Interview with Abdullah Ekrem Nefes

Interview with Abdullah Ekrem Nefes In our conversation, General Director of Haskan Boya Sanayi and Chairman of the Board of Borpaint Boya ve Yalıtım Teknolojileri A.Ş. Abdullah Ekrem Nefes answered our questions. Nefes highlighted the importance they place on R&D and innovation, and provided information about the products they have developed.

Could you briefly tell our readers about yourself, your education and your professional background?

I was born in Ankara in 1985. I am married and father of two children. I graduated from Başkent University with a degree in International Trade. In my final year of university, I went to the United States through a Cultural Exchange Program and completed my education there. I had a childhood spent closely with paint in our family factory's production environment. For this reason, I would say paint is not just a job for me, but my greatest hobby that I enjoy. Since 2010, I have been working professionally at Haskan Boya. Following that, I have been continuing as General Director since 2015. In addition to all this, I am the founder of Borpaint A.Ş. and also serve as CEO.

Could you provide information about Haskan Boya's foundation, the investments it has made and its current structure?

Haskan Boya is a family company founded in 1994 by Bayram Nefes and Hakan Nefes, with approximately 40 years of experience in the paint sales and marketing sector, which has continuously used the experience it gained for quality and business improvement, and has invested all its capital in production systems. Today, it serves the industry with an annual paint production capacity of 50,000 tonnes within a 7,000 m² facility.

What types of products does Haskan Boya primarily supply to which sectors? What are Haskan Boya's products, brands and services?

As Haskan Boya, we serve almost the entire water-based and solvent-based paint sector, and we produce paints for the construction, industrial and furniture groups. Under our roof, we produce the Doruk, 606, Woodmaster, Chromat, Borpaint and Chromat furniture group paint brands.    

Could you tell us about your domestic and international sales activities? Which regions do you predominantly sell to domestically and abroad, and what types of products do you sell?

Domestically, under our project and dealer system, we distribute our products to all regions. Additionally, we export more than 30% of our annual production abroad. Our exports, which were predominantly to Africa, the Middle East and Northern countries, have shifted towards Europe and America as a result of the pandemic. Together with the pandemic, we are trying to contribute to our country's increasing export strength by producing more efficient and high value-added products as a company.

What kind of work do you carry out in the fields of innovation and R&D at Haskan Boya? Do you have any projects developed under university-industry cooperation, and if so, what are they?

We continue to invest in our current business, establish a sustainable production system, and most importantly, continue production with innovative technology by constantly renewing ourselves. In addition, our R&D laboratory works with dedication to improve existing products and develop new products that the market needs. We are a company that is in continuous cooperation with universities. Recently, we completed our R&D activities with Çanakkale University related to thermal insulation and fire-retardant products. We continue to work with our university colleagues in both the development stage of our newly developed products and in the use stage of the finished product.

Could you provide information about Haskan Boya's environmental policy and sustainability approach? What can you say about your work related to worker health and safety?

As we all know, the climate change crisis affects every aspect of our lives greatly. Therefore, we are greatly responsible for the products we produce. We must do what is necessary to produce products with low VOC values and carbon values close to zero. We are trying to integrate the very valuable minerals found in our country into paint production. We have started selling our successful thermal insulation paint varieties. The most important point here is that the paints produced consist entirely of natural products with no harm to the environment. This is an exciting and proud picture for us. With the increasing inspections by our Ministry of Labor and Social Security over the last 10 years, we are also taking important measures regarding worker health and safety. As Haskan Boya, we allocate part of our investments to further improvements in human health and safety at our facility. Furthermore, we take great care to ensure that the products we produce are safe for human health even after use. I believe everyone should be more sensitive about this matter.

What criteria are prioritized when Haskan Boya's investment plans are formulated? Does Haskan Boya have investment plans for the coming periods, and if so, what are they?

First and foremost, when planning our investments, we prioritize human health, worker health and safety. In a constantly developing and changing world, investment in people and work is of great importance for sustainable living. In the near future, we aim to expand our facility and establish a new and faster production line. While doing all this, with consideration for the environment, human health and worker safety at the highest level, we plan to support our country in increasing exports.