Interview with Mr. Ulaş Koç

We had a pleasant interview with Artemida Petrokimya General Manager Mr. Ulaş Koç. Koç spoke about the vision and goals of Artemida Petrokimya.

Could you please briefly tell us about yourself, your educational and professional background?

I was born in Bursa on 22 January 1980. I completed my primary and secondary education in Bursa and I graduated from the Department of Business Administration of Ege University in Izmir. Then, I obtained my master's degree in Business Management at Yildiz Technical University. After my graduation, I started working for Opet Petrolcülük A.Ş., a Koç Group Company, where I worked in various managerial positions over the following 17 years. After developing my career in such a professional corporate environment for many years, I have been serving as the General Manager of Artemida Petrokimya since June 2022. I am married and enjoy playing golf whenever I can. [caption id="attachment_149315" align="aligncenter"] Artemida Petrokimya General Manager Mr. Ulaş Koç[/caption]

Could you please give information about Artemida Petrokimya's history, investments realized and milestones? What is the current structure of Artemida Petrokimya today?

Artemida Petrokimya is a young company established in June 2022 with foreign capital. Despite being a young company, I believe we are achieving strong performance with our experienced and expert staff and solid capital in overcoming the challenges that newly established companies face. We have leveraged our company's supply capability, which stands out as its strongest asset, combined with the strength of our capital and initially began operating in the Turkish market. We subsequently entered into cross-trade contracts and currently serve as a vendor in the global market. Our near-term aim is to increase our domestic sales, improve our cross-trade and export figures, and build a long-term reputation for our company. We have started this journey to succeed in trading and establish a structure that will create value for our shareholders and country. I believe it is necessary to establish the correct corporate structure and build a strong corporate culture to achieve this goal. The key to success in this regard is to ensure employee satisfaction. I believe that the more satisfied people are with their working lives, the more engaged and productive they will become. This approach shapes our recruitment policy when adding new members to our experienced team.

To which industries and with what kind of products does Artemida Petrokimya mainly serve?

We supply several industries with a wide range of solvent and polymer products, including paints and coatings, adhesives, resins, packaging materials, plastics, ink, disinfectants, polyurethane, and lubricants.

Could you please give us information about the features and capacities of products and services? Could you please tell us about your domestic and international sales activities?

We provide services using our company's rented shore tanks located primarily in Gebze to transfer products directly from the manufacturer's premises to the customer's location based on their requirements. Our export services currently extend to Eastern European countries, but we will soon expand our activities to cover a much wider area. Furthermore, we follow a cross-trade approach and sell products we purchase from refineries abroad to various countries.

Could you give information about Artemida Petrokimya's environmental policy and sustainability approach?

As Artemida Petrokimya, we aim to become one of the leading companies in environmental sustainability as part of our goal to lead the industry in every aspect. We believe that the future success of our company and the satisfaction of our customers depend on the sustainability of the environment, communities, and economies in which we operate. We have adopted a responsible corporate structure and recognize that it is our responsibility to consider both the direct and indirect impacts on the environment concerning our operations, purchasing decisions, and business opportunities we pursue. We aim for our products, services, and future investments in manufacturing to become a component of a sustainable society. We are committed to minimizing the environmental impact of our operations and leading the industry by integrating a green perspective into all our business practices. We will encourage our suppliers, logistics and warehouse solution partners, and customers to adopt the same green approach as Artemida and make the environmental performance of our suppliers and the impact of their products and services on the environment an integral part of our purchasing decisions. We will raise employee awareness and support the innovativeness and enthusiasm of our employees in implementing our environmental policies, standard operating procedures, programs, and initiatives. In pursuing the goal of minimizing our ecological footprint, we will continue to promote environmental awareness, responsibility, and respective practices while supporting our company's environmental sustainability culture through training and in-house initiatives.

What are the priority criteria of Artemida Petrokimya when creating investment plans? Does Artemida Petrokimya have any investment plans for the near and distant future?

As I have just mentioned, we are a recently established young company. We are prioritizing the proper development of our corporate structure. Our medium-term plans include various investment proposals. In this respect, I would like to state that we will prioritize investments that serve the goal of reducing the current trade deficit through an import-substitution perspective and that will provide profit to our company and country. Furthermore, we will base our future planning and investment decisions on our environmental policy and awareness of sustainability. To pursue our goal of minimizing the negative environmental impacts of our production processes, we will adopt a proactive approach to product design and will do whatever it takes to decrease resource use, waste generation, and pollution concerning our activities.