Güler Sabancı, chair of Sabancı Holding, has moved up to 11th place on Fortune magazine's annual ranking of the 50 most powerful women in business, improving on her 17th-place finish the previous year.
Fortune noted that revenues at Sabancı Holding grew 23 percent after Sabancı took over as chair in 2004. The magazine credited her with broadening the conglomerate's presence in food retailing while also directing efforts in the energy and banking sectors.
Separately, Melek Usta, a Turkish entrepreneur based in the Netherlands, received the top honor for foreign businesswomen from the Foreign Businesswomen Club (ZZVN), recognizing her rapid business growth and professional networks.
Usta heads Colorful People, a consultancy and education firm located in Hoofddorp, near Amsterdam. She also leads TANNET (Turks Academisch Netwerk), an organization that connects Turkish academics living in the Netherlands.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in October 2006, in its own words.