Full Name: Mustafa Soylu

Position and Company Name: Regional director of Arçelik for sub-Saharan African countries and CEO of Defy Appliances, based in Durban

Main Activity of the Company: Manufacturer of home appliances and consumer electronics

Date and Place of Birth: 1973, Çorum, Türkiye

Schools and Tertiary Education: BS and MS degrees in industrial engineering from Middle East Technical University, in Türkiye, in 1995 and 1997 respectively

First Job: Research assistant in industrial engineering at Middle East Technical University between 1995 and 1997

Size of First Pay Packet: R6 000 a month

Career Path to Date: I started my career at Arçelik as a production engineer in the dishwasher plant in Ankara, Türkiye, in 1998. During my years in Ankara, I worked in several production areas and functions, including assembly lines, mechanical production and production planning, as master production planner and material planner. After active involvement in major projects such as SAP transition and Far East outsourcing, I moved to Russia in 2010 to assume the position of production planning manager of Beko LLC, a subsidiary of Arçelik. I went back to Türkiye in 2014 and worked in the washing machine plant in Çayirova and the cooking appliances plant in Bolu as the group production manager until 2018. I was then appointed supply chain director of Arçelik’s global operations and led the transformation of supply chain operations in the company. After three-and-a-half years, I moved from Istanbul to Durban, South Africa, in my current role

Value of Assets under Your Control: Revenue of R5.1-billion in 2021, and more than two-million unit sales a year

Number of People under Your Leadership: More than 2 200

Management Style: Visionary, participative and affiliative

Personal Best Achievement: Being a father to a son

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My parents – my mother for education and my father for life values and lessons

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: My colleagues from my early professional life at Arçelik: Oytun Öztürk and Ali Paker

Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Not stated

Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Vehbi Koç, founder of Koç Holding, the holding company of Arçelik

Philosophy of Life: Be kind, positive and open-minded without any prejudgment

Biggest Ever Opportunity: Working as an expatriate in Russia, using the global network of our company

Biggest Ever Disappointment: The death of my team member due to an accident

Hope for the Future: That we will never have to deal with a pandemic again, and that we see real motivation and impact in terms of environmental recovery

Favourite Reading: The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov

Favourite TV Programme: All sports shows and TV series like Seinfeld, Dr House, and Game of Thrones

Favourite Food/Drink: Grilled meat, fish and vegetables

Favourite Music: Soft rock

Favourite Sport: Football and basketball

Hobbies: Travel and discovering new restaurants

Car: Volvo

Pets: None

Miscellaneous Dislikes: Bureaucracy at every level, and dishonesty

Married: To Hilal

Children: Yalım, 19

Clubs: None