Page 53 - Next Generation 2015 - Digtial Issue

Next Generation Europe
full advantage of the situation, which
sees global product trade growing by an
average of 5.8% annually. New refinery
expansion in Asia Pacific and the Middle
East is generating greater tonne-miles,
As joint chair of the Kaptanoglu Group with
her brother Cenk, the 43-year-old
passionately believes in supporting and
championing the industry
Turkey
Sadan Kaptanoglu
IF YOU come from a shipping family,
it’s hard not to have a sense of
shipping instilled in you. But Sadan
Kaptanoglu, managing director of
HI Kaptanoglu Ship Management
Company since 2000, says joining the
business that her grandfather founded
was far from inevitable.
“I studied philosophy at Istanbul
University,” she says. “There was
never an obligation on the girls, or
the boys, to join the family business.
The family had such a long history in
shipping and my siblings and I grew
up with it. But it wasn’t forced on us to legal aspects of the company; and
become shipping people.”
However, Sadan recalls frequently
visiting the Kaptanoglu offices and
says: “I think the shipping virus got me
— it just does, somehow.”
She studied shipping at London
City College and holds an MSc in
shipping, finance and trade from City
University Cass Business School. Her
PhD focused on the family business
and the sustainability of maritime
business.”
Sadan, 43, and her brother Cenk,
42, jointly chair the Kaptanoglu
Group, which is active in many sectors
including energy, foreign trade,
tourism, construction, shipyards and
yacht building. Its core business is
nudging d’Amico to enter a new segment
— long range one product tankers — and
enabling the company to walk away
from the first quarter with an $11m
profit, its best result in years.
shipowning — Kaptanoglu operates
bulkers and tankers all over the world.
Their sisters, Sebahat Kaptanoglu
Cicek and Zeynep Kalkavan, are both
responsible for dry bulk management.
Their cousin Pinar Kaptanoglu
is chief financial officer, and cousin
Ismail Kaptanoglu (Pinar’s brother) is
responsible for tanker management.
Two other cousins are also involved
in the business: Eser Bayraktar is
a lawyer and responsible for the
her brother, Omer Kaptanoglu, is
responsible for developing new projects.
Sadan, who joined the company
full-time in 1998, says: “Being a woman
in shipping in Turkey was difficult at
the beginning. You might think that
for a woman the bar is extremely high
when you start — but when you show
commitment, it is different and I have
had a lot of support.”
Shipping, she says, is “all about
people, networking and experience”,
and that’s why the older generation
is so valued in this industry. “The
young generation are now sharing the
responsibility in the group, but the older
generation is still active on the board.”
How does she describe working in
a family-owned business? “There is a lot
of energy, synergy and emotion! But the
www.lloydslist.com | Lloyd’s List Next Generation 2015 | 51
This next generation of d’Amico
luminaries can be grateful their stars
are rising in this present climate for
tankers, rather than the one of the
recent past.
more you mature and the way shipping
is, you become pragmatic and realistic.”
She also passionately believes
in supporting and championing the
industry, and is currently serving as
a director of the Turkish Chamber of
Shipping, director of Piri Reis Maritime
University, and vice-president of
BIMCO, as well as chairing the Turkish
committees of Lloyd’s Register and Rina.
“In my family, there is a tradition of
serving the country and community and
sector you are in,” she says.
“I think in shipping, people like
us should step in more, whether it’s
BIMCO, ICS or Intertanko — because
otherwise the perception of shipping
people will be limited to what they
see on TV. We have to be out there and
talking to people and giving a little
back of what this great industry has
given us.”
She has two daughters, aged six
and 10. So will they follow her lead into
the business? “Sometimes they seem
interested but for me it is about giving
them a good education and then we will
see. They should do whatever they want
— I want them to be happy.”