EY Turkey Entrepreneur Women Leader: The Vision Transforming the Packaging Industry

While working in a managerial position in the packaging industry, Tülin Kalyoncu has realized that there was a great opportunity to create more effective packaging materials at lower costs and based on the need in the sector with Mehmet Tüzünalper, she has founded MAT Packaging Solutions, the first and only company that provides consultancy on packaging materials. Tülin Kalyoncu, who makes a difference in the sector with the service that her company provides, also sets an example for new entrepreneurial women in the field of packaging.

Tülin Kalyoncu is the founding partner of MAT Ambalaj, which started its operations in 2013 and is the first and only company in Turkey that provides consultancy on technical packaging and packaging materials. Kalyoncu, who was born as the middle child of a family with three children, lived in Izmit until she finished high school. After graduating from Istanbul University's Department of Chemical Engineering, she settled in Istanbul and started her business life.

After graduating from university, Tülin Kalyoncu gained 10 years of experience in Turkey's leading flexible packaging companies such as Kibar Holding, İspak, Huhtamaki and Alcan Alüminyum. She also had 6 years of experience as a Sales and Marketing Manager in the corrugated cardboard industry. While working in a managerial position in the packaging industry, she observed that although companies in Turkey had a lot of knowledge about the products they produced, they were insufficient in terms of technical knowledge in the field of packaging, which was a driving force for her to embark on a new journey in business life. As a result, realizing that there was a great opportunity to obtain more effective packaging materials at lower costs, Kalyoncu decided to establish her own business and founded MAT Ambalaj with Mehmet Tüzünalper to produce solutions that will provide consultancy to companies in the field of packaging.

“The way to success is through good communication and problem-solving skills.” According to Tülin Kalyoncu, who makes a difference in the sector with the service her company provides, the key to success in business life is a complex concept. She believes that the most necessary factors to achieve success in business life, which depends on many factors, are having good communication and problem-solving skills. Stating that the factors affecting success may change over time because business life is an ever-changing environment, Kalyoncu said, "However, in order to have a successful business life, such things as leadership and teamwork, adaptation to change, knowledge and skills in the field of expertise, moral and ethical values, business ethics and professionalism must be taken into consideration." Basic principles are very important. "Although the factors that determine success in each sector may vary depending on the characteristics and requirements of that sector, these basic principles are generally necessary to be successful in business life."

“Policies that support gender equality should be implemented more” Tülin Kalyoncu is one of the female managers who do not experience many gender-based difficulties in the sector and believes that female power will have a significant impact on the economic balances in the next 5 years of the Turkish economy.
Stating that women's greater participation in the workforce can support growth in the general economy, Kalyoncu said: “Increasing women's participation in the workforce ensures the inclusion of different perspectives and talents in business processes; This contributes greatly to companies being more innovative and creative. “It can help society develop in a more equitable and sustainable way,”. Stating that they follow a recruitment strategy that supports women as a company, Tülin Kalyoncu explains that the rate of female employees at MAT Ambalaj is around 50 percent. Kalyoncu says, “We believe that supporting and encouraging gender equality increases diversity in the workforce, and that teams consisting of different perspectives and experiences can produce more innovative and creative solutions,” and therefore emphasizes that gender equality in HR processes is an important priority of their companies.

“We aim to grow abroad”
Providing information about MAT Ambalaj's activities and future goals, Tülin Kalyoncu explains that MAT Ambalaj's main goal is to provide cost, quality and sustainability advantages to its customers with whom they carry out joint projects by increasing efficiency in technical packaging processes and material use. We support our customers in solving all kinds of problems. We differentiate ourselves from other packaging companies by verifying and realizing potential savings opportunities. "We are aware that companies can benefit from environmentally friendly packaging consumption, and we provide services by sharing this awareness with consumers."
In 2023, the interest in their company MAT Ambalaj; expressing that this has increased especially due to the increase in unit prices of packaging materials, difficulties in the supply chain and sustainability targets of companies, Kalyoncu states that they have started to serve global companies outside Turkey in 2022-2023.
Tülin Kalyoncu stated that they realized that the problems in packaging were similar and the areas for improvement were many all over the world, and said, "In the last two years, we have carried out our products in a total of 8 countries and 12 factories, including Thailand, Egypt, Mexico, Canada, France, Italy, Russia and South Africa." During our studies, we discovered that we could also provide our services abroad. For this reason, we aim to grow abroad. At the same time, our 2024 goals include collaborating with 3 different solution partners. “2024 will be a year in which we will grow abroad as well,” she says. She explained the importance of sustainability by saying, “Our company focuses entirely on sustainability. Our working principle is: 'Less material, less process'. In addition, we apply 3R (Reuse, Reduce, Rcyle) in our work and produce all our projects in line with this system. “Our goal is to raise companies' awareness on this issue and support their sustainability goals,”.

“Learn to see difficulties as opportunities”
Tülin Kalyoncu, who has a 19-year-old daughter, also has guiding messages and suggestions for women and young entrepreneurs who are just starting out in business life. Kalyoncu advises them to believe in themselves, be open to continuous learning, not hesitate to receive mentorship from experienced people, and work hard to have an effective network in the business world. She also recommends that they learn to manage risks, plan their work well, and be open to feedback. Kalyoncu also advised them to stick to business ethics, learn to see the difficulties they face as opportunities, and create their own unique paths by taking inspiration from the success stories of others, and finally said, “They should not forget that success in business life is a long process. “It requires patience, determination and openness to learning,”.

“Education and industrial organizations should cooperate more”
According to Tülin Kalyoncu, there are many important issues that need to be focused on for the Turkish economy to experience a positive transformation in the next five years, such as innovation and technology development, openness to the outside world and trade policies. Stating that the most important issue is education, talent development and providing opportunities that will not let these talents go abroad, Kalyoncu said, "I believe that more importance should be given to education and that educational institutions and industrial organizations should cooperate more, and I think that industrial companies should be supported in this regard.".