Team Sports, Exploring AI Tools, Gaming, Travel, Nature
Arda İpekçi
E-commerce Enthusiast
İstanbul
Summary
Resourceful Country Manager with expertise in new business development, financial reporting and profit and loss assessment. Exceptional communicator with first-rate problem-solving and negotiation skills. Recognized for delivering record-breaking revenue and profit gains within highly competitive markets.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
6
6
years of post-secondary education
3
3
Languages
Work History
Country Manager, Turkey
Borzo Delivery
11.2019 - 12.2024
- Company Overview: Banabikurye, Borzo Delivery's (formerly known as Dostavista Global) local brand in Turkey, is a logistics platform offering e-commerce companies and SMEs same day and on demand deliveries
- Built a team of 100+ from scratch
- Managed 25x growth in 2 years
- Exported key know-how and product learnings to the global company
- Expanded the service from İstanbul to 6 big cities in Turkey
- Banabikurye, Borzo Delivery's (formerly known as Dostavista Global) local brand in Turkey, is a logistics platform offering e-commerce companies and SMEs same day and on demand deliveries
Head of Business Development, Sales and Operations
Hürriyet / Yenibiriş
10.2017 - 01.2019
- Company Overview: Yenibiriş.com offers web and mobile based candidate selection and evaluation services to over 155 thousand companies, from small and medium sized enterprises to national and international corporations
- In charge of managing the sales team of 20+ salespeople
- Managing sales profitability, assuming P&L
- Responsible for managing the operations team, customer support for both customer clients and users
- Executing 3rd party agreements in order to grow the business and generate leads
- Working with the product team in order to generate growth models and new opportunities
- Supervising the marketing team regarding sales campaigns and partnerships
- Yenibiriş.com offers web and mobile based candidate selection and evaluation services to over 155 thousand companies, from small and medium sized enterprises to national and international corporations
Country Manager, Turkey
Bavul.com / Paravion
03.2016 - 10.2017
- Company Overview: Bavul.com is an OTA offering online flight tickets, hotel accommodations, cruise and leisure packages, and other travel related services to its customers
- Assumed profit and loss responsibility of the company
- Served a key leadership role in the mobile development efforts to launch new iOS and Android apps
- Re-negotiated contracts with the suppliers and the payment providers for improved margins
- Implemented cost cutting measures in marketing and operations to increase efficiency
- Developed a 3rd party data strategy to monetize site traffic, increasing revenue by a few percentage points
- Bavul.com is an OTA offering online flight tickets, hotel accommodations, cruise and leisure packages, and other travel related services to its customers
Business Development Manager
Bavul.com / Paravion
10.2013 - 03.2016
- Contracted new business partners to improve non-air product line
- Assisted the product development team to implement hotel, cruise and tour products' user experience and business rules
- Worked with the marketing team to run ROI positive marketing campaigns
- Organised cross promotion campaigns with major banks (Akbank, Garanti, etc.), telecom operators and other e-commerce companies, which generated around %20 of new signups without marketing spending
- Recruited and trained non-air operations staff
Business Development Manager
Doğan Online / Gezisitesi
12.2011 - 06.2013
- Company Overview: Doğan Online is an innovative and technological company which embodies the first and the most successful examples of solutions covering major online business models in Turkey
- Gezisitesi is the OTA vertical
- Responsible for partner relations with suppliers for airlines, cruise and tour operators
- Managed the project to integrate with Expedia Affiliate Network
- Organised cross promotion campaigns with major banks (Garanti, İş Bankası, etc.), telecom operators, ecommerce companies and local operators
- Supervised digital advertising (adwords, display, social media) and newsletter campaigns for the relevant product lines
- Trained and managed a sales team to support the company strategy to quadruple the hotel inventory, signing up over 2000 hotels in 4 months
- Served as the point of contact at the company to implement Salesforce.com for sales, customer service and partner management
- Doğan Online is an innovative and technological company which embodies the first and the most successful examples of solutions covering major online business models in Turkey
- Gezisitesi is the OTA vertical
City Manager
Groupon / Şehirfırsatı.com
10.2010 - 12.2011
- Managed the sales, planning and editorial teams in the second biggest market (Ankara) and various smaller markets, making up ~25% of the revenue
- Supervised the sourcing, copy writing and partner management of around 200 daily deals a month
- Ran the company-wide roleplaying program for sales training, created and updated merchant personas to navigate objections and defend the margins
- Received Salesforce.com account management training, and trained the rest of the company to use the platform
Education
Master of Science - EU Business and Law
04.2007 - 01.2009
Exchange Program -
04.2008 - 01.2009
Bachelor of Science - International Relations
04.2003 - 01.2007
Skills
PnL Management
Growing Revenue
Team Building
Team Leadership
New Business Development
Strategic Planning
E-commerce Strategy
Sales Management
Analytical Skills
Startups
Market Research
Logistics Management
Interests
Timeline
Country Manager, Turkey - Borzo Delivery
11.2019 - 12.2024
Head of Business Development, Sales and Operations - Hürriyet / Yenibiriş
10.2017 - 01.2019
Country Manager, Turkey - Bavul.com / Paravion
03.2016 - 10.2017
Business Development Manager - Bavul.com / Paravion
10.2013 - 03.2016
Business Development Manager - Doğan Online / Gezisitesi
12.2011 - 06.2013
City Manager - Groupon / Şehirfırsatı.com
10.2010 - 12.2011
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven - Exchange Program,
04.2008 - 01.2009
Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University - Master of Science, EU Business and Law
04.2007 - 01.2009
Koc University - Bachelor of Science, International Relations
04.2003 - 01.2007