The Coca-Cola Company commissioned its new Regional Digital Services Center in Istanbul in an opening ceremony attended by the Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Investment Office President A. Burak Dağlıoğlu, Coca-Cola İçecek CEO Karim Yahi, and The Coca-Cola Company Eurasia and Middle East Operating Unit President Sedef Salıngan Şahin.
The centre will serve Coca-Cola's 25 country-Eurasia and Middle East operating unit, including Türkiye, marking the first of its kind to become operational among similar units planned to be set up in the company's nine operation groups. The centre will speed up digital capability development and digital transformation, enable fast and automatic access to information on issues such as marketing, strategy, and finance through technology applications, and boost business efficiency through data analysis tools. It will employ 20 people, 13 of whom are Turkish, with women accounting for 60 percent of the entire team.
In his remarks, Minister Kacır said, “Türkiye has been one of the regional and strategic management hubs of Coca-Cola since 1964. Today, the company invests and provides employment in Türkiye with its 16 brands produced in 11 factories. In addition to all these contributions, we also attach importance to this centre that increases Türkiye's global competitiveness in its digital transformation journey and contributes to all breakthroughs we have made with the vision of the National Technology Initiative. We believe CocaCola's new investment will become a success story in digital transformation. I would like to congratulate the Coca-Cola family for choosing Istanbul, the rising star of Europe in entrepreneurship, with its strong R&D and innovation infrastructure."
Investment Office President Dağlıoğlu said, “As Türkiye is undergoing a rapid digitalization, its technological development and transformation capabilities are also stepping up, enabling it to become a regional centre for innovation, informatics, and digitalization activities of international companies. This investment is in line with President Erdoğan's vision of 'making Türkiye a regional centre'. Investment Office congratulates the Coca-Cola family on this valuable investment announced on the 100th anniversary of our Republic. We will continue to work with all international stakeholders to make the “Türkiye Century" the century of investment.