cannot change.”
Only a few people know Sabanci; everybody in Turkey has however an opinion about her. “She is a tough businesswoman,” says a journalist. “She was definitively the best choice for the holding,” opines an analyst.

Sakip Sabanci, another uncle, is considered as a national hero. For 38 years he was the boss of the holding, and the head of the family. His father, Haci Ömer Sabanci, had started to work as a cotton porter in Adana, in the southeast of the country, in the 20’s. Later he bought a partnership in a cotton factory, and founded with it the business dynasty. In 1948, Akbank was added thereto, so that no more strangers be asked for money for the own project needs. Today the stock-exchange listed Akbank, managed by a cousin of Güler Hanim, is the biggest Turkish private bank, and the flagship of the Group; the Holding holds 68.5 percent.

The uncle of the Group’s boss took over the management in 1966, after the death of the founding father. Tyres, finance, food, cement, textiles - these are only some of the business fields. The company names almost always end with the letters “sa:” Bossa, Brisa, Gidasa, ... “Sa” stands for Sabanci. The Sabanci family holds three quarters of the shares, the rest are in free float.

Sabanci’s predecessor in the vanguard had behaved like a man of the people, despite his millions. In fact omitted no microphone, no camera, he spoke to the Turks, however, always in his rural Adana accent. He shook the hands of Carter, Reagan, Kohl and Co, generating a lot of media attention. And he established with his brothers the charity foundation Vaksa, built kindergartens, schools and hospitals. Hence the Turks loved him. The whole country mourned when he died a good two years ago on cancer. “He was unique,” says Sabanci. She wipes a teardrop from her eye. Güler Hanim admired her uncle. She, who had studied business administration at the English-speaking elite University of Bogazici in Istanbul, helped him to conclude international deals with corporations like the tyre manufacturers Bridgestone, and the Belgian cable producers Bekaert. And she incarnated his dream: the Sabanci University and the Sabanci Museum. It was the will of the patriarch that his clever niece should follow him to the top of the Holding. She was admired in the enterprise and in associations. Sabanci was the first woman in the board of directors of the weighty industrialists’ federation Tüsiad. Yet the change was hardly a frictionless process. “Behind the scenes there have been struggles for power,” says an industry expert. “Of course there is jealousy and envy among the Sabancis as well, as in all family businesses,” knows a businesswoman from Istanbul. “It is not always easy for Güler Sabanci.”
Besides, it does not surprise anybody in Turkey that a woman is in the top managerial position. Already in the 30’s, Atatürk, the President of that time, extended the voting right to women. With Tansu Çiller the country had a woman as the head of the government from 1993 to 1996, long before Germany. More and more Turkish women sit in executive chairs. Nevertheless, none is as influential as Sabanci. However, the Top-Manager does not want to see herself as an all-powerful boss. She would rather like to be a part of the team. As a matter of fact, the employees describe her as an at-times impatient, austere, but fair boss. She can listen well, can be persuaded by arguments. Quick deciding and much delegating - this is her management style.

Güler Hanim knows the business from an early age. Her grandfather took her at the age of three years with him to the factory in Adana. “Maybe therefore I like factories so much.” Already during her early years she sat at the family meetings as the only woman among the men, when it was discussed about the business. But she admits: “Several times I was on the verge of getting out.” She likes painting. At the age of 27 she took lessons. Her teacher approved her talent. Güler Hanim considered, whether she should devote herself completely to art. She did, however, remain. Then she became the boss of the tyre-cord plant Kordsa. This brought to her the title Tyre Queen in the press. To date she is a fan of the Formula 1: During the races in Istanbul, in August, the Tyre Queen sat, with a baseball cap on, in the VIP tribune, and effervesced with the Ferrari team, who ran Bridgestone tyres. Bridgestone is Sabanci’s business partner. In the evening, she gave a private party for the drivers and entourage at the Museum of the family.
When Sabanci’s uncle died in 2004, she actually wanted to quit. The University, the Museum, the Foundation, her winegrowing estate in Thrace – these should be her life from then on. And yet she stayed. And she stayed unmarried. “I would like to assume nevertheless that I live in such a way, as I live, because I decided so,” she says. No further comment. “In her position one has little time for love,” say others. “This is the price of success.”

In Turkey where women marry at the age of 23 on the average, the unmarried Sabanci is always an exception. It is whispered that she had to fight hard within the family to be able to go her own way. She is unmarried and childless, but she has her favourite projects, which she fosters and looks after like her children. As the Sabanci University. Her uncle had entrusted her with the foundation of the university at Tuzla on the Asian side of Istanbul. Sabanci invited international scientists, and discussed with them how a modern college should look. “This is something completely different than building up a factory. In a project like the one of a university, you may not make any mistake.” Just 2800 students are enrolled at the prestigious private college. The dollar equivalent of the cost of an academic year amounts to 15,500 - a great deal of money in a country, where the average annual per-capita income is even less than the half. “I believe in the fact that everything has a value in life,” says Sabanci, “This university is an investment in the future – in the future of these young people and Turkey.” 40 percent of the students get a scholarship. Many of them then study further abroad afterwards: in Harvard, Columbia, Heidelberg. Some take employment at Sabanci after their graduation.” “And some are snatched from us by our competitors,” says Güler Hanim, laughing. Once, twice per week she visits the campus designed by American architects. She speaks with the Rector. She meets professors. In the canteen she sits as a matter of course with the students around a table for lunch. The chef greets her joyfully. The students who are asked to her table feel honoured. Güler Hanim is interested, attentive. She inquires after their study, their goals, their training: “And, how do you like it in Siemens?” Above all the young blond female mechanical engineering student with bob-cut hair, sitting beside her, looks up to her. “She is my idol since the high-school. I would like to become like her. The question is, how I should accomplish this one day.

On the other side of the Bosporus, in the European quarter Emirgan, there lies Sabanci’s second favourite project: the Sabanci Museum. The classicistic, white villa, which was once the residence of the family. Some rooms are preserved in their original status. Gobelins, oil paintings, crystal chandelier - visitors imagine themselves in the rooms of a royal palace. Sabanci has spent a part of her childhood in that property with a big garden and the magnolia trees. “Adana is unbearably hot in summer. The women and children were sent to Istanbul during the summer months. “The domicile is a museum since 2002.” “Build me a museum which is so good that I can show there Picasso,” her uncle had said. His will came about. At the end of 2005, works of Picasso were exhibited for four months. The pictures came from Paris, Barcelona and from the family of the artist. 254,000 people visited the exhibition, and free painting courses were held for children. The son of Sabanci’s bodyguard visited the exhibit as well. “It was his first encounter with art. At home the boy shouted: ‘I am Picasso.’ He showed to his father proudly the work which he had painted. Is this not wonderful?”
Sabanci goes through the topical show of the French sculptor and painter Auguste Rodin. A lady comes up to her, shakes her hand. Reverently. “This is an impressive exhibition. Thank you very much.” Sabanci smiles, has a word with the guest. The patron wants first- lass exhibitions at her museum: “The people in Turkey deserve the best.”

Also wine in Turkey should become better in her opinion, hence she has become a winegrower a few years ago. At the museum’s bistro she drinks her own red wine, brand G, Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot. “The wine business is a great fun for me, indeed,” she says. She waves her glass, smells in the wine. “But I can attend it quite limitedly after the daily business. My uncle does this on the mother's side.” Sabanci creates spare time for herself. The Late Riser comes at 09:10 a.m. to her office on the 25th floor of the Sabanci Twins in 4. Levent, the European business quarter of Istanbul. At 06:30 p.m. is mostly the end of work. Time for friends – such as the famous business couple Boyner of Istanbul. Time for her wine. Time for art. Time to dance tango. On vacation she spoils herself in joy. Or she takes a cooking course in Tuscany. “Time management is very important. I am a good planner. And I can set priorities.” The guests are no more among her priorities. “That's enough,” she says, and gets up from the table. Her bodyguards rush with her to the car. The dark limousine turns from the museum’s area to the waterside street, and speeds away.