Mesut Çakmak, General Manager of Beşler Group: “In all sectors in which we operate, when the Beşler brand is mentioned, the first things people think of are quality and trust. This is a value we have gained as a result of our effort for long years. We prioritize quality in everything we do and every step we take. While contributing to the economy of Gaziantep and Turkey, we have never made any concessions from the values we believe in achieving great success in production, export, and employment. We have never given up the right thing when we produce for the people and serve them with the power we receive from God. This made us an indispensable brand that is admired and sought.”

Operating in many sectors such as flour, starch, pasta, semolina, feed, eggs, energy and livestock, Beşler Group adds great value to the economy of Gaziantep and Turkey. Mesut Çakmak, the Chairman of Beşler Group, which has a substantial major role in the export volume of the country especially with its investments in the flour and pasta sectors, said that their success will continue to increase with the new investments they make. Answering the questions of BBM Magazine, the veteran businessman explained that they have integrated new facilities to Beşler Group and renewed the technologies of the existing facilities in line with their growth targets. Çakmak noted that as Beşler Group, they always strive to offer the best quality to consumers and customers.

The responses Çakmak, who took over the chairmanship of the Association of Southeastern Flour Industrialists (GUSAD) from Erhan Özmen, the honorary Chairman of the Association, gave to our questions regarding his companies and association are as follows:

Hello Mr. Çakmak, could you tell us about your Beşler Group companies and operations? Beşler Group is among the leading producers of Gaziantep which is one of Turkey's top cities in terms of economic size. Beşler Un, Turkey's largest flour mill; Beşler Makarna which is a giant pasta producer with its exports to the four corners of the world; Beşyem which has brought a breath of fresh air and Beşan Nişasta/Glikoz which is one of the most important facilities of its field in Turkey... We are strengthening Gaziantep and the region with all these plants. Beşler Group shines as one of the leading brands of Gaziantep in production and export. Beşler Group, which alone realizes approximately 5% of Gaziantep's exports and makes quite a name for itself with its great success, continues to be the source of pride as the giant economic power of Gaziantep and the region.

Turkey ranks first in the world in flour exports for years. How is your position as Beşler Group in the export of flour and pasta? Beşler, which has been operating in various branches of the food sector for many years, started to produce flour with Beşler Flour in 1993. Thanks to its sense of quality and large investments made in technology, Beşler Un has also managed to become the largest flour production plant not only in Turkey but also in the Middle East and the Balkans with a daily production capacity of 2,100 tons. Today it alone undertakes 15% of Turkey's flour exports.

Beşler Makarna was established in 2004 as the investment of Beşler Group in the pasta sector. Beşler Makarna is producing pasta and semolina with Santa Sophia, Beşler, Gonca and Pastacity brands and is producing pasta crispy with Kıtlax brand, also exports to more than 90 countries. Beşler Makarna managed to become one of the biggest manufacturers and exporters of the sector in a short period of time as a company aiming perfection with its superior quality and technology and acting with determination to reach its goals.

Processing 750 tons of natural corn daily, Beşan Nişasta is the biggest corn consumer and buyer of the region. Fructose, glucose and natural corn starch are produced in Beşan Nişasta plants. Beşan Nişasta established on 41 thousand square meters in the Third Organized Industrial Zone of Gaziantep, is one of Turkey's most modern starch plants of Turkey.

You also have investments other than flour, pasta, and starch. Can you inform us about the investments and activities of these companies? Beşyem is among the biggest producers in its sector with a production capacity of 100 tons per hour. Beşyem Tarım Hayvancılık Gıda Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. started its activities in Beşler Group in 2011 is and continues its works in hundreds of its dealers and farms throughout all regions of Turkey taking fast and firm steps forward. Beşyem also exports a significant amount of feed to Iraq and Syria in the foreign market.

Beşler AGRO was established in Hatay/İskenderun province as the domestic and foreign trade company of the group in 2017 to import and export raw materials and grain products. Beşler AGRO, which is the address of reliable sales in domestic market and transit trade with its quality and reliability since its establishment, is the only company of the group located outside Gaziantep province.

Beşler Tarım Hayvancılık Taşımacılık Sanayi Ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi, which joined the Beşler Group in 2018, started its activities as a new facility producing eggs on over 43,642 square meters. Our facility has a production capacity of 86,184,000 eggs per year, 1,407,085 pullets, and has a respectable place among the egg producers of the region.

Our investments in different fields continue with our Power Plant investment, which has a capacity of 24 Megavat power generation with an investment of 40 million dollars on 400 decares, which started operating in 2018.

OUR SUCCESSES WILL INCREASINGLY CONTINUE What would you say about the technology and R&D studies you use in the companies within the structure of Beşler Group? As Beşler Group, we achieve great success in production and export. We believe that the successes we have achieved with the new investments will increasingly continue. In line with our qualified growth target, we bring new facilities to Beşler Group and constantly renew our technology in our existing facilities. As Beşler Group, we always strive to offer the best and the finest quality to our consumers and customers.

You are active in many sectors. Despite this, we see that you are continuing your way successfully in each one. What is the secret of your success? In all sectors in which we operate, when the Beşler brand is mentioned, the first things people think of are quality and trust. This is a value we have gained as a result of our effort for long years. We prioritize quality in everything we do and every step we take. While contributing to the economy of Gaziantep and Turkey, we have never made any concessions from the values we believe in achieving great success in production, export, and employment. We have never given up the right thing when we produce for the people and serve them with the power we receive from God. This made us an indispensable brand that is admired and sought.

The secret of the success of Beşler Group is our determination to be a leading and determinant brand in all sectors we operate in the national and international arena. Prioritizing the satisfaction of our employees, customers, and other stakeholders and adopting an understanding are growing steadily, respectful to the environment, aware of social responsibilities, carrying out substantial R&D studies, caring about human investment, and acting with the principle of constantly improving quality and technology are the main reasons for our growth.

Can you share your investment ideas with us in the forthcoming period? We will continue our success in the food sector with the energy sector investment that we will complete soon. In the future, preserving our soul, we will continue to undertake great projects by making use of the latest technologies, without giving up innovation at all.

Mr. Çakmak, first of all, I congratulate you on being elected as the President of the GUSAD. What are your priority goals in GUSAD? Together with our honorary president Erhan Özmen and our other board members, we are working to move the Southeast Flour Industrialists Association a step forward in unity. We aim to push this association over the top in terms of size and transparency and make it add value to our country.

Our biggest goal in GUSAD is to contribute to the growth of our country in unity and solidarity. We can do this with our wise members, with those who will grab the bull by the horns not only for their company but also for the industry. If everyone says "who cares", the flour sector will retrogress. Work falls to our lot. We can achieve this by working with our honorary president, our board of directors and our members.

When we look at the markets of Southeast Flour Industrialists, majority of them are neighboring countries. In particular, the Iraqi market is of great importance for the sector. However, this country recently imposed an import ban on Turkish pasta and noodles. What kind of studies do you have on this subject? The flour sector also has concerns for the future about the Iraqi market. We think that these bans will apply also to the flour sector within a period of 3 or 5 years. Pasta is not sold to the Arab region in Iraq, but only to the Kurdish region. As an association, we continue to do our best. But there is a surplus of capacity in the flour sector, we recommend our regional flour industrialists to head towards to other regions. Our work as an association continues.

What kind of initiatives will you, as the association, have regarding the continuous reduction of the cultivation areas of wheat, the most important raw material of your sector? Taking the conjuncture of our region into consideration, we are unfortunately disadvantageous because it is far from wheat and close to the war environment. However, together with our association members, we try to find solutions to these problems. We are doing milling with transport water, so to speak. Our contribution to the country's economy is obvious. For this reason, we closely follow the issue of decreasing cultivation areas in our country and we are in constant communication with the relevant institutions of our state.