Investment Committee

He is a project, investment, and business development consultant with extensive experience in public, private sector, and business world non-governmental organizations. National and international projects feature prominently in his career, which began in 2001 as the official European Union negotiator for the Republic of Turkey, following his graduation from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Business Administration. He specializes in funds, investment incentives, and financing strategies. He has led multilateral projects and contributed to the establishment of important partnerships across Turkey and worldwide.

He has worked with and led joint projects for institutions and organizations with wide spheres of influence, such as the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, the Prime Ministry, the Ministry of Industry and Technology, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Development, the Ministry for EU Affairs, Turkish Business Organizations and Foundations organized abroad, the European Union, the World Bank, EBRD, IFC, TOBB, DEİK, Sabancı Group Companies and Sabancı University, Ata Holding Group Companies such as Ata Yatırım and Ata Portföy, Üründül Energy Group Companies, and the Istanbul Investment Agency. He ensures that domestic and foreign companies benefit from investment incentives in Turkey and guides these companies through all stages of their investment projects.

He facilitates the attraction of foreign investments to the country by leveraging the incentives offered by Turkey and contributes to the global growth of companies. He performs company valuations, conducts investor meetings, provides strategic consultancy in the field of technology and innovation, and manages complex processes in fund and grant management, as well as project consortiums. Concurrently, he leads projects that connect start-ups in the fields of cooperativism, women's entrepreneurship, and health technologies with investors.

He carries out his project consultancies with the authority of senior advisor and country manager for companies based in the London, Dubai, Germany, and Brussels axis.

Ayça Selva Baydar Ketenci is a successful professional with extensive experience in product management, business operations, and artificial intelligence across the retail and technology sectors. She currently serves as an Engagement Partner at Velox Partners and a Strategic Consultant at Omtera.

With a strong background in leading innovation and growth, she has held significant leadership positions in e-commerce, food delivery, retail, and telecommunication companies; managed complex projects; and ensured collaboration across diverse teams.

Furthermore, she possesses valuable expertise in the field of corporate venture capital, particularly in incubation and due diligence processes, which further highlights her ability to evaluate and scale innovative business ideas.

Ebru Yarıkkaya is a senior executive with over 20 years of international experience in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). Prior to founding ALYS Capital Partners, she held key roles in M&A transactions within the global logistics and transportation sector. She has extensive experience in the logistics, automotive, chemicals, packaging, personal care, retail, and food & beverage sectors. She has a proven track record of successfully managing both acquisition and organic growth strategies within Turkey and globally. Yarıkkaya is a graduate of Saint Benoit French High School, holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Istanbul University, and a Master's degree in Economic Law from Galatasaray University. She also attended the Strategic Thinking Program at Oxford University.

He served as an inspector and senior inspector between 2005 and 2014, followed by positions in SME Banking, retail branch management, regional assistant manager, and commercial branch management. A graduate of A.Ü. SBF Business Administration Department, Dinçoflaz completed his master's degree on money markets at Maltepe University in 2012 and retired from the banking sector in 2024. Since 2010, he has executed social media advertising campaigns with hundreds of domestic and international brands. Following his retirement, he founded an advertising agency, offering 360-degree advertising services, strategy development, and consultancy to brands.

Kıvanç Toker is a professional with over 20 years of experience in the technology and digital commerce sectors. As the Founding Partner of Lidia Commerce and T&G Workshop, he develops innovative and scalable digital commerce solutions for medium and large-sized businesses. Toker completed his education at İstanbul Erkek Lisesi followed by a Master's degree in Computer Science and Business Administration from the Technical University of Munich. With his interdisciplinary knowledge, he strives to create value-added solutions in his professional life by successfully combining technology and business processes. Throughout his career, he has worked on scalable digital commerce software solutions and digital transformation projects. He has deep technical expertise, especially in the field of enterprise-scale software architectures. To date, he and his teammates have successfully implemented more than 60 digital commerce projects. His focus is on creating innovative products that solve real problems and enhance the user experience. With his entrepreneurial spirit, he continues to offer strategic and effective solutions that increase customer value.

Mehmet Emin Yıldız, after completing his middle and high school education in Ankara in 2001, began his undergraduate studies at Anadolu University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Business Administration, and completed his master's degree in Finance at the same university.

While working as a finance manager at Beyçelik Gestamp A.Ş., which operates in the automotive sector, between 2007 and 2010, he started his doctoral studies in Finance at Istanbul University, Institute of Social Sciences, and was awarded the title of Doctor in 2015. Between 2010 and 2016, he served as the head of the Securities and Capital Markets and Foreign Trade departments at Doğuş University, teaching finance, accounting, and economics courses at associate, undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. In 2016, he was awarded the title of Assist. Prof. Dr. and worked as a faculty member in the International Trade and Business and Business Administration departments at Doğuş University until 2022. He also started courses/training in portfolio management at Nesin Mathematics Village and 29 Mayis University.

He has also taught finance courses as a visiting faculty member at John Von Neumann, The Salesian University School of Sarrià, and Linnaeus University. Since 2022, he has been working as an Assistant Professor (Dr. Öğretim Üyesi) in the Department of Business Engineering at Bahçeşehir University. Mehmet Emin Yıldız, who holds Capital Market Activities Level 3 and Derivatives Licenses, has been providing portfolio management consultancy since 2017 and continues his academic studies to be published in SSCI/Scopus indexed journals.

Mustafa Fuat Vardar, with over 20 years of experience, possesses a broad expertise in strategic planning, digital transformation, and marketing technologies. He has worked in various sectors across the EMEA Region, including technology, e-commerce, retail, media, and telecommunications, and most recently served as the CEO of Related Digital and Reidin, and as a technology consultant at Publicis Sapient. He is currently the founding partner of the management consulting company Velox Partners, providing consultancy services in AI, strategy, and customer value management across different sectors.

Nilüfer Aktaş, a 1996 graduate of Boğaziçi University, Department of Economics, has spent the majority of her 25-year corporate career in asset management, private banking sales and marketing, and strategic business development roles at national and foreign banks. Nilüfer Aktaş has spent the final quarter of her career managing digitalization and sustainability agendas, specializing in the integration of green and digital transformation into the private sector's business model. In 2016, she participated in the Women Leaders Program at Stanford University alongside women entrepreneurs and next-generation representatives of family businesses selected from 25 different countries around the world.

With the "Sustainability Maturity Index" methodology she developed in 2022, she created a new competitive advantage model aiming to adapt companies' operations to changing economic and social conditions, and developed this model in collaboration with a software company. In addition to being awarded national coach and mentor titles by the European Union Innovation Committee, she is the Europe Regional Leader of the League of Intrapreneurs (the platform for corporate entrepreneurs).

Nilüfer Aktaş is actively involved in civil society, serving as the Chairwoman of the Board of the Social Benefit Association and a Board Member of the Boğaziçi Business People Association. She also volunteers in the Circular Economy sub-working group of TÜRKKONFED, striving to contribute technological solutions to the green and social transformation agenda of our country.

In addition to her consulting and civil society roles, she offers impact-oriented strategic knowledge and experiential workshops to companies as a trainer on their sustainability journeys.

He is an entrepreneur who was among the founders of Turkey's first digitally native fashion brands and established the teams that enabled these brands' omni-channel expansion.

After completing his Master's degree in Finance at the University of Exeter, he became one of the founders of netvarium.com, which was the 6th largest shopping club in Turkey's newly emerging e-commerce ecosystem. He subsequently continued his ventures in the same sector in the United Arab Emirates.

Since 2017, he has created digital brands by leveraging the rise of marketplaces and established teams to ensure the penetration of these brands into retail chains and nearby regional markets. As the founder of brands such as Aqua di Polo (mass perfume shelf leader according to Nielsen data + Turkey's highest-volume watch brand) and Pierre Cardin Fragrance, he managed all sales processes and directly contributed to the hyper-growth phases of these brands. For 3 years, he has also been active on the personal brand side as a content creator and keynote speaker on LinkedIn.

Since 2023, he has been the Managing Partner of o2o Beauty company, operating with the Panorama Professional and UCLA brands in 17 countries and Turkey's prestigious chain stores.

He completed his undergraduate education in Statistics at Yıldız Technical University and his graduate education in Finance and Investment at the University of Exeter Business School. After working as a Senior Specialist in the Treasury and Equities Department at İş Yatırım, he served as the International Institutional Sales Manager at ICBC Yatırım. Continuing his career as an entrepreneur and investor, he works as an executive and consultant on artificial intelligence-supported data-driven projects. He writes articles about trading for Investing.com.