Bosad Chairman Akın Akçalı Answers Our Questions

In our interview, Bosad Chairman Akın Akçalı answered our questions. Akçalı provided information about Bosad's activities and professional work, and shared his views and comments on the 8th International paintistanbul & Turkcoat Fair and Congress to be held in 2020.  

Mr. Akçalı, first of all, we congratulate you on your election as Chairman of the Paint Manufacturers Association (Bosad) and wish you success in your new position. Could you briefly tell our readers about yourself, your education and professional background?

I was born in Istanbul in 1975. I started my education in Istanbul and graduated from ATA Koleji. I completed my higher education at Anadolu University, Faculty of Economic Sciences, Economics Department. I entered professional life at Akçalı Paints and Chemicals Ltd., our family company, where I continue to serve as Board Member and General Manager. Starting from 2013, I served as a Board Member and Vice Chairman of the Paint Manufacturers Association. During the same period, I also continued my professional work within Bosad as Head of the Foreign Trade Working Group. In May 2019, I assumed the position of Bosad Board Chairman through an assignment made at the IX. Ordinary General Assembly meeting of Bosad. I actively serve in various cultural and art-related social organizations. I am intensely interested in maritime and sailing sports and participate in national competitions in this field. I have advanced English proficiency, am married and have two children.

Could you provide information about the professional work carried out by Bosad?

Bosad, founded in 2003, will complete its 16th year of operation this year. During this period, Bosad has come to represent nearly 80 percent of our paints and raw materials industry within formal economic activities and has significantly increased its professional influence. Bosad has continued its efforts to find solutions to current and structural problems of the sector at national and international levels. In this context, it has maintained Observer Membership status in the European Paint, Printing Ink and Artist's Colours Manufacturers Association (CEPE) since 2007. Bosad strengthened its other important international professional representation in 2015 by becoming a member of the International Paint and Printing Ink Council (IPPIC). Within Bosad's current organizational structure, in order to solve the sector's problems, more than 20 technical and professional "Working Groups" consisting of relevant experts from our member organizations continue their activities effectively based on incoming requests.

Through its work, Bosad has become a reference point accepted by all sectors in creating a common sector perspective and presenting it to competent authorities.

Our paints and raw materials industry has achieved significant economic and commercial scale within the main chemistry sector over the last 10 years and continues its professional and sectoral work within the goal of becoming an exporting sector to a certain extent. During this period, our paints and raw materials industry has undertaken important obligations regarding the implementation of many international regulations, particularly EU legislation and technical practices. These obligations affect the competitiveness of many of our organizations, particularly those inside and outside the scale economy, and significant progress has been made regarding the reflection of the applications within these obligations on the sector. In this process, Bosad continues important professional work toward solving all types of economic and commercial problems faced by our sectoral organizations and the responsibilities imposed on our sector by these obligations. Particularly recently, important steps have been taken to resolve many bureaucratic and technical problems experienced in goods and services markets related to our sector through working groups within Bosad. I believe this new process will continue depending on sectoral structuring and technological change covering the coming period. I also think we are entering a period of structural change in which Bosad's professional responsibility and tasks in these areas will gradually increase and gain importance. Within the goal of our paints industry becoming a competitive and export-oriented sector, I would like to state that we are in a new period of work in which our collaborative efforts with other professional organizations will gain even more importance. A matter that we attach importance to in Bosad's new period of work is the more effective participation of our members in professional activities within a democratic system. Particularly in this area, it is important for us that, for the first time since the establishment of Bosad in our new management, two new female executives are represented on our Board of Directors.

Could you share your views and comments on the 8th International paintistanbul & Turkcoat Fair and Congress to be held in 2020 through the cooperation of Bosad and Artkim Exhibitions?

Our paintistanbul & Turkcoat fair and congress project, which is among the most important projects and events of our paints industry, has continued for approximately 10 years with the contributions of sectoral organizations, as is known. During this period, our fair project has moved toward a joint organization within the professional cooperation process with Artkim Exhibitions and has been organized under the name paintistanbul & Turkcoat for the last two periods for our sector.

Our fair organization, which constitutes the two main bodies of our sector, maintains the characteristic of being the only sector-defined fair with the participation of important organizations in the paints and raw materials activity areas. The other part of our project, which is as important as the fair, is the development process of our international congress.

When considering other equivalent organizations within the main chemistry sector, our international congress has achieved significant success with the participation of many international academics, industry representatives and technical experts, gaining considerable international technical strength. In organizing our congress, alongside many technical experts and participants who are Bosad members, high-level participation and presentations from many teaching staff in our academic world specializing in the paints industry have caused our congress organization's quality to have an impact beyond Turkey's borders. We aim to further develop and continue our fair and congress project in 2020 and 2022.

Could you provide information about the work you plan to undertake during your tenure as Bosad Chairman?

The new period of work in which Bosad finds itself is of great importance from a sectoral development perspective. Our paints and raw materials industry is now being restructured within the goal of becoming a regional power beyond our national borders. In the near term, we foresee that large-scale manufacturing organizations in our sector will elevate their cooperation with foreign capital organizations to a higher level, making important contributions to our paints industry's technological strength and aiming for a higher level of competition. An important development to be noted in the meantime is the continuous improvement in the quality of our sectoral products, alongside export potential exceeding 45 countries, and the new technological product profiles resulting from R&D-centered restructuring forming important footprints of this change.

Another priority gaining importance in Bosad's new period of work is the development of domestic demand for our country's paint products and the restart of initiatives aimed at further increasing international per capita paint consumption levels.

Let us not forget that our paints industry, apart from construction paints, conducts many important sub-production activities under the industrial paints group and continues to serve as a basic input in every area of our economy alongside general manufacturing industry. The proper planning of this process in the new period and its support with professional organizations is of great importance to Bosad. A subject we have prioritized in Bosad's new period of work is ensuring that the concept and objectives of sustainability are included in conducted projects and work. In our evaluations within our Board of Directors on this matter, for the first time in Bosad, a "Sustainability Working Group" has been established and continuation of technical work in this area is targeted. Another subject gaining importance in this period within Bosad's professional work is, considering the importance of exports for our sector during a period when domestic demand is insufficient, export-increasing projects and work that we will undertake jointly with İKMİB (Istanbul Chemical and Chemical Products Exporters Association). Within this framework, the goal of increasing our exports by developing our high value-added product profiles in new foreign markets at the international level has gained importance. I would like to note that our sector has not been sufficiently present in foreign market activities aimed at developed country markets for many years. During this period when our national economy's domestic market has contracted significantly, we see new foreign markets aimed at exports as our sector's most important exit point.