About

For over a decade Ümit Başer ran his own personal law firm before joining Turkish real estate developer EYG Grup in 2014. Applying the principles of running a law firm to an in-house team, Başer developed the company’s legal department from scratch. ‘My first goal was to emphasise the importance of the legal unit by making it an active participant and the approving authority in all areas of the business, especially commerce, marketing, advertisement and human resources,’ Başer comments. ‘The moment I joined the company, I arranged meetings with the department supervisors to discuss my experience and potential problems to resolve. Subsequently, while preparing any contract or relevant legal documents, I have paid the utmost caution through taking into account the department supervisors’ experiences’. Working in synergy with senior level management, Başer enjoys a close professional work relation based on ‘mutual love and respect’. He explains: ‘I explain my standpoint about the business and legal risks and CEO decides for any action. The CEO is an innovator and open to new thoughts and ideas’. Başer’s inspirational leadership has also been fundamental to EYG Grup in its efforts of tackling economic problems encountered due to the depreciation of the Turkish Lira and subsequent decrease in real estate sales. ‘We made an arrangement to overtake some of the payments for those who bought a house and/or an office from our projects through a bank credit or with instalments and made this campaign known to advertisements,’ Başer says. ‘The campaign proved to be so successful that our sales increased. As a legal advisor of the group, I prepared the legal base and contracts of the new system that we implemented.’