Segmentify Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Report 2022

Although we have appreciated the values of sustainable development since our company was established, we have decided to present our stand towards sustainable development professionally in 2022.

Supported by the training on Sustainable Development and SDGs by experts from academia, we have identified the specific SDG targets during an SDG analysis. We ensured that our company policy includes our SDG targets, and our business actions link to the targeted SDGs to indicate our contribution to sustainable development. Our SDG report is also validated by the experts and the members of executive management to enhance broad engagement.

The meeting of all the United Nations Member States in 2015 for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has been a turning point for our planet, people, prosperity and universal peace. The 2030 Agenda, a global action plan to end poverty and hunger, protect the planet from climate change and pollution, and ensure inclusive and just societies, addresses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and calls on all countries and stakeholders to act in a collaborative partnership for humanity and the planet.

As a result of the analysis, we have identified 12 SDGs where our impacts are directly or indirectly positive and one SDG where our impact is indirectly negative. There are also 4 SDGs that we believe we do not have any impact on. However, with our sustainability strategy, specifying the SDGs that we will have the most impact on, we will go on further in our sustainability journey to save the people, planet, prosperity and peace.

We would like to present our special thanks to Dr. Nese Soysal from Edu4GlobAll Consultancy for providing our team with the training on Sustainable Development Goals and preparing our SDG Report.

Chief Executive Officer’s Review

Segmentify was born to provide improved Artificial Intelligence solutions for eCommerce businesses in 2015. We always seek ways to develop our algorithms and release cutting-edge technology. 

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has severely disrupted the world economy and people’s way of life. We have realised it will continue with us for the foreseeable future, and taking action towards protecting our planet, prosperity and people is essential. Our company policies include working towards contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

We aim to accomplish our sustainability goals by 2030 and become a fully sustainable company. Our sustainability goals include contributing to our planet, people, and prosperity.

Planet

As SDGs stated, we should protect our planet “so that it can satisfy the requirements of the present and future generations”. We are becoming increasingly aware of how fundamentally linked global development to climate change is. 

Even a small action can contribute to our environment. We are aware of the climate crisis around the world and hope to have a positive impact with our company strategy.

People

The SDGs state that everyone on earth is committed to “ensuring that all people may realise their full potential in dignity, equality, and a safe environment” At Segmentify, we put people first; our employees, customers and society are at the heart of our company. We provide a dynamic learning environment for our employees. We care about their personal development, mental health and work skills improvement. 

Our employees are put first regarding their equality and education opportunities. We have made our student and employee training programs our company policy; we hope to improve their personal and professional skills.

Prosperity

The SDGs were created to “guarantee that all people may have successful and satisfying lives and that economic, social, and technical growth proceeds in balance with nature.” One of the defining challenges of our age is inequality, which calls for a focus that has, up to now, yet to be present.

As a technology company, we believe in the importance of having equal representation. As an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, or religion. Additionally, we organise several events yearly to support women entering the technology industry.

Furthermore, there are still areas where students cannot reach a quality education, especially from the practical aspect of technology. The educational inequalities have discouraged many young people from entering the technology industry. We have a specific programme for students and provide them with technology, development, sales, and marketing training.

Finally, we believe that with all of the points mentioned above, we can positively impact our future as a company. We will continue to grow our sustainability goals and implementations in the following years. Representing our dedication to SDGs, we welcome all our new team members, business partners and customers by planting a tree in cooperation with various NGOs worldwide.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals stay at the centre of Segmentify’s growth strategy and company culture. The SDG Report will increase our transparency to our stakeholders and investors. We also expect it will guide and encourage other companies to begin their own journeys to SDG achievement for a sustainable world.

Murat Soysal, CEO

Methodology 

For the preparation of our SDG report, the following steps were taken as a team:

• We had training about Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals during the process.

• To identify our impact on SDGs, the data on our strategies is collected through interviews with Segmentify’s senior management team and document analysis.

• The data is analysed by experts with the support of our team, and Segmentify’s sustainability picture has been drawn.

• At the same time, we have worked on our sustainability policy to include what we have done and what else we can do to achieve UN SDGs.

• Our report has been produced with its validation through experts, our stakeholders and our executive management team.

In assessing our impact, we considered the social value principles determined by Social Value International in 2021.

In assessing our impact on SGDs, SDG Impact Assessment Tool Guide 1.0, prepared by the Gothenburg Centre for Sustainable Development at the Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Northern Europe (2020), is used as a guide. 

Segmentify’s Direct Positive Impacts on SDGs

SDG 1: No Poverty

Segmentify supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and prioritises “SDG 1: No Poverty” to end poverty in all its forms everywhere.

Commitments: Segmentify is committed to supporting specifically “SDG 1.4”, aiming to ensure all men and women have equal rights to economic resources.

SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being

We support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and prioritise “SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being” to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages.

Commitments: We are committed to supporting specifically “SDG 3.8”, aiming to provide access to quality essential healthcare services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all employees of Segmentify.

Action for Change

Segmentify offers private healthcare programmes, diet programs, online fitness membership, and well-being support for all its workers. 

Impact in Progress

In 2022, all employees are offered private healthcare programs to ensure they can access quality healthcare services and affordable medicines. Employees can also access online fitness membership and individualised diet programs. Segmentify offers volleyball and football clubs to all employees to encourage good health and well-being. 

SDG 4: Quality Education

Segmentify prioritises “SDG 4: Quality Education” to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Commitments: We are committed to supporting specifically “SDG 4.4.” aiming to increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship substantially by 2030.

SDG 5: Gender Equality

As the United Nations highlights, “Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world. Providing women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large.”

For this reason, Segmentify aims to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and prioritises SDGs 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Commitments: We are committed to “SDG 5.1.1”: Legal frameworks for gender equality and non-discrimination. We are also committed to supporting specifically “SDG 5.5” to ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life and have equal access to financial resources.

SDG 8: Decent Work & Economic Growth

We prioritise “SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth” to promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

Commitments: We are committed to supporting “SDG 8.5”, aiming to achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value by 2030. We are also to support “SDG 8.6”, aiming to substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training.

Action for Change 1

Segmentify cooperates with KEDV (Foundation for the Support of Women’s Work) in Turkiye. KEDV supports women’s efforts to improve their lives and strengthen their leadership in local development, aiming to contribute to building a strong society where poverty does not exist. 

Segmentify supports KEDV by buying presents to be given on any occasion, such as World Women’s Day and New Year celebrations from KEDV. We also work for donations to KEDV. 

Impact in Progress 1

In 2022, as the Segmentify running team, we donated 30,054 TL. We enabled 10 women to participate in production within the women’s cooperatives by running with our team of 11 people in the Istanbul Half Marathon. In this way, we ensured that women produced and participated in economic and social life to stop poverty. We also created a fundamental awareness of women’s cooperatives’ role in women’s employment and empowerment.

Action for Change 2

%90 of the Segmentify team lives in Turkiye, where inflation severely affects the cost of living. To help them overcome these unprecedented times, Segmentify has invested in a Salary Analysis Report and identified every employee’s PIR (Position in Range). Segmentify plans to overcome inflation’s acute effects and take salary increase actions accordingly.

Impact in Progress 2

In January 2022, all Segmentify staff with a PIR of %50 or lower had a separate pay rise to a PIR above %50. As of today, %65 of the team has a PIR above %75. Segmentify aims to bring all her staff to %75 PIR in 2023. This way, Segmentify aims to play a role in providing decent work and economic growth and ending poverty. 

Action for Change 3

Segmentify launched a 3-month training program for university students called “Internify” in November 2021. It aims to provide opportunities for university students to access high-quality training programmes, on both technical subjects (i.e., coding and design) and business-related subjects (i.e., marketing and sales) by skilled engineers and business people. Students are also provided with real work experiences, and mutually satisfied students are provided with part-time or full-time employment opportunities in Segmentify.

Impact in Progress 3

In 2022, out of a total of 350 applications, 50 students have been trained, 18 of them employed by Segmentify. The total %18 workforce of Segmentify comes from Internify. Segmentify commits to keeping this number above %15 by 2030, aiming to train more university students and employ them substantially.

Action for Change 4

“eCommerce Growth Show” is a podcast series organised by Segmentify since 2019. It aims to build a sustainable community among eCommerce professionals by sharing knowledge of growth strategies. The power of this show also comes from its fighting with poverty and inequalities. In 2020, the eCommerce managers who lost their jobs during the pandemic were invited as guests and had a chance to share their experiences, which supported them in finding their next employers. 

In 2022, Segmentify launched a new vertical called “Women in eCommerce”, where different women hosts have women eCommerce managers as guests in every episode. In that way, it became a platform where women’s voices could be heard to guide other women in the area and support their employment. 

Impact in Progress 4

It is a community from 11 countries in 7 languages with almost 300 series listened to by more than 10.000 people worldwide. 

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

Segmentify prioritises SDG 10: Reduce inequalities within and among countries.

We specifically support “SDG 10.2.”, aiming to empower and promote the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status by 2030.

Actions for Change

In addition to supporting women and girls for equal access to quality education and decent work with KEDV projects, Internify and Women in eCommerce programmes, Segmentify supports women’s efforts in improving their lives and strengthening their leadership in local development, intending to contribute to building a strong society where inequalities do not exist.

To this end, A Women’s Rights Awareness Workshop was held within Segmentify to create awareness for empowering women and supporting gender equality. We are also ensuring that women are employed in the leadership team and that they produce and participate in economic and social life.

Segmentify works in cooperation with the Women in Tech Academy project funded by the European Union and supported by the Community Volunteers Foundation and Youth Hub, aiming to help young women participate in the workforce in the software industry by specialising in training and contributing to their empowerment. 

Segmentify is also the partner of Sister’s Lab Project, an international exchange of trainers and mentors aiming to ensure gender equality and women’s empowerment in the fields of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics). As part of this, Segmentify provides mentors and employs the women in the project. 

Impact in Progress 

Awareness of empowering women and supporting gender equality has been created on the Segmentify team. As a result of the Women in Tech Academy project, out of 3 applications, one woman is employed by Segmentify. Segmentify mentors are still giving training for the project. 

In addition, there are 42 women employees in Segmentify as % 36 of the whole employment. The ratio of the women leadership team to men is %25. 

As stated in our HR Policy Booklet, Segmentify has legal frameworks in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non-discrimination. We are committed to diversity in the workplace and against discrimination of race, colour, religion, age, national origin, disability, gender identity or any other factor. Segmentify also established a zero-tolerance policy towards all forms of workplace violence, verbal and/or physical abuse.

SDG 15: Life on Land

Segmentify prioritises “SDG 15: Life on Land” to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss.

We specifically support “SDG 15.2.”, aiming to promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally.

Actions for Change

Segmentify has partnered with the Turkish Foundation for Combating Erosion, Afforestation and Conservation of Natural Assets (TEMA). TEMA plants a tree on behalf of every new employee and all guests participating in Segmentify’s eCommerce Growth Show series and awards tree certificates to the participants to combat desertification and manage forests.

Impact in Progress

Up to now, 179 trees have been planted for each employee and 185 trees have been planted for each guest in the eCommerce Growth Show. In return for the tree certificate given to each guest, a total of 3 donations were made to TEMA in 2020 and 2021.

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Segmentify prioritises “SDG 17: Partnership for the Goals” to strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.

Segmentify specifically supports “SDG 17.16.”, aiming to enhance the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilise and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in all countries, in particular developing countries.

Actions for Change 

The Segmentify team started having trainings on Sustainable Development Goals from the professionals and enhanced its global partnerships from different countries to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals in all the countries we are working with. We also started working with SDG reporting initiatives.

Impact in Progress 

Segmentify has members responsible for integrating Sustainable Development Goals into all the company’s actions. We share our knowledge and expertise with our multi-stakeholder partners in the countries we are working with. We have published our first SDG report.

Segmentify’s Indirect Positive Impacts on SDGs

In addition to our direct positive impacts on the SDGs mentioned above, Segmentify has indirect positive effects on SDG2: Zero Hunger, SDG 13: Climate Action, SDG9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure and SDG16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.  

By creating an impact on SDG1: No Poverty, supporting women to participate in economic life to stop poverty and providing decent work to men and women, Segmentify indirectly supports SDG2: Zero Hunger.

Supporting SDG15: Life on Land to protect forests and combat desertification working in cooperation with TEMA, Segmentify supports SDG 13: Climate Action to take urgent action to combat climate change.

Having an R&D hub, data sharing with universities and some joint projects, Segmentify has some collaborative projects, supporting SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure. 

Segmentify also is committed to SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions by standing against violence, supporting global peace, and ensuring equal access to justice for all.

SDGs Where Segmentify Has No Impact

Segmentify is committed to achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Although we are in the progress of achieving many of the stated above, we plan to achieve these SDGs with our future actions:

• SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
• SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
• SDG 14: Life Below Water

Segmentify’s Direct Negative Impacts on SDGs

Segmentify, as a company providing Artificial Intelligence solutions for eCommerce businesses, has a negative impact on SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production. However, we are targeting to support recycling techniques in the future. 

Future Targets

Increasing and keeping the percentage of women employees above 45%.

To start a positive effect in SDG 14: Life Below Water, Segmentify is looking forward to cooperating with NGOs, not only with nomination but also helping them via their technical needs from an AI perspective.