About

Henkel is a German chemical and consumer goods company with a significant presence in Turkey, employing around 1,500 people in the country. Ozgur Colpan leads the legal team as the general counsel for both Henkel Turkey and Henkel Iran and compliance officer for Turkey. ‘The legal department is designed [with a] legal business partner mentality whereas all the legal counsels are dedicated to a business unit or a function’, says Colpan. Other notable members of the team include legal counsel Zeynep Zeren, who is responsible for the laundry and home care business unit as well as all group functions and Onur Yusufoglu, also legal counsel, who is responsible for the beauty care and adhesive business units. The team have been behind a number of asset deal transactions, share deal transactions and a competition authority investigation and have also set up a tracking system to measure the completed services given by the legal department. ‘[The] Henkel legal department positions itself to be a direct business partner and a direct contributor to the business. We are not only a support function but a direct contributor to the business’, says Colpan.