Team size: 41 team members in Migros Group legal teams; 35 lawyers in total.

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

In a fast-moving sector, intense daily business is quite significant in itself. Migros has 3300 stores Turkey-wide which multiples every possible customer problem, public inspection, rental contract with 3300. Adding up to that workload, there are always acquisitions of local market chains or very large warehouses, selling properties of good value, tender bidding processes. We attach very much importance to governmental affairs, therefore always contributing to new legislation proposals covering our areas of practices which is not limited to FMCG retail but also including online grocery and food delivery, fintech, retail media, delivery services and solar energy production. Therefore naming a few projects as significant would be unjust considering the greatness of the workload of everyday business.

As a cherry on top, compliance is a very important issue, especially in subsidiaries. Migros subsidiaries are like start-ups, thus the company culture, compliance matters, strategy making is very much different than conventional companies. All of these are acting in emerging markets and the competition they face is very fierce. Imposing compliance as a priority when the growth expectations are too high is a great challenge which we handle perfectly.

What strategic priorities are guiding you and your team in 2024?

The priority at the heart of FMCG business for 2024 is coping with inflation and surviving it, which seems a tough goal to achieve. All departments are focusing on this goal, with no exclusion for legal teams. We are considering what we can contribute to, such as governmental affairs, new legislation proposals, supporting legal ways to gain bigger margins.

On the other hand, life gets faster every minute, thanks to AI developments. So, the other priority for us is to keep up with technology and use it to our own advantage. We are currently seeking ways to adopt AI tools that can help the team optimise its work. The younger generation is definitely eager to help with this and we are very pleased.

Do you have a cause, business-related or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

I am humbly grateful to my younger colleagues for telling me that I am a great role model and that they copy all my good qualities at work to be a better leader. In FMCG retail sector, half of the employees are women and especially Migros is very supportive on this. However, as a matter of fact, female leaders cannot match the same ratio and it is less than 50%. That lead me to the conclusion that more women need inspiration to waken up their will for leadership and make the best of their already-there qualities. Therefore, I am happy to contribute to progresses of other women, personally and occasionally, at Migros Retail Academy events such as ‘Women Leaders in Retail Programme’.