Interview with Müge Tamkan, Country Manager of IMCD Türkiye

In this interview with Müge Tamkan, Country Manager of IMCD Türkiye, we discussed IMCD Türkiye's R&D activities, the technologies it employs and its targets for 2018.

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

I was born in Adana on 8 June 1977. After graduating from Adana Anadolu High School in 1995, I studied Chemical Engineering at Yıldız Technical University and subsequently completed an MBA at Marmara University. Chemical Engineering was the field I most wanted to study, and during my university years I decided to build my career in sales. Immediately after graduation, I worked for four years as Sales Manager responsible for water treatment chemicals at Sel Dıs Ticaret and Kimya A.S. I then worked for approximately 3.5 years as a Sales Engineer in the Paints and Rubber Chemicals division at Kimteks Kimya, after which I joined IMCD Türkiye. I started as Technical Sales Manager of the Paints Division in January 2008. At the end of 2009 I became Industrial Division Manager, in August 2015 Commercial Director and Deputy General Manager responsible for sales, and most recently since July 2017 I have served as General Manager. I have worked in specialty chemicals distribution for a total of 18 years. I am married with two sons, aged 11 and 6.

What would you like to say about IMCD? What is the importance of IMCD Türkiye to IMCD as a whole? And what are your product ranges?

IMCD Türkiye was established in 2004 as the Turkish subsidiary of IMCD, which is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Over the years, it has grown both organically and through acquisitions of local distributors, most recently incorporating the well-established and strong company Feza Kimya in April 2017, bringing our team size to 52 people. IMCD Türkiye is a leading distributor supplying specialty chemicals to many different sectors including paints and coatings, construction chemicals, inks, adhesives, food, pharmaceuticals, plastics, rubber, textiles, mineral oils, cosmetics and detergents. We serve as the exclusive authorized distributor in Turkey for leading manufacturers. I can say that we are the only specialty chemicals company of this size serving such a diverse range of sectors in our country. We want to extend our market-leading positions in the pharmaceuticals, paints and coatings and construction chemicals sectors to other sectors as well. As our team has grown, our current office has become too small, so we are planning to move to our new office in Kozyatağı at the beginning of 2018.

What services do you provide to your customers? Could you tell us about your R&D activities?

The fact that our team consists of technically qualified specialists, that each individual has the opportunity to contribute to our company and is able to take initiative, is foremost among the areas where we make a difference. In sectors where we are market leaders, such as paints and coatings and pharmaceuticals, our technical managers work to provide formulation support to our customers. These individuals have previously worked at manufacturing companies, possess formulation knowledge and are equipped to answer all types of technical questions from our customers. I would also like to mention that we will be opening our technical laboratories for paints and coatings, construction chemicals and food in the first quarter of 2018. We will be the first specialty chemicals distribution company in these markets to have an application laboratory. We organize technical seminars every year with the participation of R&D managers from our customers in the paints and coatings, construction chemicals and pharmaceuticals sectors. For the first time this year, we will also organize a technical seminar for our customers in the plastics division and invite their R&D managers. Our seminars, which typically last a full day, bring together different suppliers under a main topic determined according to sector interest, enabling them to deliver technical presentations. This way R&D managers have the opportunity to listen to technical presentations from several different product groups and ask their questions.

For a brand to be global, it undoubtedly requires advanced technology. In this context, could you tell us about the technologies you use?

IMCD uses the same CRM and ERP systems across all its countries. All visit reports, projects and meeting notes are written in English in this system, enabling anyone involved with the subject matter to easily access this information.

What are your targets for 2018? How will these targets benefit your customers and the sector?

While 2016's first half started very strongly, we saw a sudden drop in turnover across all our divisions in July, as occurred throughout the country. We subsequently recovered and managed to end the year above 2015 levels. 2017 is performing significantly better than 2016. All our divisions are showing successful performance well above budget values. The new suppliers we acquired through our company acquisition in April 2017 continue to grow rapidly by bringing synergy to our existing portfolio. For us, 2017 has been a very successful year in terms of organic growth. Our business volume with the suppliers we worked with before the Feza Kimya merger has reached the highest level compared to previous years. Following the Feza Kimya merger, our new suppliers' business continues to grow rapidly.   In 2018, we plan to continue with full intensity in concluding distribution agreements with leading manufacturers in order to add complementary products to our portfolio. We believe we will rapidly expand our product portfolio in the plastics, food supplements and textiles sectors as we have done in our other divisions. Together with our newly joined team members, ensuring the continuity of the quality service we provide to our customers in all the sectors we operate in will remain our top priority.