PINAR KACAR
Senior Business Executive
Istanbul
Summary
Experienced General Manager with a strong background in marketing, strategy, and the full value chain. Leading a business that embodies purpose as its driving force is incredibly fulfilling.
As General Manager of Distribution Markets at Avon, successfully led a team of sales and marketing professionals to drive revenue growth and expand margins across the Middle East, Europe, and India.
Gained extensive experience in various industries including consumer, B2B, IT & technology, telecommunications, energy, and FMCG. Held key positions at Samsung, Kazanci Energy & Utility, Fiba Retail, and Microsoft.
Excelled in customer-oriented sales and business development, consistently closing seven-figure deals with both customers and international partners.
Core competencies include CRM, CXO level engagement, strategic product marketing, market analysis, consumer behavior, and go-to-market strategies. Thrives on creating lucrative solutions from scratch, entering new global markets, and driving shareholder value.
Passionate about building relationships, bridging cultures, and solving complex problems as they contribute to sustainable profitability and growth.
Unique blend of expertise in brand marketing and retail marketing has proven invaluable throughout career. Deep understanding of the European, Middle Eastern, and Asian consumer landscape coupled with a strong belief in purpose-driven strategies.
Proudly described as a hybrid General Manager.
Overview
27
27
years of professional experience
Work History
General Manager
Avon
07.2023 - Current
- Spearheaded operations across 14 countries, achieving a 35% YoY revenue growth and improving EBITDA by 133% by implementing strategic initiatives
- Designed and implemented a tiered distributor model, cutting SG&A expenses by $5000K annually and streamlining operations
- Launched e-commerce platforms in multiple regions, expanding to 300 retail points of sale and boosting digital catalog revenue contributions from 8% to 12%
Chief Sales, Marketing, Information & Business Development Officer
Kahve Dunyasi
01.2023 - 07.2023
- Exceeded KPI targets by 150% in 6 months through customer-focused strategies and advanced data analytics
- Innovated product portfolios by introducing cold beverages and bakery items, enhancing customer satisfaction and increasing market share
Country Manager
Samsung Electronics
01.2014 - 01.2022
- Leading sales and product & marketing country manager role focus on technology products like Visual Displays including monitors, smart signage and hospitality displays, printers, memory products like micro-SD cards, solid state disks, network products
- Managing market at both consumer\online\B2C2B and B2B in Turkey and Middle East
- Steered all aspects of global market expansion planning while ensuring profitability and building local & international alliances
- Formulated double digit growth initiatives in the product portfolio within 7 years and triple digit growth during Covid 19 Period
- Generated $150M in revenue with a 3-year CAGR of 120%
- Best online sales performer country worldwide for the related products in charge
- Yield triple-digit growth YOY at Visual Display business management with all the key players at the market
- Market Leader for the last 8 concurrent years
- Gained business with over 350 Fortune 1000 clients including Vodafone, Garanti BBVA, IGA, Ronesans, Socar, Google, Microsoft, Starbucks, Hilton, Marriott and many Government Companies like Aselsan, Min of Justice, Min of Interior and Min of Health
- Produced over $2M because of building strategic partnerships for B2C2B with retailers for SMB market
- Cross product sales in big deals over million dollars
- Preparing GO-TO-MARKET strategies for the new product launch both at B2B and B2C
- Led company to gain prestigious recognition globally with many successful B2B projects
- Recipient of numerous industry awards, including Most Revenue Generated Product at the key retailer, Best Digitalization Project at telco operator
- Retail Management & Online Players at B2C in Turkey and Middle East
- C-level management at B2B offering Samsung B2B Solutions to the customers
- One Samsung Initiative Program Director for Turkey and Middle East Region
- Three Digit growth at online business during the Covid 19 period while keeping #1 Market share in all managed products
Vice President, Steering Committee Member
Aksa Technology / Kazancı Holding
01.2012 - 01.2014
- Promoted from a Chief Business Development Officer into VP role to drive strategic vision as key member of senior leadership team with multi continent management
- Charged with direct oversight of global partnerships, sales, business development, marketing, research & development, finance, operations and HR
- Facilitated rapid company growth from $5M to $15M in the first year; and to $30M second year with direct a team of 4 sales managers and their respective staff (approximately 100 employees)
- Accelerate Digital Business Strategy to drive faster digital transformation of Kazanci Holding with 78 companies within 2 year including USA, UK; UAE; Algeria and China to be agile and make quick business decisions informed by currently available data
- Achieved significant cost savings ~ $3M USD\yearly by re-structuring call center; ERP and Industry 4.0 implementations with Deloitte
- Devised innovative media and VAS offerings, creating an additional revenue stream worth at utility~ $50M
- Managing $40 million of IT budgets for Kazancı Holding and its group of companies reporting the board of Kazancı Holding
- Revamped sales strategy, implemented effective consolidated solution package strategies, trained a high-performance sales team and helped the corporate image of Aksa Technology
- Convergence of IT and OT at the organization by developing IT strategies, corporate policy, and operations supporting network infrastructure/datacenters, hardware and software systems, ERP, database, in-house applications, telecommunications, security, maintenance, service, and desktop support functions for corporate office and 650 branch offices in Turkey, supporting a total of 4100 users in Turkey, UK, USA, Dubai; Algeria and China
- Manage remote locations through automatic remote management
Chief Business Development & Chief Operation Officer
Fiba Retail Group / Fiba Holding
01.2006 - 01.2012
- Develop strategic business development plans, coordinate activities between Product, Marketing, and Sales, to formulate optimal product & sales strategies
- Exceeded goals by 25%, which ranked among top of M&S Franchisees Sales Division
- Brand Extension and go to market strategies for brands in Turkey, Russia and Ukraine
- "Digital first, Remote first;" Enabled anywhere operations - where customers, employers and business partners operate in physically remote environments
- Streamline Hyper automation legacy business processes, creating immensely expensive and extensive issues for business development, new reward loyalty platform enabled incremental sales of $260K\monthly, cost saving $300K by telecommunications
- Manage a €10M annual operating budget for Turkey and €8M annual budget for the remaining region
- Be the first online business initiator at M&S Franchisees worldwide with Markafoni and Trendyol
- Annually $1,5M save by developing significant supply chain productivity and costs improvementssaving four labor hours per day at third-party logistics (3PL) operations and speeding seasonal preparation times to one day from thirty five
- Receiving corporate awards for best projects in 2009 (CRM) in the franchisees and 2007 (POS/cash register system) at Marks & Spencer Worldwide
- Earned the highest Leadership Assessment among peers with scores significantly above national average each year
- Developed strategic stock plans, coordinated activities between Product, Marketing and Sales to formulate optimal product strategies
- Manage e-commerce platforms and ex-stock planning at outlets including procurement & purchasing processes in corporation including budget management, gross margin, campaigns and product selection
- Led major outlet store organization restructuring that resulted in increased customer satisfaction, while yielding annual net cost savings of $1.7 million
- Exceeded goals by 25%, which ranked among the top M&S Franchisees Sales Division in 2007
- Continuously align IT mission and operational plans with business and corporate IT objectives, proposing and executing capital and process improvement initiatives to deliver systems and infrastructure enhancements- including championing datacenter redesign to achieve green operations and the establishment of business intelligence platforms supporting brands in all countries
Sales & Professional Services Director - Telecommunications
Microsoft Corporation
01.1998 - 01.2006
- Leadership team member credited with guiding technology sales growth and managing change as visionary and revenue leader in highly competitive telecommunication market
- Build from ground up since 2000 with focus on customer performance contract needs, C-level/tech relationships, engineering collaboration and technical troubleshooting, and push for improved accountability including Turkcell, AVEA, Global Bilgi, Kıbrıs Turkcell, Turk Telekom, Vodafone, Digiturk, and all ISPs in Turkey
- Overachieved professional services revenue target by 45%, producing $500M despite global economic recession in 2005
- Be 1st revenue generator - $ 2,5 M by establishing and delivering MSF consulting and MOF, ITIL-based process assessments of change management, problem management, service desk, and other key IT performance areas in MENA region
- Accomplished a significant efficiency improvement in IT project cycles (decreasing 12-25 days) while improving project success rate by 35% for Turkcell, by leading a through leadership of a Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) business process assessment with proactive customer service models
- Worked with Turk Telekom on the CRM consolidation project, the largest deal in the MEA region history on Microsoft SQL Server Technology with $55M
IT Manager
Koc Holding
01.1998 - 01.2006
- Progressively advanced from System Administrator role, at Koc Holding to IT Manager role at 3M Turkey
- Plan and execute strategic IT mission, operations, and staff of 10 through three direct reports, with P&L accountability and control of $4M budget
- Manage infrastructure and operations supporting 300 users, establishing and monitoring key performance indicators to ensure compliance with service level agreements
- Contract & Outsource vendor management
Education
MBA - Executive Programs
04.2001 -
Bachelor of Science - Computer Science
04.2001 -
Skills
Executive Leadership & Strategic Vision Business Transformation & Omnichannel Growth P&L Ownership & Financial Optimization Market Expansion & Competitive Positioning Consumer Product Sales Enterprise B2B Global Business Development Revenue Acceleration Sales Leadership Corporate Regional Expansion Strategic Product Marketing Operational Excellence & Process Optimization Multi Country & Region Management Team Building & Performance Leadership Data-Driven Decision Making & KPI Management Stakeholder Engagement & Relationship Building
Timeline
General Manager - Avon
07.2023 - Current
Chief Sales, Marketing, Information & Business Development Officer - Kahve Dunyasi
01.2023 - 07.2023
Country Manager - Samsung Electronics
01.2014 - 01.2022
Vice President, Steering Committee Member - Aksa Technology / Kazancı Holding
01.2012 - 01.2014
Chief Business Development & Chief Operation Officer - Fiba Retail Group / Fiba Holding
01.2006 - 01.2012
George Washington - MBA, Executive Programs
04.2001 -
Bosphorus University - Bachelor of Science, Computer Science
04.2001 -
Sales & Professional Services Director - Telecommunications - Microsoft Corporation
01.1998 - 01.2006
IT Manager - Koc Holding
01.1998 - 01.2006