An Interview with Mübahat Akın and Sema Keskin

Interview with Mübahat Akın and Sema Keskin BASF Care Chemicals opened the first and only Baby Care Centre of Excellence in Turkey. In our interview, BASF Turkey Innovation Center General Manager and Market Development and Sustainability Director responsible for Turkey, Middle East and Africa regions Mübahat Akın and BASF Turkey, Azerbaijan and Middle East Regional Personal Care Division Head Sema Keskin Altınoluk provided information about the Innovation Center and the Baby Care Centre of Excellence established within it. [caption id="attachment_144998" align="aligncenter"] Mübahat Akın Sema Keskin Altınoluk[/caption]

First of all, we would like to get to know you. Could you briefly share information about your professional background?

Sema Keskin Altınoluk: I graduated from the Chemistry Department at Middle East Technical University. While working as an R&D Engineer at TUBITAK, I also completed a master's degree in polymers. During my continuing R&D experience in the textile sector, I decided to move into sales and pursued an MBA. This education helped me gain different perspectives. In 2008, I started working at BASF as a Customer Manager responsible for the detergent customer group. Later, I took on sales responsibility for the personal care chemicals division for the region including the Middle East and Egypt. In 2012, I assumed responsibility for the Personal Care sales team, and since 2020, I have continued working as the Personal Care Business Unit Manager for this region. Mübahat Akın: Following Tarsus American High School, I graduated from the Chemical Engineering Department at Istanbul Technical University. After working for two years at Eczacıbaşı Baxter, I completed my higher education at Imperial College in the United Kingdom. I started as Sales Manager at BASF and for 17 years held various management positions covering multiple countries in many different business units including automotive, refinery, detergent, textile, paints and coatings, adhesives and packaging. Since 2014, I have also been working on sustainability matters. Currently, I manage Sustainability and Market Development work at BASF Turkey and in emerging markets (Middle East and Africa), and I also serve as General Manager of the Innovation Center, which recently began operations and hosts seven different business units.

BASF Care Chemicals opened the first and only Baby Care Centre of Excellence in Turkey. What were the reasons for choosing Turkey for the location of this center?

Sema Keskin Altınoluk: Turkey is an established market for BASF's Personal Care business line. We serve both Turkey and the region with many important raw materials that we manufacture here. Thanks to our Personal Care Laboratory located at BASF Innovation Center in Istanbul, we provide technical support to our customers in the region. In this direction, together with our marketing team, we serve as a service center for our region. Our region has a high population growth rate. Our most precious asset—babies—require special care. Our Baby Care Centre of Excellence, which we opened in recent months, develops solutions for baby care in the Turkish market where local brands dominate, and in the Middle East, Egypt and Azerbaijan region for which we are responsible. Considering our expertise in Turkey and regional factors, we can say that opening this center here was the best decision we could make.

What types of products and technologies will the Baby Care Centre of Excellence offer to which regions and sectors?

Sema Keskin Altınoluk: The reason behind opening the Baby Care Centre of Excellence here was to serve the personal care sector in this developing region, particularly in Turkey, the Middle East and Egypt. Specializing in baby care, this center develops formulations containing sustainable and innovative ingredients suitable for various baby care products such as shampoo, shower gel, body oil, cream, lotion, diaper rash cream, sunscreen and wet wipes, in line with regional conditions, global trends and the needs of our business partners. We complement our work that guides the rapidly growing baby care market not only with our formulations but also with our advanced raw materials and innovative product concepts. At the BASF Baby Care Centre of Excellence, we analyze the effectiveness of our solutions using state-of-the-art equipment and our own proprietary methods.

When it comes to babies, our most precious assets, our sensitivity about the health of products increases even more. In this context, BASF, which has a deep-rooted history and a respected brand value, what kind of assurances can provide to parents? Could you evaluate this in terms of certifications and criteria?

Sema Keskin Altınoluk: Baby skin is structurally different from adult skin. It is thinner, more sensitive and continues to develop throughout the first years of life. Baby skin requires special care and protection, and providing the best solutions and care requires deep knowledge about skin structure. Furthermore, the needs must be understood and the most suitable products for the skin type must be developed. BASF Personal Care portfolio contains sustainable products derived from natural sources that can meet all these needs of baby skin. As BASF Care Chemicals, we place extreme importance on the safety of our raw materials and this of course includes the benefits they provide in baby care products. We offer a wide range of raw materials for manufacturers who want to certify their products in accordance with various standards such as COSMOS, NATRUE and ECOCERT. This not only allows us to establish long-term and trust-based partnerships with our customers, but also provides us with the opportunity to shape the market and future trends. Especially in the baby care sector, it is important for us to work together to meet parents' high expectations and ensure our children take a successful first step in life.

The newly opened Baby Care Centre of Excellence is located within the BASF Turkey Innovation Center, which has been in operation since 2020. Could you provide information about the characteristics of this innovation center and the work being conducted there?

Mübahat Akın: Our center includes laboratories serving Food Solutions, Seed Solutions, Household and Industrial Cleaning, Personal Care, Engineering Plastics and Polyurethane, Automotive Refinish Coatings and Construction and Industrial Coatings, along with eight laboratories including the Baby Care Centre of Excellence, which we recently launched and is a first in the BASF world. In our center, we develop formulations to meet our customers' needs. In doing so, we particularly take into account the geographic and cultural characteristics of our region. As a company whose strength derives from innovation, our aim is to contribute to our customers' production of sustainable solutions, and the sectors we serve are very diverse. For example, in our Seed Solutions laboratory, through tests conducted for the first time in Turkey, we check whether plant protection products are applied at the correct dose to protect seeds against diseases. In this way, we conduct work that prioritizes both user and environmental health. We can give another example from our Automotive Refinish Coatings Training Center. Here we aim to increase the efficiency of painting processes and organize training in color design, product knowledge and workflow areas to develop the competencies of sector workers, offering digital solutions. For example, we provide vehicle painting training without using paint by using VR technology. In our Food Solutions laboratory, which we call KitchenLAB, we formulate solutions for our customers in regions such as Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa, focusing on pastry, ice cream and baking, meeting local needs with recipes prepared specifically for regions. Our center, which has signed work adding value to many different sectors like these, is located at Teknopark Istanbul. With its design conforming to green building criteria, it has environment and human-friendly features, and also holds LEED Gold certification.

Awareness of sustainability and circular economy is increasing every day, both worldwide and in Turkey. Could you provide information about BASF's approach and work on this subject?

Mübahat Akın: As BASF, we want to contribute to a livable future with a high quality of life for everyone. We spend a significant portion of our R&D budget on climate protection. In line with our carbon management approach, we aim to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030 compared to 2018 worldwide, and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. As a company, we continue our global investments at full speed to secure the amount of renewable energy we need. For example, the Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm, which we have undertaken as a partnership with Vattenfall and Allianz, is the world's largest unsubsidized wind power plant with its 140 turbines, and we expect it to begin operations as of 2023. We plan for the world's first electrically heated steam cracker, of which we are one of the investment partners with SABIC and Linde, to commence operations in 2023 as well. With this new technology using electricity from renewable sources instead of natural gas, we aim to reduce carbon emissions generated in chemical industry production processes by 90%. Through our Sustainable Solution Steering methodology, we evaluate the contribution of each of our products to sustainability in their respective applications. For example, our products in the "Accelerators" category are positioned as solutions that contribute to sustainability in the value chain. In line with our Circular Economy Program, with our certified mass balance approach, we offer products with a renewable or recycled raw material share. Customers who want to contribute to the protection of fossil sources and a lower carbon footprint prefer these products. Additionally, we offer a bio-based product portfolio for different sectors. For example, bio-actives derived from the Rambutan plant for the Personal Care market or palm kernel oil that we offer with sustainable certification.