We Conducted an Interview with Sertuğ Melih Başol

In the interview we conducted, Sales and Marketing Manager of Rota Kimya Sertuğ Melih Başol provided information about the company's areas of activity and the products they offer.

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

I was born in Istanbul in 1981. After primary school, I attended secondary and high school at Sankt Georg Avusturya Lisesi. I graduated from the Chemical Engineering department of Boğaziçi University in 2005. I started my professional career as a sales representative at LG Chem, a South Korean petrochemical company, then worked as an export manager at Azelis Türkiye, a Belgium-based chemical distributor, and subsequently held sales management positions at Arkema, a French chemical company. Since 2016, I have been working full-time at Rota Kimya, our family company which I had previously supported from outside. [caption id="attachment_151911" align="aligncenter"] Sertuğ Melih Başol[/caption]

Could you provide information about Rota Kimya's establishment process and its activities in the adhesive sector?

Rota Kimya began its operations in 1976 as a family company founded by chemist M. Öner Başol, initially producing leather chemicals and PVA-based adhesives. Until 1998, our company continued its operations in the leather sector. Following the sector contraction resulting from the 1998-1999 crisis, we expanded our portfolio by leveraging our expertise in leather chemistry to include finishing chemicals for the footwear sector (dyes, polishes, colorants) and paints for the sole and hardware sector. By 2015, as a result of our long-term research and development efforts, we returned to the adhesive sector, which we had prioritized since the company's foundation, by producing water-based and subsequently solvent-based adhesives. With over 40 years of experience and technical knowledge, we take pride in being one of the few companies producing domestic water-based adhesives in the footwear sector. Furthermore, with our domestic production and local research and development center, we are able to provide high-quality solvent-based adhesives at competitive prices to both the Turkish and international markets.

Could you provide information about the products and services offered by Rota Kimya? What sectors are among your target markets?

As Rota Kimya, we operate in 5 product groups. These are: footwear finishing chemicals, leather chemicals, hardware dyes, shoe and leather care products, and adhesives. Leather chemicals include finishing chemicals used by leather producers (tanneries) during production. Our product groups of footwear finishing chemicals, sole dyes, hardware dyes, and adhesives are used by footwear manufacturers and producers of soles, bags, and belts both domestically and internationally. Our shoe care products meet end users in retail stores for the maintenance and protection of shoes and leather goods. For the American and Canadian markets, we produce leather shoe care products under different brand names. In short, every field related to leather and adhesives constitutes one of our target audiences. In the footwear sector, we are able to produce custom modular products in the shortest time possible. At the same time, we continue our efforts regarding the use of the chemicals we produce in different sectors (electronics, industrial products, furniture, etc.).

Could you provide information about Rota Kimya's domestic and international activities?

Our head office, research and development unit, and production facility are located in Istanbul / İkitelli OSB. Domestically, we work primarily in Istanbul, mainly in the İkitelli and Merter regions, directly with footwear, sole, bag, and belt manufacturers or through our distributors who handle the sale of our products. In Anatolia, we operate primarily through our distributors, particularly in Gaziantep, Konya, Izmir, Adana, Antakya, and Manisa. Additionally, many companies that produce for chain shoe stores are among our customers. We export approximately 35% of our production. Our main export markets include more than 20 countries such as Iran, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Morocco, Egypt, United States, Canada, Russia, Japan, India, and Pakistan. Each year, we have increased our presence and satisfaction in international markets at the highest level, bringing exports' share in our sales to 35%. We supply products to more than 20 countries across nearly every continent and leading sectors: the United States, Japan, India, Egypt, and Pakistan are among these countries. Abroad, we particularly represent our country at leading leather and footwear fairs such as those in Italy.

How was 2022 for Rota Kimya? Do you have new projects for 2023?

In general, despite the global and domestic challenges in 2022, we increased our sales by 28% on a volume basis. 2022 was generally a challenging year in which we observed changes in global markets following the pandemic period, experienced extra difficulties and cost increases in raw material supply due to the energy crisis resulting from the Russia-Ukraine crisis, and struggled with cost increases due to exchange rate fluctuations domestically. As we entered 2023, unfortunately, we experienced a massive earthquake disaster as a country. Our primary goal for 2023 is to produce more and increase our export share in order to provide greater support to our country's development. Additionally, among our objectives is to expand our activities in the adhesive and leather chemicals fields by putting into operation our new factory in Tuzla outside of our İkitelli center. In the adhesive group, in addition to the water-based and solvent-based adhesives we currently focus on, we are considering investments in the fields of furniture, sponge, and hotmelt adhesives. Internationally, we aim to increase product diversity and sector applications in our water-based adhesive group, which is seeing increasing usage in line with the growing trend due to both worker health and environmental sensitivity concerns.

Could we receive information about the innovation and research and development work you are conducting at Rota Kimya?

As a company seen by many manufacturers in the footwear sector as a solution partner to the problems they face, we are placing greater emphasis than ever on research and development and innovation today. With the aim of reducing dependency on imports in the leather and adhesive sectors and increasing our competitive strength, we are working to increase our product diversity in the water-based adhesive field, while also aiming to start production of groups of finishing chemicals used in the leather sector that are not currently produced in Turkey. At the same time, adhering to environmental and human sensitivity criteria in accordance with international standards will be one of our main responsibilities.