SARAR`DAK‹ M‹SYONUMU TAMAMLADIM. BEN

T_A_SARAR4 28/6/05 11:19 Page 4
SARAR
Why did Akduman decided to
resign when everything seemed
to be going well? Akduman
replies, “Because I believe that
I’ve completed my mission at
Sarar. I brought it to such a point from zero; it was time to
hand it over.”
Mülkiye,ODTÜ ve
Harvard Business
School mezunu olan
tercübeli yönetici,
Harvard Club üyesi.
The Experienced
professional is an
alumnus of Mulkiye,
Middle East Technical
University and Harvard
Business School.
“SARAR’DAK‹ M‹SYONUMU TAMAMLADIM.
BEN SIFIRDAN BU NOKTAYA GET‹RD‹M,
GÖREV‹ DEVRETMEN‹N ZAMANI GELM‹fiT‹”
cevab›n› Akduman, “Sarar’daki misyonumu tamamlad›¤›ma
inand›¤›m için. Ben s›f›rdan bu
noktaya getirdim, görevi devretmenin zaman› gelmiflti” diye
veriyor.
ARAB‹STAN’DAN NEW YORK’A
Özel sektördeki ilk deneyimi
Yüksel ‹nflaat’›n Suudi Arabistan’daki stratejik su projelerinde bafllad›. ‹fli ö¤renmek için
gitti¤i S. Arabistan’da Mali ‹fllerden Sorumlu Genel Müdür
Yard›mc›l›¤›na yükseldi. 199096 y›llar› aras›nda Arabistan’da
kalan Akduman, uluslararas›
flirketlerde ifl yap›s› ve iflleyifli
hakk›nda bilgi sahibi oldu.
Yüksel ‹nflaat’taki çal›flma arkadafllar›ndan olan ve halen
flirketin genel müdür yard›mc›l›¤›n› yürüten Bülent Güngör,
Suudi Arabistan’daki çal›flmalar› s›ras›nda flirkete özellikle
muhasebe kay›tlar›n›n düzenlenmesi, finansal disiplin konular›nda kritik katk› sa¤lad›¤›n›
kaydediyor. Güngör, “fiirketi
iyi yerlere tafl›d› ve çal›flma stilinden çok memnunduk,” diye
konufluyor. Yüksel ‹nflaat Murahhas Üyesi ‹smail Öncel ise
58 • Turk of America
Akduman’›n finans alan›nda
baflar›l› projelere imza att›¤›na
vurgu yap›yor.
Akduman’›n ilk ABD’ye gelme
fikri 1996 y›l›nda do¤du. Bir
MBA program›na kat›lmak istedi. Bu esnada Avrupa’n›n en
büyük optik ve manyetik medya üreticisi, Türk müzik yap›m
flirketi Raks Grubu’nun patronu Aslan Önel’den ifl teklifi ald› ve ‹zmir’de ifle bafllad›.
Raks’ta o günlerde birlikte çal›flt›¤› yöneticilerden Hasan Çelikkol, Akduman’›n Raks’›n
özellikle uluslararas› piyasalarda sayg›n bir imaj edinmesinde
önemli rol üstlendi¤ini, yurtd›fl›nda sermaye artt›r›m› konusunda flirkete yararl› projeler
gelifltirdi¤inin alt›n› çiziyor.
Burçak Akduman, Raks’taki
günlerini finans konusunda yaflad›klar› nedeniyle hayat›nda
hiç unutmayaca¤› bir dönem
olarak adland›r›yor. Bir ilke imza atarak, sanatç›lar›n gelece¤e
dönük performanslar›n› uluslararas› kredi almada koz olarak
kullanan Akduman, proje liderli¤ini yapt›¤› kredi girifliminde
uluslararas› kredi kurulufllar›ndan 50 milyon dolar kredi al-
possible to do. I never thought
that we could expand this
much in such a short time.”
Jeanine Kreischer, manager of
the Woodbury store, states that
Akduman is more a brother or a
father rather then a general manager to her, adding that she
still cannot forget his calls inquiring about her and her baby’s
condition during her pregnancy.
Jeannie, who has worked in different Woodbury stores for 17
years, claims that Sarar is the
place she is most happy.
Burcak’s wife, Sevilnaz Akduman, who also worked in the
company in its early period states that they embraced Sarar as
their own child and they spent
a lot of effort to develop the
brand name.
From Saudi Arabia to New York
He gained his first private sector experience at Yuksel Insaat’s strategic water projects in
Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia,
where he went to learn the
profession, he was promoted
to Vice President of Finance of
the company. Akduman gained valuable experience on
the structure and procedures
of international companies during his employment in Saudi
Arabia from 1990 to 1996.
His colleague and friend from
Yuksel Insaat, Vice President
Bulent Gungor, states that during his employment, he made
critical contributions, especially in organizing accounting
records and in financial discipline. Gungor says, “He brought us to a better position
and we were happy with his
work ethic.” Member of the
Executive Board Ismail Oncel
highlights his successful financial projects.
Akduman first thought about
coming to the US in 1996. He
wanted to attend an MBA
program. At that time he had a
job offer from Aslan Onel, owner of Raks, Europe’s biggest
may› baflard›. Raks, yeni projeyle birlikte ilk kez bünyesindeki sanatç›lar›n performanslar›ndan ileriki y›llarda elde edilecek
sat›fllar›n›, kredi kurulufluna taahhüd olarak sundu. Raks, yeni
de¤erlendirme çal›flmas› ile sanatç›lar› gelecekte ç›karaca¤› albümlerden elde edilecek telif
haklar› sat›fl›n› da flirkete bir de¤er olarak katt›.
MERHABA ABD
Baflar›l› profesyonel yöneticilerin, en iyi e¤itimi almas› gereklili¤ine inanan Raks, sa¤lad›¤›
baflar› nedeniyle Akduman’a
sponsor oldu ve kendisini Harvard Business School’a lisansüstü e¤itim için göndererek
ödüllendirdi. Böylece, erteledi¤i
ABD plan›, 1999 y›l›nda, Harvard’da ald›¤› e¤itim ile hayata
geçti. Harvard’da ald›¤› e¤itim,
uluslararas› firmalar›n üst düzey yöneticileri ile tan›flmas›na
ve Harvard mezunu ifladamlar›yla temas kurmas› için de iyi
bir f›rsat oldu. Markalaflma
RAKS, SA⁄LADI⁄I BAfiARI NEDEN‹YLE
AKDUMAN’A SPONSOR OLDU VE KEND‹S‹N‹
HARVARDBUSINESS SCHOOL’A L‹SANSÜSTÜ
E⁄‹T‹M ‹Ç‹N GÖNDEREREK ÖDÜLLEND‹RD‹.
HE WAS ABOUT TO BECOME A FIGHTER PILOT
Though his family was originally from Eskisehir, Akduman was
born in Izmir, because of his father’s assignment there as a pilot for the Air Force. His childhood goal was to become a pilot.
He graduated from Konya Anadolu High School. He had to give up his dream of becoming a pilot because of an eye problem that emerged during his Air Force Academy training. He
studied Economics at the Faculty of Political Science Department
at Ankara University and received his master’s degree from METU. He participated in the foundation of the Turkish-American
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and served as a board
member as well as vice president. Akduman is currently serving
as a board member on the Turkish-American Business Forum, in
New York, and is an associate member of the Harvard Club
and Harvard Business School Club, also based in New York.
stratejileri, yeni kurulan flirketlerin uygulayaca¤› prosedürler
konusunda kendisini gelifltirme
f›rsat› yakalad›¤›n› kaydeden
Akduman, Türkiye’nin tan›nm›fl alt›n markalar›ndan Gülaylar’›n New York’taki flirketi
Elite Gold’un kurulufl çal›flmalar›na kat›ld› ve bu flirkette k›sa
bir süre yöneticilik yapt›.
Sarar’da ifle bafllad›ktan sonra
ise fark›na vard›¤› gerçeklerden
biri fason olarak büyük flirketlere mal tedarik etmenin markalaflmaya katk› etki yapmad›¤› oldu. Toptan piyasada tan›nan Sarar, tüketici gözünde tan›nmad›¤› için h›zl› bir kararla
markalaflma çal›flmalar›na h›z
kazand›r›ld›.
“Büyük zincirlere uzun süreli
fason sat›fl yapmak zor. Çünkü
fiyatta devreye baflka bir üretici
girerse siz an›nda devre d›fl› kalabiliyorsunuz” diyen Akduman, kotalar›n kalkmas›yla
Çin’in ciddi bir tehlike olmas›n›n markalaflmay› kaç›n›lmaz
k›ld›¤›na dikkat çekiyor.
Burçak Akduman,
efli Sevilnaz ve o¤lu
Erin’le birlikte.
Burcak Akduman,
with his wife Sevilnaz
and his son Erin.
RAKS, REWARDED HIM BY SENDING HIM TO
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL FOR
GRADUATE STUDIES.
optical and magnetic media
manufacturer, and a Turkish
music producer. He accepted
and started work for Raks in
Izmir.
Hasan Celikkol, one of the directors of Raks Akduman worked with emphasizes
Akduman's constructive role in
prestigious image building of
Raks throughout international
capital markets and underlines
his successful project management skills in foreign capital
increases transactions. Burcak
Akduman evaluates his financial experience at Raks as a period he never can forget. Akduman’s project to allow artists’
future performances to be used
as collateral to obtain credit
was a first in the sector, and
Raks borrowed 50 million dollars from international creditors. With this new plan, Raks
used the future sales projected
to be made by its contracted artists’ as collateral with credit
institutions. Through a new
evaluation Raks was also able
to claim projected royalties of
future recordings as an asset of
the company.
HELLO USA
Raks, which believed that successful managers must have the
best education sponsored Akduman for his achievements and
rewarded him by sending him to
Harvard Business School for
graduate studies. In this way,
Akduman was able to fulfill his
dream of coming to US by attending Harvard. His education at
Harvard was also helpful in giving him the opportunity of meeting with top managers of international companies and businessmen who were Harvard
alumni. Akduman assesses his time at the school as being an opportunity to widen his knowledge of strategies for establishing
brand names and of procedures
for start-up companies. He also
was involved in the foundation
of Elite Gold. This company,
based in New York, is the US
branch of the well known Turkish jewelery company Gulaylar. For a short time, Akduman
also worked there as a director.
After starting to work for Sarar
he realized that supplying private label products as a contract
manufacturer for big companies
didn’t contribute toward building a brand name. Although
well known in the wholesale
market, Sarar wasn’t known to
individual customers. Therefore
the first thing to be done was to
establish a brand name. “It is
difficult to work as a contract
manufacturer for big companies. If another company underbids you, you are out of the picture”. Akduman also points out
that establishing a brand name
is essential to counter China,
which became a big threat after
the US ended quotas on the import of Chinese goods.
Turk of America • 59