05/09/2025
A Successful Brand Story with Our Graduate İpek Erendemir Özaytekin
Our proud Sabancı graduate, İpek Erendemir Özaytekin, shared her entrepreneurial journey, her feelings about the university, and her expectations with us.
Can you tell us about the education you received at the university?
I entered Sabancı University in 2009, followed by a one-year preparatory class, and continued in the Management Department. In 2012, I attended Sciences Po Paris for a semester with the Erasmus program and graduated in 2014.
How did the freedom to choose a program at Sabancı University benefit you in your career?
Since my chosen field of study was Business Administration when I entered university, it didn't create a significant change or advantage for me.
What are the benefits of studying in a liberal environment?
It encourages you to be more creative, innovative, and imaginative, both during your studies and later in your professional life.
Can you tell us about your career journey?
During my university years, I interned at Tırsan, Bilsar, and Mudo during the summers. After graduating in 2014, I started working as an Assistant Category Specialist in the Mudo Concept Category department in July 2014. After one year of work, in July 2015, I transferred to our family-owned company, which was founded in 1936. Our family had been producing and selling in various areas since 1936, but had been developing its expertise in the bedding industry for some time. We specialized in bedding production, both for our own brands and through private label production. In 2015, I joined the family business when my brothers, Hakan and Hasan Erendemir, and I acquired the Swedish bedding brand Hälsa, a joint venture in Sweden. I initially worked in the brand's marketing departments, both globally and in Turkey. After working in marketing strategies and operations in various countries, I continued my role as Brand Manager.
In 2021, I left Hälsa and founded my own brand, Noémie. Our goal is to highlight our years of expertise in bedding production with a more specialized brand. For some time, we've been making custom beds for yachts in France. Leveraging the network we built during our Erasmus period in France, we've further developed this business and decided to continue under the Noémie brand. We've also expanded the collection, adding a variety of mattresses, pillows, duvets, mattress protectors, and baby linens. Inspired by the unique beauty of Provence, France, the Noémie brand offers a comfortable sleep with its all-natural and luxurious bedding and sleep products. We now sell our products in Turkey through noemie.com.tr.
My duties are primarily focused on Brand, Category, Sales, and Marketing, while my brother, Hakan Erendemir, heads production and also plays a key role in global sales, leveraging his market experience. Thus, the two siblings, as the third generation of the company, work together and support each other.
Can you tell us about your brand's story?
We are the third-generation innovators of a family-owned company established in Europe since 1936. With the knowledge and vision we've gained over many years of manufacturing for Europe, we've become experts in finding the right sleep style for our needs. The customer satisfaction we've experienced over the years while manufacturing and shipping mattresses to luxury yachts, boats, and the homes of high-profile businesspeople in Cannes, France, has made us realize that our work is unparalleled and special. During this process, we realized we needed to expand our reach with natural, healthy, and stylish sleep products, and to bring our knowledge and perspective to more bedrooms in a more accessible way—through online sales. Thus, at Noémie, we set out with the goal of bringing purity and elegance to bedrooms in Turkey, drawing profound inspiration from the comfort and simplicity of French Provence, the luxurious lifestyle of Cannes, and the quality and naturalness afforded by Europe's finest raw materials.
We've combined Europe's highest quality, purest, traditional natural materials with our industry-leading know-how and mastery, ultimately creating healthy and stylish sleep products tailored to your body. Now, just like us, we want everyone to experience the healthy sleep and unique style that comes from natural materials, which have ancient roots.
Do you think the only limits an SU graduate has are the ones they put on themselves?
Absolutely. We graduated with the understanding that being limitless, innovative, modern, entrepreneurial, and "different" is "normal."
What are your thoughts on these kinds of gatherings on your campus after graduation?
Frankly, I haven't had the opportunity to be very involved before, but I'll make sure to attend from now on because it's incredibly valuable for people who come from the same background and understand each other to be in the same network and support each other.
As you know, our University is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Could we have your 25th-anniversary message?
I believe education is the most important thing in life because it shapes a person's character, social circle, future, professional life, perhaps their spouse, and many other things. Sabancı University is one of the rare institutions in Turkey today that provides an environment of free thought, enabling us to develop ourselves in every way, and providing an education far beyond the memorized boundaries of general culture and knowledge. I will always be proud to be a Sabancı University graduate.
