Determination Impresses Jury, Wins Turkey's Most Successful Female Entrepreneur Award

Garanti Bank, in collaboration with the Turkish Women Entrepreneurs Association (KAGİDER) and Economist magazine, announced the winner of the 11th "Turkey's Woman Entrepreneur Competition": Sevginar Baştekin, founder of 1K Kimya. The results of the "Turkey's Woman Entrepreneur Competition," held to reveal the commercial and social "entrepreneurial spirit" of women in Turkey and to contribute to raising the number of women entrepreneurs to the level of developed countries, were announced at a ceremony held on 28 November. 34,284 women entrepreneurs with annual revenues below TRY 40 million applied to the competition. In the main category of the competition, where awards were given in four categories, Sevginar Baştekin, founder of 1K Kimya, was selected as Turkey's Woman Entrepreneur of 2017 among the five finalists. This year marked the first time two winners were selected in the main category. Baştekin, who received her award from Cemal Onaran, Deputy General Manager of Garanti Bank, along with Hande Çilingir, founder of Sosyo Plus Bilgi Bilişim (Insider), said in her remarks: "I started not from zero but from below."

"I Dreamed of Making Soap as a Child"

"First of all, I thank everyone for deeming me worthy of this award. My family, everyone who supported me on this journey, and especially myself. Because despite all difficulties, I believed I would succeed, I trusted myself, and I never thought of giving up." "My childhood dream was to make soap. I studied chemistry for this and graduated top of my class. My first attempt at starting a company ended in failure. All I had left was the desk and chair I was sitting on. I did not give up; I tried again. In the 2000s, there were many cleaning products that did not exist in Turkey; I started by formulating them. I developed more than 200 formulas. Today, we are a 100 percent domestically-owned company established with our own capital, producing household cleaning and liquid detergents in the chemical sector, with our products available in more than 14,000 sales points across 81 provinces. With our HighGenic brand, we have won hearts and are now in a position to compete with many strong international brands."

"My Dream is to Develop and Produce Completely Natural Cosmetics and Cleaning Products in an Environmentally-Friendly Factory"

Baştekin noted that her dream is to develop and produce completely natural cleaning products in an environmentally-friendly factory and said she received project support from TÜBİTAK for an ecological and biological room fragrance whose formula she developed herself. Emphasizing that everyone should pursue their dreams, Baştekin said, "I believe that the path to success goes through dreaming and working hard."

What Has 1K Kimya Accomplished?

With the success it achieved in 2016, it increased its existing production capacity by 204 percent. In other words, it doubled its 2016 production compared to the previous year and increased it 100 times compared to 2010 when it started. 1K Kimya's 2016 revenue was TRY 24.2 million. 2017 revenue reached TRY 27.2 million and production was 12 million units of bottled products. The company views 2018-2019 as years of expansion, targeting 40 percent annual growth. Its 2023 target is revenue of TRY 106 million with production of 50 million units of bottled products. As a company established with 100 percent domestic capital, 1K Kimya aims to enter store shelves in the United States and Europe within five years and is working to become one of the largest five companies in its field producing in Turkey.