We interviewed General Manager of Cosmer Kimya Mr. Abdullah Kamil Kural for you and talked about the Company’s activity areas, R&D efforts, and product range.
Could you please tell our readers about your professional background?
I was born in Istanbul in 1980, father of 3 children. As a consequence of my special interest in chemistry based on my high school years, I started Abant Izzet Baysal University – English Chemistry Department – in 1998. I got married during my university years and embarked on business life at the same time. Therefore, my business life started in my university years.
After my graduation, I decided to start my professional business life in the chemical raw material sales sector where I can take benefit of all my skills, such as knowledge of foreign language, commercial capability and chemistry knowledge, after my graduation on the basis of the fact that one of the biggest factors that brings success is to love your own job. I worked in various positions in the leading companies of raw material industry. I have been in this industry for about 16 years. I have been executing General Manager position of Cosmer Kimya since last 8 years.
Could you please inform us about Cosmer Kimya and it is activities? Which services you offer both for Turkish local market and global market?
Being one of the group companies of Mercan Kimya, which launched its operation in 1977 led by our founder Gültekin Okay Salgar at the beginning of the development process of the Turkish Chemical Industry and quickly adopted to the corporate management style and which made a great contribution to the development of the Turkish Chemical industry, Cosmer Kimya started its activities in 2012 as a raw material supplier in the field of detergents, cosmetics and industrial chemicals. Cosmer Kimya, with its young, dynamic and professional team like Cosmer itself, serves the sector with the support of global partners as a raw material supplier; primarily cosmetic, detergent and industrial chemicals, as a requirement of our traditional mission with the focus and concentration to contribute Turkish Chemical industry.
In addition to raw material supply, we serve our customers in many areas such as innovation studies, innovative product analysis, CTI trials, stability tests, formula cost reduction studies with our advanced R&D laboratory and experienced staff. The second step of R&D is to provide full support by creating production process diagrams and by accompanying customers’ first trial productions.
What are our product ranges? According to which criteria you determine the domestic and international sales volume?
A large part of our portfolio consists of industrial, cosmetic, essential and detergent chemicals, as well as packaging materials demanded by the industry, such as special perfume bottles, trigger sprayers and lotion pumps. Except those, we also operate in fields such as food, pharmacy, water treatment chemicals, construction chemicals, textile, agriculture and husbandry, and we improve ourselves rapidly in these fields.
We attach importance to export with the awareness that every cents we can earn in our country are important for foreign exchange input. In this context, our presence in foreign markets is growing rapidly, and we scrabble to ensure that our customers we serve domestically reach the right chemicals and the right product; be informed about innovations, and thus produce brand values that are well known in the global market.
Could you tell us about your studies in the application laboratory? Why application laboratory is important for Cosmer Kimya?
We consider that the chemical raw material business is a very special job and should be done with great care. Because chemical trade does not consist of a standard product range as it is in many other sectors, it is a business area where, very special goods requiring a serious scientific approach, innovation and R&D follow-up, are sold.
The infrastructure that can be built on such a business must be on very solid basis. We have built this infrastructure with a well-organized professional staff as R&D, quality control, sales marketing organization, logistics storage activities, accounting-finance, import and export departments. On the basis of our business, R&D is very important because the material we sell is chemical. Not everybody can understand, examine and measure quality. We are a company who took the mission to provide raw materials that we are strictly sure about quality, will not cause any problem in production and add value to our customers. Under these circumstances, we attach more importance on R&D. We put technical approach, quality control, choosing the right raw materials and creating the right formulations into the basis of this business.
What kind of a future can be expected for Cosmetic and Personal Care sector in the upcoming years? Could you please tell about the actions that you take as Cosmer Kimya to follow up and implement these innovations?
Cosmetics is one of the open-fronted sectors where innovation is growing exponentially every year. As the product range, we expect tendency towards natural, vegan, halal, ecocert certified and dermo cosmetic products in the upcoming years, in this context, we are focused on the supply of raw materials necessary for our customers to make such products. Producing the right product may not lead you to the right markets. On the other hand, since world trade has evolved into a digital platform, I believe that cosmetic manufacturers should move their products to platforms that are easily accessible to consumers. I think companies that cannot complete the digitization process in every sector will not be able to find a place in the market for themselves in the future.
Could you tell us about the social responsibility projects you have realized?
We provide very serious R&D support to the training and production processes carried out in chemistry departments of vocational high schools. Within the scope of this project, we provide training and formula studies to our schools free of R&D service charge. In this context, we have education and training protocols with major schools. With this project, we aim to contribute to our schools to raise conscious, relatively sector-prepared intermediate staff and chemists.
Could you evaluate the reflections of Covid-19 process on the cosmetic and personal care sector? What kind of activities did your company carried out in this process?
Covid-19 is one of the biggest disasters our generation has seen. I wish, this process will be carried off quickly with the intensive studies of all scientists. We observed that the demand for health, food, hygiene and cleaning products has increased in this kind of global disasters, and supply chain breaks in these areas may cause distress and difficult times for the society. In particular with the Covid-19 pandemic, we have made great efforts to avoid any interruption by increasing our capacity and mobility at the point of providing raw materials necessary for the transportation of hygiene and cleaning materials to our people. As Cosmer Kimya, we take the necessary actions for this process and keep up with the digitalization process with innovative approaches. With this respect, we handle social media platforms effectively and organize online trainings and information seminars.
