Article Written by Haşim Işık, Member of our Association and General Manager of the Doğan Dış Ticaret ve Mümessillik A.Ş.
About me...
I completed my undergraduate education at METU Department of Political Science and Public Administration, and my master's degree at Bilgi University in the field of MBA. After working as the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Auditors and Risk Management Group Director at Dışbank and Fortisbank, I worked as the Director of Law, Internal Audit and Budget-Reporting at Ata Holding in my career as a Bank Inspector at Interbank. I have been working at Doğan Holding for the last 10 years, first as the General Secretary of the Holding, and then as the Vice President of the Industry, Trade and Tourism Group, and then I continue to work as a Board Member and General Manager of the Doğan Foreign Trade Company.
During the period when I was performing inspection and risk management duties, I was entitled to receive CIA (Internal Audit Certification), CRSA (Control Risk Self-Assessment Certificate) and CFE (Abuse Investigation Expertise Certificate) certificates that were valid internationally. During the same period, I contributed to the establishment of ACFE Turkey (Turkish Representative Office of the International Association of Abuse Investigation Specialists) as the founding president. As one of my achievements during the pandemic period, I obtained the PCC (Accredited Professional Coach) certificate by completing the training program approved by the ICF (International Coaching Federation).
In addition to my current duties, I am currently an Executive member of DEIK (Foreign Economic Relations Board), Hong Kong (noble) and China Business Council (reserve) in Turkey. On the other hand, while I am mentoring for scholarship students within the Aydın Doğan Foundation, I provide Executive Coaching support to my employees within the Doğan Group.
Doğan Foreign Trade...
Doğan Foreign Trade is one of the most established companies in its sector that has been operating for 42 years within Doğan Holding. Our company, which started its activities in the field of automotive and battery, later became interested in the import and export of aquaculture products, while in the last 30-year period it has been a company that mainly operates in the field of writing table paper.
We are part of a well-established, respected and value-based Group of our country with a 60-year history filled with the extraordinary efforts of our founder, Mr. Aydın Doğan and the Doğan Family. The trading ethics and culture that have been processed in the genes of our group are the most important driving force in a company that does Foreign Trade business like us.
Our company has been one of the most important players of the paper market in our country for the last 25 years and it is Turkey Exclusive Representative of Stora Enso, one of the largest paper producers in the world. In addition, it is the representative office of many different paper manufacturers in our country.
Today, our company, together with its experienced staff, continues its activities in 1 duty-free warehouse with a total area of 12,000 m2 customs offices in the field.
Doğan Foreign Trade was the 168th largest foreign trade company in Turkey in 2017. It was entitled to receive the Authorized Economic Operator certificate Status (AEO) as a company. In the business structure where we are a strategic partner with our customers, it is also very important for customers that all customs and import operations are carried out in accordance with world standards. For Doğan Foreign Trade, which offers value-added services to its customers, the fact that the operations are carried out on time and at the specified costs is one of the reasons why it is preferred by our customers.
The fact that the operations made at customs within the scope of the green be completed in a short time without falling into the red line or even the green line, while the cost and time savings are very important resources for the Foreign Trade Company.
The Areas We Grew Up...
We are a company that mainly deals in commodity trading. With the contribution of our relations and experience in the paper sector, we have seen serious opportunities in the cardboard packaging and flexible packaging sector. These sectors blend commodities such as paper, petrochemicals and aluminum and produce value-added products and come across as an export-based structure with the strength of our country in this field. Currently, we are a company that imports dozens of different products from almost all countries in the northern hemisphere of the world and supplies these products to its customers. Our experience has shown us that we need to become a business partner that provides more holistic solutions to its customers by adapting to the changing dynamics of foreign trade over the past 5 years. At this point, the service we are trying to establish is not a commercial relationship consisting of buying and selling only. The support of all services and processes related to commodities, which are the raw materials that our customer will need in the production process, is the backbone of the service we offer. If I have to open it; we can explain the customer's buyer, quality and price as a whole set of services in which a product is purchased, import operations are completed, customs clearance is maintained if necessary, stock financing is provided, raw materials are sent to the customer as needed, and thus the customer is allowed to produce with a minimum inventory level we can explain all these services as a whole. At this point, with the service we provide, we are actually becoming a strategic business partner in the customer's raw material supply and import operations. We aim to be a facilitator that allows our customer to focus on production and sales, which is their main business. Providing our customers with purchasing, import, storage, financing, etc. processes that require a different organization and effort as a turn-key service is a great support element for them to focus on their main business.
The Companies We Offer Services...
The companies we offer this product/service as a whole are usually manufacturing companies operating in the field of light industry. In companies that require a relatively low investment but have a high need for working capital, we see that this service/product we offer has a high added value. In particular, such companies that are in the process of investing, direct their bank loans to investments or have to sell futures to their own customers, making it difficult for them to operate their existing capacities at full capacity with limited capital at their disposal. Looking at this aspect, we can say that all light industrial companies that are trying to maintain a high level of capacity utilization, the investment process is ongoing, use commodities as raw materials in production, the cost of investment is low, but the need for working capital is high are in this context.
Our Future Expectations and Goals...
We believe in our country, our economy and our potential. Although the pandemic period in which we are in contains some difficulties, it will also bring with it many opportunities. We think that our country will benefit from these opportunities with all its elements, and we believe that the commodity trade we are focusing on will be part of it. We have a plan to expand the strategic cooperation that our company is currently conducting on commodity trading and add new ones to them. The 2023 goals of our country are the happiness of all of us, and we, as a company, are about 2023; We have determined as a goal to become a strategic partner of the manufacturing companies in our country, especially in the packaging industry, which maintains our position on paper industry, as well as being a strategic partner in the supply of commodities. With this goal, we will continue to be a company that fulfills the obligations of the YYS in the best way, develops our company with its advantages and provides added value.