Interview with Kenan Baytaş, Chairman of the BOSAD Board of Directors

Paint Manufacturers Association (BOSAD) Board Chairman Kenan Baytaş shared valuable insights with us about the association's activities, events it organizes and future objectives in an engaging interview. Mr. Baytaş provided us with highly valuable information regarding the association and the paints sector.

First, we congratulate you on your position as Chairman of the Board of the Paint Manufacturers Association (BOSAD) and wish for continued success. Could you tell us about yourself and your professional background so our readers can get to know you?

I graduated from Istanbul University and entered the paints sector in 1976. I served as General Director at Merbolin Paint Industry, and in those years Merbolin was a well-known company with the slogan "The Painter's Passion" and held a good market share. Since 2005, I have been a Member of the Assembly at the Istanbul Chamber of Industry. I have served in various departments at the Istanbul Chamber of Industry, including on the management board. Between 2018-2022, I held the position of Board Member at the Turkish Exporters Council (TİM). Currently, I am a Board Member of the Turkish Chambers and Commodity Exchanges Union (TOBB). My role as Board Member at İKMİB (Istanbul Chemical Substances and Products Exporters Association), which I started in 2005, continues to this day. I also serve as Board Member of KTM (Chemical Technology Centre) established in the Technology Valley by İKMİB. On 30 May 2023, I was elected as Chairman of the Paint Manufacturers Association (BOSAD).

Could you tell us in general terms about the work BOSAD carries out, and what are your targets and planned work for the coming period?

The Paint Manufacturers Association is an association founded in 2003, and this year we are celebrating both the 100th anniversary of our republic and the 20th anniversary of our association. On this meaningful year for us, we had the opportunity to host an unforgettable organization. In March, we hosted the Annual General Assembly of the World Coatings Council, of which we are members, at The Swissotel Bosphorus Istanbul. The Annual General Assemblies of the World Coatings Council are exclusive meetings closed to external participation, limited to members only. In addition to this program, we extended an extra day to organize a broad-based meeting attended by our members. The BOSAD & World Coatings Council Joint Meeting held on 15 March 2023, Wednesday at The Swissotel Bosphorus Istanbul, received keen interest. Through presentations by subject-matter experts, we evaluated the current state, trends and future of our sector both as a domestic market and in terms of the place of the Turkish Paints Sector in Europe and the world. Both the economic situation and sectoral trends and the sharing of innovative approaches in presentations provided participants with enlightening information. On the other hand, our panel held the same afternoon, which discussed national and international regulations affecting our sector, received full marks from our sector professionals. Among the listeners, World Coatings Council Chairman and British Paint Federation General Director Mr. Tom Bowtell stated that they wished to provide expert opinion within the scope of REACH regulations (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals). Our organization brought new perspectives to our sector and contributed to introducing the Turkish Paints Sector to the world. For this eventful organization, I would like to extend my thanks to BOSAD's previous Board Chairman Mr. Mehmet Akın Akçalı. During my tenure as Chairman, I will continue to carry out such high-impact work for the development of our paints and raw materials sector. My primary objective is to work towards increasing our exports with high value-added products of our sector which has high export potential. As Chairman, I will participate in the Annual Meeting of the European Paint Federation in September, and through these and similar meetings, we will continue our work without pause to strengthen our international representation and sectoral exports. In its 20-year history, our association has focused on the supply to the market of environmentally and health-conscious products of the Turkish Paints Sector and consumer awareness work. In past periods, it has conducted consumer perception and awareness-raising projects. BOSAD has conducted professional and technical work on the production of sectoral products offered to the market with human and environmental focus and regulations related to the sector. It has played an active role in bureaucratic work done together with the public on relevant regulations of our sector to be presented to relevant ministries, primarily the Ministry of Industry and Technology, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, and Ministry of Commerce of the Turkish Republic. In the new period, we will continue these activities and work together with our members and Technical Working Groups to solve the problems of our sector. As an association, we have a working group on the REACH regulation (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), which is closely relevant to the chemistry sector and is referred to abroad as Turkish REACH. Our REACH Working Group, headed by Mr. Hasan Şerefhan, is preparing a report on the sectoral impacts of the regulation. When the report is completed, we will share it with our relevant ministries and seek solutions to our sector's questions. On this occasion, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all our members in the working group, particularly Mr. Şerefhan. On the other hand, we also have other highly meaningful work that I cannot fail to mention. Although we are a sectoral association, BOSAD, in the face of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and fires that affect large segments of the population in our country, we strive to fulfill our duty in unity with our members. In 2021, in the fire disaster, our Board met urgently and acted proactively in ensuring that necessary materials reached affected regions according to the needs of the regions. Again, unfortunately, in the earthquake disaster that occurred in February this year, we responded similarly by meeting urgently and supporting affected areas with short-term solutions such as water, food, mobile toilets and showers with the contributions of all our members. Subsequently, within the Container City campaign launched by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry Foundation, we established a 50-container BOSAD settlement in Hatay. In the face of all these unfortunate events, we tried together with our members as one heart to provide some relief to the wounds of our beautiful country. Our association gains value from its dedicated members who are exemplary citizens with their conscientious sensitivity and adds value to our country. Taking on the new period chairman role at BOSAD is an honour for me.

What do you think about the development of the paints sector in Turkey and how would you evaluate it compared to the European paints sector?

Turkey's paints sector ranks 5th in Europe, with Italy at 4th position being only marginally ahead of us in tonnage. In our highly competitive sector, our primary goal is to move up to 4th place in Europe. As the Turkish Paints sector, we closely follow national and international developments and produce paints of high quality in full compliance with renewed international regulations. Our functional paints produced with specific formulations for special purposes add value to our sector. Raw material suppliers in our sector also have a significant share in this success. Regarding paint raw materials, both our domestically produced materials and those we import from abroad are new-generation materials compliant with the latest regulations. Our sector predominantly produces its products by using new-generation materials in innovative formulations. Taking all of this into account, I can confidently say that a paint produced in Turkey can easily compete with its European competitors in terms of product performance. Considering economic conditions, government support plays an important role in the development of sectors. We believe that if our sector receives economic and technical support from the public, our sector could develop even further. Our country is strategically located in a geography with very high export potential. Our sectoral exports increase year on year, but increasing our value-added exports with functional paints is far more important. As a sub-branch of the chemistry sector, the paints sector is also a capital-intensive sector. At this point, we see that government support is essential for the development of new raw materials in our sector, production of import substitution raw materials, creation of innovative formulations and the ability to produce value-added exports. On the other hand, we classify the products of our paints sector into two main subcategories as construction and industrial paints, depending on the sectors in which they are used. In industrial paints, domestic consumption will develop as Turkish industry develops. In the construction paints section, unfortunately in our country, which has a larger population than European countries, the repainting frequency is very low. There is a 2-fold difference between the home repainting frequency in Europe and ours. By increasing the repainting frequency of homes, we will also increase our domestic consumption. BOSAD has worked on this issue in the past and will continue to do so. On the export side, we continue our work to develop exports in cooperation with exporter associations, working to increase our exports without compromise. I believe that with government support and the establishment of regulatory production policies, we could easily settle in 3rd place in Europe in the long term.

The 9th paintistanbul & Turkcoat Congress and Exhibition will take place on 5-6 December through a collaboration between Chem Media and BOSAD. What are your views on the congress?

Our fair and congress projects that we have carried forward with the paintistanbul brand since our association's establishment are among the longest-running projects we have pursued. The paintistanbul & Turkcoat Fair, which has continued since 2016 under the Turkcoat brand, will be held in May 2024 at the Istanbul Fair Centre in collaboration with Artkim. We decided to organize our Paint Congress, which we previously held concurrently with the fair, in December this year. This way, we will be able to bring our sector together at two different times. Paint congresses have traditionally been congresses we organize for the development of our sector, prepared with intensive effort by BOSAD's Scientific Board. Over time, our congress has become an internationally recognized congress thanks to its high-level speakers and presentation content. It is one of our achievements that brings pride to our association. In the coming years, we will continue to develop our congress by increasing the number of participants. In collaboration with Chem Media, it will be an interactive congress concept with exhibition booths in the exhibition area. In the congress preparations, the efforts of BOSAD Vice Chairman and Fair & Congress Working Group Chairman Mr. Hakan Ünel and the contributions of our Congress Scientific Board have been significant. With its renewed concept, we welcome all our sector to the 9th paintistanbul & Turkcoat Congress and Exhibition.

At the same time, the paintistanbul & Turkcoat fair will be organized in May 2024 through a collaboration between Artkim and BOSAD. What would you like to say about the fair's contributions to the sector?

Our paintistanbul & Turkcoat Fair has reached 10,000 square meters, and our widely attended and sector-embraced fair will hold its 9th edition in 2024 in collaboration with Artkim. Our fair, which brings the sector together, has developed over the years to become a traditional organization in our sector. At the 2022 fair, the total number of domestic and foreign participating companies exceeded 200. The fact that companies participating in the fair for the first time in 2022 wish to participate in the fair in 2024 as well, I see as another indication of the fair's success. We have expectations for companies participating in the fair for the first time in 2024, and we are receiving positive feedback from companies that have participated in the fair for many years. Naturally, we expect the number of participating companies and the commercial potential created by the fair to continue to increase. Due to the pandemic, we held the fair in 2022 that we could not realize in 2020. The fair, which passed more productively than we expected under the existing conditions in 2022, I see high potential in 2024, especially with the removal of the global pandemic barrier, particularly in terms of international fair-participating companies and our foreign visitors. Companies participating in the fair will thus be able to present their products to more foreign sector professionals. Increasing the participation of foreign visitors at our fairs is the most important issue for participating companies. I invite all our sector to the 9th paintistanbul & Turkcoat Fair.

Finally, do you have a message you would like to convey to the sector?

The Turkish paints sector is a dynamic sector that continuously renews itself and closely follows sectoral developments. We are in constant communication with our members in order to keep pace with our sector's dynamism. BOSAD is our sector's association, all our sector stakeholders' association. As Chairman of the Paint Manufacturers Association, I would like to make a call to all companies in our paints and raw materials sector, particularly to companies in the sector that are not members of BOSAD: 'BOSAD is our sector's association, let us work together and collectively take our sector to better places.'