Country for PR: United Kingdom
Contributor: PR Newswire Europe
Wednesday, March 02 2022 - 07:54
AsiaNet
Koc Group Launches a Gender Equality Movement in Technology and Innovation with Raft of New Commitments
ISTANBUL, March 1, 2022 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

In cooperation with the UN Women's Generation Equality Forum, Koc Holding has 
launched a gender equality movement in technology and innovation, mobilizing 
its Group companies.

The companies are going to conduct 30 programs to reach out to a total of 
500,000 women and girls and to increase the representation of women in 
technology and innovation by 2026.

Koc Group companies leading in energy, automotive, consumer durables and 
finance sectors, Aygaz, Arcelik, Ford Otosan, Kocfinans, Tofap, Tuprap, 
TurkTraktor and Yapy Kredi, have announced their commitments to advance gender 
equality in technology and innovation in Turkey over the next 5 years. The CEOs 
of the respective companies introduced their road maps at a press conference in 
Istanbul, stating their goals to boost the number of women employees in the 
technology and innovation departments, setting minimum ratios to 30 percent.

They also announced further steps to increase girls' involvement to STEM 
subjects throughout their learning journey, starting from primary, to high 
school and university, in order to accelerate the social transformation in 
Turkey. The companies are planning to implement 30 programs targeting students, 
women entrepreneurs, employees, their families and a larger ecosystem of 
stakeholders to reach out to a total of 500,000 people in 5 years.

Koc Holding has taken a leadership role in many gender equality campaigns both 
in Turkey and on a global scale, including being a key signatory of the 
Declaration on Equality at Work to the UN's HeForShe movement and the UN 
Women's Empowerment Principles. The company is also one of the leaders in the 
"Generation Equality Forum" initiated by UN Women.

Celebrating Koc Holding's raft of transformative new measures, Oya Unlu Kyzyl, 
Corporate Communications and External Relations Director at Koc Holding, said: 
"The commitments of our companies include measurable targets and projects that 
will contribute to the transformation of our colleagues, business partners and 
society. It is essential that we expand the pool of women who will be working 
in the design, production and management of technology and create an 
environment that provides equal opportunities for women working in these 
sectors. There is no doubt that the world needs technology, and technology 
needs an equality perspective."

Considering the scale of the operations of the 8 companies operating in a 
diverse set of sectors, the commitments will have a collective impact and 
initiate a transformation in the community.

Commitments of automotive sector

- Ford Otosan and Tofap commits to increase the ratio of women working in 
technology and innovation from 18 percent to 30 percent, while TurkTraktor's 
target is to increase this rate from 36 percent to 50 percent. In addition, 
Tofap commits to increase the number of women managers from 13 percent to 20 
percent and TurkTraktor aims to increase the ratio of women in internship 
programs to 50 percent in technology and innovation departments.

- Ford Otosan is going to reach 100,000 women with projects that provide 
training, learning and financial support to increase the number of women 
employed in technology and innovation in the automotive sector.

- Tofap sets goals to reach 30,000 young women professionals, high school and 
university students by 2026 to provide support and unlock opportunities to 
participate in technology and innovation careers.

- TurkTraktor also plans to reach a total of 30,000 people through coaching, 
mentorship and development programs, and provide internship and employment 
opportunities.

Commitments of durable consumer goods sector

- In all of its global operations, Arcelik will increase the number of women 
working in STEM from 16 percent to 35 percent.

- In cooperation with the Ministry of National Education, Arcelik will run 
technology, design, information technologies and software courses and reach out 
to 100,000 girls. In addition, the company will reach out to 5,000 women 
through global entrepreneurship programs and facilitate the funds transfer of 
$4 million dollars to women entrepreneurs. Arcelik will also expand its - You 
are an engineer, You are with us - program to reach out to young women 
engineers in Romania, Pakistan and South Africa to support their career 
development.

- Beko will work to boost the number of women entrepreneurs in the retail 
sector by increasing the rate of women dealers from 4.8 percent to 25 percent. 
By enabling women to gain new professional competencies, Arcelik aims to 
increase the rate of women technicians working at Arcelik and Beko Authorized 
Services from 6.7 percent to 14 percent by 2026.

Commitments of energy sector

- Tuprap commits to increase the proportion of women employed in its R&D, 
Innovation and Information Systems departments from 23 percent to 40 percent. 
Tuprap will also strive to achieve a female employee rate of 50 percent in 
overall recruitment.

- Aygaz will increase the rate of its women employees working in technology and 
innovation departments from 13 percent to 35 percent, and women managers from 
12 percent to 21 percent.

- Tuprap will reach a total of 100,000 girls, comprised of 90,000 secondary 
school and 10,000 university students, through education and training programs 
to tap into their potential and encourage them to participate in STEM-related 
career fields.

- Aygaz commits to tackle gender inequality in the technology and innovation 
ecosystem by reaching 100,000 women and girls from different age groups through 
education, mentoring and scholarship programs.

Commitments of finance sector

- Yapy Kredi aims to increase the number of its women employees in technology 
from 35 percent to 40 percent, and women managers from 22 percent to 27 percent 
in the next 5 years. Yapy Kredi Teknoloji, a subsidiary of Yapy Kredi, has also 
set a target to ensure a more inclusive and diverse recruitment process and 
will require at least one woman to be in every 3 short listed candidates.

- Kocfinans will maintain the 50 percent female employee rate throughout the 
company in 2022, as well as to increase the female employee rate from 40 
percent to 50 percent in technology and innovation.

- Yapy Kredi sets targets to reach a total of 20,000 women entrepreneurs 
through customized financial products and services designed for women 
entrepreneurs and to reach 80,000 women and girls to provide special trainings 
and support them gain technical competencies.in technology.

- Kocfinans will offer scholarships, mentorship and internship programs to 
women and girls, with a focus on university students in remote areas through 
collaborations with universities and non-governmental organizations.

About Koc Holding

Dating back to 1926, Koc Holding, one step ahead of change at all times, has 
become one of the largest and most successful groups in Turkey and in the 
region and the only Turkish company to be listed in Fortune Global 500 list. As 
of today, Koc Holding is Turkey's leading investment holding company and Koc 
Group is Turkey's largest industrial and services group in terms of revenues, 
exports, number of employees, taxes paid and total market capitalization on 
Borsa Istanbul. Koc Holding has leading positions with strong competitive 
advantages in energy, automotive, consumer durables and finance sectors, which 
offer strong long-term growth potential. Creating long-term sustainable value 
for the world and the societies in which the Koc Group operates, lies at the 
heart of its business model.

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Source: Koc Holding


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