Anadolu Efes Startup Fest Podcast Serisi #1: Onur Altürk

I'm fine, thank you. How are you, Atakan?

We started in 2018. Actually, I had a connection with Anadolu Efes even during university years, but everyone does. We've been doing this for about three years now. We started in 2018, which was relatively early compared to the industry, and I'd say that's an advantage. But it also required a lot of effort and hard work, because it starts with a process of convincing all stakeholders. When you put in the effort, press the right buttons, you start seeing the benefits. We started in 2018, but Efes is already an institution with entrepreneurship in its DNA—it was founded 55 years ago by two entrepreneurs chasing their dreams. So it's in the DNA, and I think we adapted very quickly. We put a dedicated team behind this, separated their work, and didn't see it as just a side job. The essence of this is that when you start looking for real solutions to real problems, you motivate yourself, the ecosystem, investors, and everyone involved, and you become very credible. We now look for solutions to real problems across all our operations, and we've found truly effective, fast, and cost-efficient solutions here. We've benefited especially from intrapreneurship. Since 2018, we've reviewed about 500 projects. From those 500, we now have two spin-offs. It might seem like a small number, but it's like a funnel where things filter through. Beyond that, as an executive, I've seen tremendous benefits within the organization. Those 500 projects involved about 34-person teams—we're talking about a serious ecosystem. These people learn how to do feasibility studies, approach problems, produce solutions, and present them in a way that attracts investment. They receive mentorship from our leadership team, get support during incubation periods, are encouraged to focus entirely on their work, and receive investment at certain levels. This entire process essentially turns them into business people, which is exactly what every executive should be looking for—employees who use capital most effectively and generate the highest returns. I'm also observing a mindset shift within the organization, where corporate culture moves more toward an entrepreneurial mindset. When that happens, the organization can find fast, cost-efficient solutions and develop its culture. We've started observing all of this at Efes, which is why I've been supporting the program for a long time. It's also important to be well-connected with the ecosystem, and I think we've done this well. We've had long-standing collaborations with entrepreneurs, and through the company's acquisitions, we buy projects, services, and products they've developed. We also have an open innovation platform called True Future, where we invite and listen to startups that have progressed to a certain level. We get serious participation, run pilots with them on parts of our business related to their solutions, and we're currently at the acquisition stage with two of them. We had initially planned to make this part of our operations and business processes, and I think we made the right decision. Now, when we face a problem or see something that needs to be solved or improved, we first check if we've seen anything like this before, if a startup has come to us with an idea, or if anyone has worked on this issue.

Yes, exactly. The processes are very intense, and you see it—the people who maybe entered as juniors come out of these processes with a completely different perspective. You need to pursue that; it's a gain in itself. Also, the external collaborations help people better understand—when an entrepreneur comes to the door, understanding what problems they might have and how they can be integrated into the culture. That's also a valuable aspect. And here's what happens, Atakan: previously, executives would rely on their experience, thinking 'I saw something like this somewhere in my career, maybe we can find a solution there.' Now it starts happening differently—'Wait, there was someone working on this, I saw it there, or I read about it, or heard about it. Let's have someone come and explain.' When you realize there's something there, you can find that vertical expertise from the past and match it horizontally with what's available today. It definitely happens—someone has always worked on that topic, so there's that advantage.

What we're trying to do is—when you think of Anadolu Efes, it's a 55-year-old, deeply rooted institution in Turkey that has left its mark on social life. When you think of Anadolu Efes, you think of culture, arts, cinema, music, festivals, sports, agriculture. Our goal when we set out was also to make entrepreneurship culture one of those values. I can see it gradually taking root, and I enjoy being part of it and supporting it. The topic of being a connector is also very nice—though saying that might be a bit modest. As an institution, we tend to be humble and aim to stay amateur in spirit. But going forward, I'd really want entrepreneurship to be added among those values and to grow alongside them. Today's theme is 'Let's Grow Together,' and the growth mindset is already in the DNA and plans of Anadolu Efes. For the next steps, for us—a company that's a companion of social life and leaves its mark—why shouldn't it be a unifier in the entrepreneurship ecosystem? Why shouldn't it be at the center of this ecosystem? That would be my dream. But I'm also waiting and watching. The projects we listen to each year, both from within and outside the organization, increasingly excite me. And with AI, I expect it to bring something beyond the box, and perhaps accelerate the curve that's already rising from a small angle, opening it up even further with a fast step. We have a very complex end-to-end process, from production to shelves. There are so many places where AI and these solutions can be integrated, and the thought of how that integration will happen excites me. How much can we shorten? How much can we integrate technology? And without even needing to run after it anymore, things are starting to come to us on their own—that's the benefit of this ecosystem. We hear something here, go research it, add something to it, and suddenly we're in a completely different place. I'd love to see how those end-to-end processes accelerate and become digitally enhanced.

My pleasure.