2019 Global CFO Excellence Awards

10 Acquisition International - 2019 Global CFO Excellence Awards Based in Europe, Basel Holding is a results-oriented company and financial partners with a long and successful history of investing across a wide range of industries and ventures. CFO Tahsin Gur provides us with an insight into his work with the firm and how he has helped it achieve the global success it now enjoys. Basel Holding asel Holding is an investment holding company providing high tech solutions and investing in technology around the world. Tahsin shares an insight into the firm, its core focuses and the projects he has supported it to complete over the years since he joined the company. “At Basel Holding our vision is to become the leading investment holding company to implement FinTech across various industries. The core values driving us towards this achievement are innovation, integrity, sustainability, flexibility and collaboration. Our main aspiration is to build a global, market leading technology investment holding company focusing on Research and Development, Revenue Management Systems, Banking and Entertainment, with a distinctive culture that attracts creative and collaborative people. “The particular two projects that I have worked on during the past year are Duuple and Juicebot, both based in Los Angeles, USA. Duuple is a social media application that is targeted towards the idea of people challenging each other, both for fun and for the greater good of the community by allowing users to donate to charities for the challenges created by their network. Juicebot on the other hand is a new generation intelligent vending machine that is dispensing fresh and organic juice, which is certified by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA). Currently it is in the radar of Fortune 500 beverage giants for acquisition. “Since I began with the firm, I have been closely involved in all business decisions related to these companies starting from the initiation phases of the businesses. It has allowed me to have a multicultural corporate experience together with a start-up venture environment.” Prior to his work at Basel Holding, Tahsin had a varied career which allowed him to gain experience working in a diverse range of situations, as he showcases. “My career began in the business partnering sector, which has greatly developed my perspective of being able to look at the business as a whole and to be able to understand the value of marketing and sales within an organization. With that experience, I was able to improve my skills in guiding internal stakeholders with the right data sets towards a more profitable and growth-oriented direction. “Later, I led one of the largest treasury teams in the world, working for a Fortune 500 FMCG giant, managing over EUR 50 billion portfolio on a daily basis. That position allowed me to understand the core of the finance, which is cash management within an organization. B Also, I was able to develop myself through FX trading - which is the key point where finance department can show up a significant value especially with regards to internationally operating companies. “Just before I became a CFO, I was offered a finance director position within the same company that I am working for at the moment - where I have deeply developed my understanding and knowledge of management and financial reporting, venture capital, funding and investment valuation. This experience has greatly helped me to have a better grip on the majority of the finance functions and have an even broader understanding of each and every subject related to the department before I was entitled with such a position.” Moving forward, Basel Holding will continue to flourish, and Tahsin has exciting plans to help drive the firm to even greater success, as he is excited to conclude. “Looking ahead, it is my wish to see one of our investments becoming a member of the Fortune 500 family. We are deeply involved with our ventures and the true measure of success for us is to see them making a real impact both on the community and industry. Personally, I would like to gain more experience on the corporate level and then become an angel investor myself so that I can move to the investor side of the table where I can reflect my own vision and mission for the companies which are aiming to make a difference.” Company: Basel Holding Name: Tahsin Gur Address: Dr. Salih Miroglu Avenue, Gonen Street, Hilarion 1 Building, Kyrenia, Cyprus Web Address: http://www.baselholding.com Tech Venture Finance Officer of the Year 2019 & Best for Tech Start-Up Development Solutions 2019