After a BA degree in Political Science and International Relations, Ayse worked for Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), a Turkish NGO, focusing on business networking in Mediterranean countries.

Following a Postgraduate Masters Degree in the UK, she returned to DEIK to coordinate Black Sea Economic Cooperation's private sector initiative, the Business Council.

She then joined UDAS, a Turkish advisory firm as Business Development Manager and spent eight years, working on behalf of various European energy, utilities and infrastructure companies, as well as helping a London bank establish a presence in Turkey. She also set up a representative office in Sofia for a utility company and co-headed it for 18 months.

Ayse joined Raiffeisen Investment in 2005 to head the Turkey office and worked directly on the ERDEMIR project – the largest steel privatisation in CEE in 2005 – where RIAG was advising the Government of Turkey.

Ayse Kolat is Managing Director of the Representative Office Turkey.