Mustafa Gültepe Elected Chairman of the Turkish Exporters Assembly

Mustafa Gültepe Elected as Chair of Turkish Exporters Assembly The chairmanship election at the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), the umbrella organization for over 100,000 exporters, has concluded. At TİM's 29th Ordinary General Assembly, where only one candidate ran, Mustafa Gültepe received all 273 valid votes cast. With this result, Mustafa Gültepe, who has served as Chair of İHKİB's Board of Directors since 2018, became the new chair of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM). Mustafa Gültepe stated that they set out with the goal of making Turkey a brand country in exports, saying: "We will establish TİM as an organization with strategic and visionary leadership that sets the agenda. The information flow and projects coming from our unions, with which we will work more actively and in a synchronized manner, will be our most important data source. We will contribute to the development of our exports by maturing projects and presenting them to economic management." The Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), the umbrella organization for 61 exporter associations, 27 sectors and over 100,000 exporters, held its 29th Ordinary General Assembly together with the 2021 Export Champions Awards Ceremony at the Istanbul Haliç Convention Center. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Commerce Minister Mehmet Muş, representatives of the Top 1000 Exporting Companies, representatives of Non-Governmental Organizations, Associations and relevant stakeholder institutions, TİM Delegates, Management and Audit Board Members and Delegates of Exporter Associations, and TİM Council Members attended the "2021 Export Champions Awards Ceremony and TİM 29th Ordinary General Assembly." At the General Assembly held following the Export Champions Awards Ceremony, the new chair of the export family was announced. Mustafa Gültepe, who had previously achieved consensus among most union and sector chairs, ran as the sole candidate in the chairmanship election at the General Assembly. Receiving 273 of the 274 valid votes cast, Mustafa Gültepe became the 5th Chair of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM). In his remarks, Gültepe emphasized that the sectors and associations demonstrated exemplary solidarity during the TİM chairmanship election process. Thanking everyone who trusted and supported him in leading the family of over 100,000 exporters, Gültepe stated: "Exports are Turkey's future and essential. We set out with the goal of making Turkey a brand country in exports. We must complete scientific and technological transformation across all our sectors. We must build a Turkey that produces high value-added exports, has strong transport and logistics infrastructure, turns threats into opportunities, and has high competitiveness. We will work to become a country that determines global trends rather than simply following them. Our country's share of global exports stands at around 1 percent. I believe we have the potential to increase this share by 50 percent. We must achieve at least 2 dollars per kilogram in exports. I know the goal is difficult and the process demanding. But with collective wisdom and the effective participation of our 27 sectors and 61 associations, I believe there is no problem we cannot overcome. In the new period, we will establish TİM as an organization with strategic and visionary leadership that sets the agenda. Projects and information flow coming from our unions, with which we will work more actively and in a synchronized manner, will be our most important data source. We will contribute to the development of our exports by maturing projects and presenting them to economic management," he said. Gültepe added that in all their work they would maintain equal distance with everyone and would not get lost in futile disputes.

Who is Mustafa Gültepe?

Born in 1968 in Tonya, Trabzon, Mustafa Gültepe graduated from the Industrial Engineering Department of Dokuz Eylül University in 1990. Completing his MBA at Istanbul University in 1997, Gültepe entered the sector at Taha Tekstil in 1992 after graduation. Founding Partner and Chair of Talu Tekstil, established in 1994 as part of Taha Group, Mustafa Gültepe has been active in the ready-to-wear sector for 25 years. Gültepe owns production facilities in Istanbul, Sakarya and Malatya, and employs approximately 1,800 people. Entering İHKİB's Board of Directors in 2010, Mustafa Gültepe served as Deputy Chair of the İHKİB Board of Directors between 2014 and 2018. Elected as Chair of the Istanbul Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters Association Board of Directors at the Ordinary General Assembly in April 2018, Mustafa Gültepe was most recently elected again as Chair of the Board of Directors in the 2022 İHKİB elections. Gültepe also serves as Chair of the Sakarya 1st Organized Industrial Zone Board of Directors, is married, has three children, and speaks English.