My speech at the inauguration of pladis Global “miü campus”:
· Thank you, to all, Salman Amin, Fulya Fraser and many others for making this happen, greetings to all colleagues and friends.
· I am truly delighted to be here at Chiswick Park Enjoy-Work for the opening of our new campus.
· Perhaps you all know that “Chiswick” is an old English word, meaning “Cheese Farm”.
· This makes a lot of sense – Wherever there is something related to food, pladis is right there! That makes me remember, 7 decades ago first production of Ülker Potibor biscuits made on a plant in suburbs Istanbul, in a village famous for milk cow breeding, Sagmalcilar.
· Now it must be time for cheesy, savoury biscuits. That must be a sign.
· First of all, I would like to thank everyone involved in this lovely campus project.
· I know it was not an easy task to achieve, but now it is a marvelous place thanks to your efforts
· Now let’s talk about the name of the campus – MiU
· Obviously, the name of our new campus is inspired by my initials, which also include the first name of my grandfather.
· This is a tradition in Turkey and in many parts of the world – children are usually named after the grandparents. The same applies to my name.
· Hence, this wonderful gesture of naming the campus after me also honors the memory of my elders and means a lot to me.
· I am truly touched by your kindness. Thank you very much.
· However, I think you all know that I love acronyms!
o GOYA, GOAL21, MOVERS, ofcourse etc.
· So I like you to propose alternative interpretations of MiU as an acronym. Take it as a homework and come with your comments.
o Modern, Innovative, Unrivaled
o My International Ülker
o Move, Imagine, Upgrade
o Marvelous, Inspiring, United
o Magnetic, Innovative, Unmatched
… each of these may be meaningful to us as pladis.