SosyalDeğer@Work is a social enterprise.
We are four women who make up the SosyalDeğer@Work team. Bringing together more than a century of professional experience and civil society knowledge, we set out with the motivation to expand social value.
The “Leadership Beyond Authority” Meridian program organized by the Common Purpose Association brought us together. Following the path this program opened for us, we have become active citizens and have created a responsible leadership program for university students. The Renkli Kampüs (Campus of Colors) program acts with a culture of living together at its core, embraces accessibility for all participants and aims to support these young people stepping into their careers, equipped with a mindset of social value creation. Later we also founded an umbrella organization, the Değiştiren Adımlar (Steps That Change) Association. Through the social impact we have created, young people started to take iniative to transform their environment; recognizing their own power, took responsibility, and became part of the solution. They became active citizens rather than being reactive to problems in their society.
From the start, our goal as founders was for the association to be led by graduates of the program. As a result of this transformation journey, we entrusted the association’s management to them with confidence. To ensure the association’s sustainability, we continue to support the young management team’s for management and leadership skills. At the same time, we grow social impact by donating 6% of our profit to the Steps That Change Association.
Why Work With Us?
We do not offer social support programs to organizations.
We aim to build communities where people take ownership to create social impact.
We instill an active citizenship attitude into everyday business life, not as an aspect outside of corporate life, but as an integral part of daily business decisions, relationships, and ways of working.
We aim to move people from a position of passively complaining to one of ownership and action.
Because at heart, people want to own the impact they create not only the work they do.
Through our Co-Journeying® methodology, we walk alongside individuals rather than directing them.
This way, we develop the skills of ownership, initiative, and collaboration within organizations not only a “culture of participation”
As a result, organizations do not create social impact; but the people making up that organisation create the enduring impact.
When people change, organizations change.
When organizations change, the world changes.
Real social impact begins when individuals take responsibility.
"A little bit of good can turn into a whole lot of good when fueled by the commitment of a social entrepreneur."
— Jeff Skoll
Our Team
Arzu Güneşli graduated from Boğaziçi University, Faculty of Business Administration, and completed her master’s degree in Marketing at the same university. During most of her 35-year professional career, she worked at Boyner Büyük Mağazacılık A.Ş. and Boyner Holding in corporate development, project management, and human resources, contributing to organizational transformation, process improvement, change management, and human-centered business practices. In 2019, she left corporate life to apply her knowledge and experience in different fields.
One of the first graduates of the Common Purpose Türkiye Meridian program, Arzu is a strong advocate of a leadership approach that brings together people from different sectors and walks of life around shared purposes. This journey, which began in 2008, encouraged her to take a more active role in civil society and led her, together with her friends, to establish the Steps That Change Association and the Campus of Colors program, which supports young people’s responsible leadership journeys.
Since the association’s founding, Arzu has held various roles and served two terms as Chair of the Board, leading the association’s institutionalization, sustainability, and growing social impact. She continues to support young people in discovering their potential, taking responsibility, and becoming active actors in social transformation. Today, she continues to contribute to their development journeys through mentoring and companionship.
Her corporate experience and social impact work come together in her focus on creating shared benefit by building bridges between the business world, civil society, and individuals. She believes that environments where people can learn together, develop collaboration, and take initiative form the foundation of lasting transformation.
As a reflection of her interest in nature, soil, and cultivation, she is also involved in olive farming, carrying what she learns from nature’s cycles into her life and work. She is married, a mother of one, and a grandmother.
After completing a 33-year corporate career at BP Türkiye at the end of 2022, Pınar Gökpınar continues her work as an olive and olive oil producer, a finance professional providing finance trainings to organizations, and a social entrepreneur.
A graduate of the Common Purpose Association’s Meridian 4 “Leadership Beyond Authority” program, Pınar has made creating social value an important part of her life through the path opened by this experience. She is among the founders of the Steps That Change Association and the Campus of Colors and Colorful Steps programs, carrying out work that supports young people’s development in responsible leadership, a culture of co-living, and social impact. Today, she continues to mentor and accompany young people, helping them discover their potential, take initiative, and create impact in their own lives.
Throughout her professional life, she has gained extensive experience in leadership, building and developing teams, working with teams from different disciplines, and being part of self-managed teams. With her results-oriented approach, determination to reach goals, and courage to take action, she aims to create lasting value in both the business world and the field of social impact. Her experience in developing collaborations among civil society, the public sector, and the private sector enables her to bring different stakeholders together around shared purposes.
She is a strong advocate of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and One Team values. Behind her hardworking, practical, and determined stance is a sensitive heart; she is a leader who has made contributing to a more inclusive, fair, and peaceful world her purpose. She is married and a mother of two.
Dr. Shirli Ender Büyükbay describes herself as a Co-Journeyer®. Her purpose is to accompany people as they discover their potential and cultivate a sense of wholeness in both their professional and personal lives. She began her career as an English teacher, but her work quickly extended beyond language instruction to guiding young people as they navigated life choices, educational opportunities, and career paths. Today, she continues to bring the essence of that educator identity into her work, supporting individuals on their personal and professional development journeys.
Holding an MBA in Educational Leadership and a PhD in Human Resource Management, Shirli has designed, developed, and managed numerous European Union projects focused on education, leadership, and youth development. She has collaborated with international institutions on initiatives related to inclusive education, career development, creativity in learning, student engagement, youth participation, and leadership. Her doctoral research explored leadership, employee wellbeing, and positive psychology, leading to the development of the Employee Wholeness Model, a holistic framework that advocates assessing employees not only through their performance, but through the wellbeing and integration of their whole lives. As an academic, she has taught undergraduate and graduate courses, bringing together research, practice, and experiential learning in her approach to education.
Over nearly three decades of professional experience, Shirli has worked extensively in mentoring, coaching, learning, and leadership development. She is trained in Co-Active Coaching for individuals and ORSC (Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching) for teams. Drawing on her diverse experience, she developed the Co-Journeying® methodology—an approach that goes beyond traditional mentoring and coaching by focusing on walking alongside individuals throughout their life and career journeys. She actively supports the leadership development of young professionals through voluntary mentoring initiatives and continues her social impact work as a graduate of the Common Purpose Meridian Program, a mentor in the Campus of Colors (Renkli Kampüs) program, and a member of the Değiştiren Adımlar Association. She also serves as the Mentoring Program Lead for the Professional Women's Network (PWN) Barcelona Chapter and is actively involved in civil society organizations such as Yanındayız, contributing to youth development, gender equality, and professional empowerment.
Today, Shirli's work is shaped by the principles of Co-Journeying®, Mind the Positive, and Employee Wholeness. Through these approaches, she supports individuals, teams, and organizations in creating more conscious, balanced, inclusive, and meaningful work and life experiences. As a co-founder of SosyalDeğer@Work, she is helping organizations reimagine social impact—not as an externally imposed responsibility, but as an internally owned transformation driven by people who choose to make a difference. She is married and the mother of one daughter.
Suna Özpar is a people and organizational development professional with more than 20 years of experience in human resources after graduating from Koç University’s Department of International Relations. She spent a significant part of her career at BP Türkiye, holding leadership roles across different areas of human resources such as reward, performance management, talent management, organizational development, and business partnership. She took on critical responsibilities especially as Human Resources Business Partner for BP Türkiye’s Fuels Business Unit and in transformation projects such as the digitalization of human resources operations.
After leaving BP in 2014, she began working as a human resources consultant for SMEs operating in different sectors, supporting organizations in strengthening organizational structures, leadership development, talent management, and establishing sustainable human resources systems. She currently serves as a Member of the Executive Board at a company in the automotive supply industry, continues her independent human resources consulting work, and sponsors teams that support learning organization team practices.
A 2013 graduate of the Common Purpose Türkiye Meridian 6 program, Suna believes in the transformative power of leaders from different sectors coming together around shared purposes. With this belief, she became one of the founders of the Değiştiren Adımlar (Steps that Change) Association and the Renkli Kampüs (Campus of Colors) program, which supports young people’s responsible leadership journeys, together with her friends and in line with the goal of creating social benefit. She continues to support young people in discovering their potential, building inclusive communities that respect differences, and taking active roles in solving social issues.
Throughout her career, she has gained deep experience in change management, culture transformation, leadership development, and collaboration among stakeholders. She values creating work environments that reveal people’s potential, encourage learning, and strengthen responsibility-taking. By building bridges between the business world and civil society, she aims to develop the capacity of individuals and organizations to create sustainable impact.
With her curiosity about people, passion for learning, and development-oriented approach, she continues to contribute to the formation of more inclusive, participatory, and responsible communities. She is married and a mother of two.
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