JTI Turkey places great importance on its well-qualified workforce and combines experienced employees with university graduates to foster a balanced workforce founded on knowledge, expertise and innovation.

“We are proud of our commitment to Turkey and our ability to not only export our products, but also focus on exporting talent to the world,” said Mehdi Bejar, factory director of Japan Tobacco International Turkey.

“The country is an ideal hub for business and offers companies cost competitiveness, growth opportunities and access to international markets. We also optimize local natural resources. Our use of natural gas and solar to power our manufacturing facility has saved one gigawatt of electricity monthly.”

Inspired by the work of the country’s ethnic population, JTI Turkey supports local community initiatives in correspondence with nongovernmental organizations.

The company has established numerous women-empowerment initiatives such as the My Inspiration is My Future program that supports and encourages woman to build their own legacies. Approximately 420 female graduates have completed the program and 25 percent are today managing their own businesses.

“Our success is based on our ability to grow our business and as we continue to do so, we intend to support people across the country through our highly-effective corporate social responsibility activities,” Bejar concluded.

www.jti.com/middle-east/turkey

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Çalık Holding is the first company in Turkey that became a member of Keidanren and this year Ahmet Çalık was honored with the ‘Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon’ by the Emperor of Japan.

Recently, Çalık Holding was invited by Japan to attend the seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) as part of the Turkish delegation.

At the Conference, Ahmet Çalık said, “TICAD7 was a great event for the company to envision new opportunities in Africa as we develop new projects that are currently in the pipeline as part of our expansion strategy”, and added, “We are currently considering new projects where we will offer integrated solutions in Africa together with the Japanese companies in the upcoming period. Our top priority has always been to offer added value for people’s lives and to ease their lives.

Looking towards the future of the Group, Çalık said “Digitalization is our top priority in the near term. We are undertaking digitalization processes both for the entire group-wide operations, and we are also providing digitalization- oriented services in various fields.”

Ahmet Çalık further said, “Japanese companies have a very significant place in the world in terms of technology and digitalization, whereas we have strong market ties across several geographies and qualified human resources. We will develop new business opportunities in the upcoming period by consolidating our strengths. Our capability to jointly do sustainable business as Çalık Group with the Japanese companies is also acknowledged as an added value and an assurance by our customers of different geographies and fields.”

www.calik.com/en/homepage

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“I am delighted with our partnership, the timing couldn’t have been better,” Atik said. “In the course of five years, we have managed to introduce and integrate Japan’s best railway technologies to our country’s rapidly growing infrastructure projects. By improving safety, efficiency and reliability of railway and mass transit systems, HRS products have been very well received thus far.”

One such project is Ankara’s Metro system, which is expanding to four lines and upgrading current lines. Sun Group are supplying Hitachi signaling systems to handle and operate the capital’s entire metro system. The Turkish government also recently announced plans to connect all of Turkey’s major cities with high-speed rail, an ambitious project that Sun Group is confident in contributing to.

The group is very open to developing new partnerships with Japanese organizations in other areas of activity, particularly renewable energy and mining.

“I believe more collaborations can be made between the two countries,” Atik said. “With Japanese technology and know-how, combined with Turkey’s young and active business minds, we can build new opportunities, not just in Turkey, but in neighboring countries, as well as in Africa.”

www.sunltd.com.tr/eng

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Turkey’s central position at the crossroads of several subregions makes it an attractive production hub. This should be one of the significant key factors that Japanese and worldwide investors continually look to for investments into Turkey.

With the Japan Securities Dealers Association (JSDA) as one of Borsa Istanbul’s accredited commissions, Japanese investors have the opportunity to invest in companies focused on sustainability and good corporate governance.

“The JSDA certification has led to increased interest from Japanese investors regarding Turkish assets,” said Mehmet Gonen, acting CEO of Borsa Istanbul. “New equity funds have been set up facilitating Japanese investments in Turkish equities.”

Borsa Istanbul aims to be a global integrated marketplace for regional financial assets by providing a reliable, transparent, competitive and sustainable trading platform. “Japanese high savings and Turkish high growth are a perfect match generating numerous high-yield opportunities and support for Turkish economic development,” Gonen said.

www.borsaistanbul.com/en

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“By providing high-quality services, clear explanations and financial backing to our clients, we are well positioned to deliver the best possible support to domestic and regional customers,” Inoue said.

Mizuho (and its previous iterations) have supported Turkish clients since 1990. The institution began further improving its relationships with firms in Turkey in 2012 when it established a representative office in Istanbul.

As Japan and Turkey strengthened their bilateral economic ties, Mizuho fostered a strong relationship with both Japanese and non- Japanese companies in the country and across the region.

In recent years, Mizuho in Turkey has grown significantly thanks to its strong reputation within the financial market. The institution continues to play a major role in facilitating investments to Turkey, not only from the Japanese, but also from other worldwide investors.

Meanwhile, the Turkey Asia Investors Conference, which was held in Hong Kong and Taipei in May 2018, was seen by more than 100 Asian investors and major Turkish financial institutions as an opportunity for the diversification of their investment funding.

“Our strong partnership with Turkey has always played an important role in the success of our institution,” said Inoue.

“By continuing to work together, we’ll be able to further provide the country with our best interest and guide the way toward the growth of the Turkish economy.”

www.mizuhobank.com

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“Seeing the potential of Turkey’s domestic market and its surrounding regions, we decided to explore the possibility of doing business in the country.”

Through research and development, Dydo was able to introduce its Maltana line of malt-based drinks.

“Our new Maltana line of beverages has been well received in Turkey, as well as in other Islamic countries in the Middle East,” Sakashita said.

Despite going through some difficulties, Dydo managed to recover through its investments.

“2016 proved to be a tough year for us, but through good investments, our revenue has doubled in growth,” Sakashita said.

Dydo aspires to look for something new to offer its consumers, which is why the company is allocating most of its efforts toward research and development.

“We will continue investing in R&D to give our customers better and more exciting products in the future,” Sakashita said.

Looking into the company’s future development, the group plans to focus on the expansion of its exports this year.

“As we introduce our goods to more countries outside Turkey, we would be able to gain more stability and ensure our clients are given the best products available to the market,” Sakashita concluded.

www.dydodrinco.com.tr

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“The Japanese view of product development enables Turkish businesses such as Tosyali Holding to market value-added products, helping us extend the reach of our presence in different regions across the globe,” said Fuat Tosyali, chairman of Tosyali Holding.

The success of the group increases the investment appetite of Japanese companies in terms of cooperation for African investments with Turkish companies.

“By combining Turkish companies’ regional experience with Japan’s technological skills, our countries can develop successful joint projects in Africa in the future,” said Tosyali.

Despite the sectoral challenges and economic recession continuing all over the world, the company remains optimistic on conducting business in Africa thanks to the investments it has made in Algeria.

“Ever since we invested in Algeria, Tosyalı Holding started to adapt to its culture and values,” Tosyali said.

The company feels that this move will not only help its operations in the region, but also in other countries across the globe.

“We believe that by doing this, we are not only making industrial investments in the countries where we invest, but we are also strengthening our ties with them as we meet the social needs of their people,” concluded Tosyali.

www.tosyaliholding.com.tr/en

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“Turkey has always been a nation that focuses on the improvement of its social infrastructure,” said Toshiyuki Abe, general manager of ITOCHU Turkey.

“ITOCHU aims to further strengthen its relationship with the country and improve its reputation among Turkish business societies and contractors in both the public and private sectors by making valuable contributions to well-known and large-scale projects,” said Abe.

“In order to succeed in Turkey, we select projects by determining where it could best showcase our capabilities and where our clients could better appreciate what we have to offer,” he added.

While ITOCHU continues to engage in social infrastructure projects, the company is now further exploring investment and export opportunities as they utilize Turkey as a business hub for the region with better access to surrounding markets.

“We are expanding our export trade business, mainly focusing on Europe, CIS (the Commonwealth of Independent States) and the Middle East — areas where our Turkish partners goes,” Abe said. Based on revenue, ITOCHU sees great potential for growth in this field.

“On average, half of our yearly earnings comes from trading with the other half coming from our projects,” he shared.

ITOCHU also sees huge potential in the field of energy and social infrastructure. Thanks to Turkey’s strategic location, the country acts as an effective channel in the energy market between Europe, Middle East, North Africa and CIS.

As the company continues to move forward, Abe’s vision for the future of ITOCHU involves working closely with the neighboring countries around Turkey.

“Our vision is to be able to find more projects and more opportunities where we could show our various technical capabilities and expertise. Our long-term goal is to study and fully understand the potential of Turkey and the region in order to achieve long-term success,” Abe said.

www.itochu.co.jp/en/about/network/middle_east

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“‘Auto-improve your business’ is our corporate motto. Our goal is to enable businesses to continuously and automatically improve operations by identifying bottlenecks, weak points and other aspects to further improve business operations and provide instant feedback through alerts and other indication methods,” said Aylin Tulay Ozden, managing director of Pro- Manage.

The company manages its research and development mainly from their Istanbul office. In 2018, over 55 percent of revenue was reinvested in research and development.

By targeting key markets where digital transformation of industry is of top priority, ProManage aims to boost global growth through introducing competitive technologies in these markets.

Adding to the U.S. and Turkey offices, ProManage plans to expand globally, taking its first step into the Asian market with ITO.

Established in 1953, Japan-based ITO has also locally incorporated subsidiary companies in China and Thailand. ITO specifies its products and services to factory automation devices, energy conservation systems, social infrastructure devices and international product sourcing support services. ITO offers a wide range of solutions to fit customer needs, from various motors and processing machinery to systems that optimize production lines. To further strengthen its position and serve the market better, ITO has also begun providing a range of software solutions for the manufacturing sector.

“As the first manufacturing operations management system fully integrated with artificial intelligence and augmented reality technologies, ProManage treads confidently toward becoming the world’s most used manufacturing operations management system,” Ozden said.

www.promanage.com
www.itnet.co.jp/en/

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“In the early 2000s, comprehensive reform programs were implemented to improve the investment environment and enhance the position of foreign investors interested in Turkey,” Ermut said. “Today, Turkey hosts more than 70,000 foreign-owned companies.

“Foreign companies have the guarantee of international law, open international arbitration and the transfer of profits and dividends to home countries without any costs. When we look at liberalization phases and the speed of growth throughout global economies, Turkey is very well-positioned.

“While the surrounding region has its share of geopolitical challenges, Turkey has been pursuing a global peace diplomacy in order to protect civilians and prevent humanitarian crises, thus attracting open and clear support from the international community. As Turkey is the only functioning secular democracy in the region, we want our partners and allies to trust in our experiences within the region and to make use of Turkey as a platform to boost trade and relations across the region as many of these markets remain untouched and offer ample investment opportunities.”

Strengthening a historic partnership

“The investment office was established to promote the investment environment in Turkey and support incoming investors by helping them establish businesses in Turkey with ease and efficiency. Today we support existing investors as they continue to achieve success and also attract new foreign investment from Japan and around the world,” Ermut continued.

“With Japan, we are in a very advantageous position. When you look at the historical ties, cultural proximity and sentiments our two countries share with one another, our bilateral relationship is very strong.

“The Japanese way of doing business, the country’s service-orientated approach to customers and its technology and engineering achievements are highly appreciated in Turkey and this makes it much easier for Japanese companies to enter the Turkish market. We continue to encourage Japanese investors to look at the opportunities Turkey has to offer,” he said.

Providing valuable insight to investors

“There are many success stories regarding Japanese investments in Turkey in diverse industries. The first foreign investment in the new Republic of Turkey actually came from Japan,” Ermut said.

“While we understand the Japanese way of doing business is undertaken diligently and can often take time, in Turkey business decision making tends to move more quickly. For this reason, we encourage Japanese companies to contact the investment office to assist in their feasibility studies, make necessary preparations and connect them with relevant local authorities.

“We offer valuable insights, detailed information and unbiased data that empowers investors and leads them to make well-informed decisions. Our network of international teams, including our dedicated ‘Japan Team’ based in Japan and Turkey, is committed to bridging Turkey and the global business community.

“We are in a unique position as the most experienced Turkish institution focused on delivering investment projects. We will continue to accompany investors during every step of their journey with us and we look forward to providing our timely world-class services to our Japanese and international friends and partners.”

www.invest.gov.tr
www.invest.gov.tr/ja-JP

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