The Brightest Projects Within Yıldız Holding Compete

Yıldız Holding Spotlights Brightest In-House Projects at Annual Awards Yıldız Holding held its 14th annual Stars of the Year Awards ceremony, featuring competing projects from companies within the holding. The competition, spanning nine categories, broke records this year with 212 project submissions. Projects implemented across categories ranging from Innovation to Cost Advantage, Digital Leadership to Zero Defects, delivered TRY 7.3 billion in added value to Yıldız Holding. The 14th Stars of the Year Awards ceremony, recognizing projects developed across all Yıldız Holding companies domestically and internationally that add innovation and reputation value to the holding, took place on 25 March Friday at Ülker Sports and Events Hall. The awards ceremony, with strong participation from Yıldız Holding companies in Turkey and various countries worldwide, was also broadcast live to 71,000 holding employees via digital channels. At the event where awards were presented in nine different categories, Yıldız Holding Deputy Chairman and CEO Mehmet Tütüncü, pladis CEO Salman Amin and GODIVA CEO Nurtaç Afridi delivered remarks. The Stars of the Year Awards ceremony achieved another milestone by receiving the highest number of submissions since its inception. A total of 212 projects from Yıldız Holding and its companies generated TRY 7.3 billion in added value to the holding. Following the designation of 29 of these projects as finalists by expert jury, winners were selected through voting by holding employees and the main jury.

Tütüncü: "Submissions clearly demonstrate Yıldız Holding's entrepreneurial, creative and success-driven mindset"

Deputy Chairman and CEO Mehmet Tütüncü, who delivered the opening remarks at the Stars of the Year Awards ceremony, explained the significance of this traditional competition after touching on the holding's 2021 performance and 2022 targets: "Stars of the Year receives more submissions with each passing year. This year, we received a total of 212 project submissions, representing a 5 percent increase. Nearly 2,000 Yıldız Holding employees from a wide geography spanning from Turkey to England, China to Kazakhstan, Australia to Egypt, and the United States to Nigeria worked on these projects throughout the year. These submissions clearly demonstrate Yıldız Holding's entrepreneurial, creative and success-driven mindset. We know that Yıldız Holding is a unified whole and successes are a source of joy for all of us." he said.

Ali Ülker: "We are working to leave a stronger structure for future generations"

Focusing on a different theme each year, Ali Ülker presented the Chairman's Special Award, the competition's top prize. This year's top award was presented in the category "The Future of Work – New Working Models." In this category, pladis won first place by executing an efficient project in a short timeframe despite pandemic conditions, moving to a new, more inclusive, more comfortable, environmentally friendly campus equipped with digital technologies. Yıldız Holding Chairman Ali Ülker, presenting the award to the pladis team: "I compare running and managing a company to raising a child. When raising a child, you do not think only of getting through that day. Every step you take is actually forward-looking; you think about what comes after you. At Yıldız Holding, we are working to leave a stronger structure for future generations. From this perspective, I believe the 'Future of Work' theme is very meaningful. Particularly with the pandemic process, new working models came into focus and the way we conduct business changed. Alongside this, expectations shifted with new generations entering the workforce. Gaining the flexibility to adapt to these changes made it essential to restructure our working models. In short, as always, we took steps thinking of the future and this year at the Stars of the Year Awards ceremony, we wanted to evaluate these steps. The award went to pladis' new headquarters, which most enhanced remote working capabilities during the pandemic period and built the infrastructure for it. Of course, the other submitted projects were also highly valuable. For example, the 'UYDU Next Generation Working Models' developed by Yıldız Holding Human Resources and Business Support Department, covering remote, office, hybrid and field-sales working models, and 'Value Stream Mapping,' aimed at improving operational excellence by virtually bringing together teams from facilities conducting similar production at two different locations, were two other valuable projects in this category. I thank all colleagues who participated in this category with their valuable projects." he said.

14th Stars of the Year Award-Winning Projects

• GOYA: pladis Turkey – "Dankek's Return Journey"

• Zero Defects: pladis Turkey – "Zero Journey"
• Purpose Alignment: pladis Egypt – "MENA Honeybees"
• Leadership: GODIVA – "GODIVA's 2021 Development"
• Contribution to Growth: pladis United Kingdom and Ireland – "Mini Cheddar Growing"
• Innovation: pladis United Kingdom and Ireland – "Jaffa Jonuts Launch"
• Cost Advantage: Bizim Toptan – "Super Project"
• Digital Leadership: pladis Turkey – "pladis IoT Project"
• Chairman's Special Award - "The Future of Work – New Working Models": pladis – "In Motion – pladis' New Headquarters"