Beta Group of Companies, Chairman of the Board of Directors Mr. Yusuf Uğur said “Export business is our policy.”
Beta Group of Companies have been representing Turkey since 1978 in the international arena, it has especially been endeavoring to support the development process of Kyrgys and Turkic Republics. The group is also continuing to work in the food sector with Bawella and Beta Tea brands; it is exporting the whole of its production and thus bringing in foreign currency to our country. Chairman of the Board of Directors Mr. Yusuf Uğur underlines the fact that the policy of the company is geared towards exports, and he went on to explain the new projects that the group has adopted.
Since how long has Beta Group of Companies been in business? What business procedures do you apply towards the food sector?
Beat Group was established as an internationally structured company in 1978. Our group is currently active in tea, building, shopping center construction and retail sectors. Our company has also entered into the confectionary sector with Bawalla brand name in 1990. At the present time, we are exporting this brand to over 60 countries worldwide. Bawella is an assertive brand in terms of its design and quality features. By establishing the competitive conditions, we are targeting at increasing brand awareness and to remedy our shortcomings in order to bring our brand on an equal footing compared with those in the European Union. Bawalla brand does not only involve biscuit production but chocolates and marmalades as well. We are currently promoting our brand by participating to world fairs. Accordingly, our main goal, therefore, is to compete with other rival brands in conjunction with our peers in the Turkish sector and thereby to establish its presence in the market.
Would you please give us some details regarding the 60 countries you are exporting to? To which regions and countries are you exporting to?
We are exporting to all countries in the European Union. Besides Europe, in term of regions, we are also exporting to the Middle East, Far East and to Russia. As a group, our business production is oriented towards exporting. We are aiming at exporting the complete range of our products to overseas countries in order to bring in foreign currency to our country.
Where do you produce your products? Would you please give us some details regarding your facilities?
We are using the facilities belonging to our strategic partners in order to produce our products. We are utilizing the labor force and technology available at the production facilities of our partners and we proceed with our production in accordance with the standards established by our company. In this way we are gaining access to the world markets. The aforementioned facilities where our brands are being produced are located in Istanbul and Konya respectively.
European countries are applying a very smart strategy. As a Turkish producer we have changed the classical and stereotyped strategies that were applied in the country. They would build a factory and operate it with 30% capacity. Those factories operating below the said capacity would go bankrupt. There were huge gaps in terms of the capacities of the majority of our strategic partners. Thanks to our plans and programs we have been able to fill in those gaps. In this way we are capable of producing as well as providing employment by way of increasing the number of work shifts.
One of our goals is to establish our very own big factories. We are aiming to establish these factories in Egypt, Moscow and Romania. We look forward to setting up and operating these factories by the year 2020.
You talked about the policies you have adopted during production. Would you please specify these policies?
We are continuing to work on improving our standards to be on an equal footing with Europe, we are even aiming at surpassing European standards. We give utmost importance to quality. No matter which country we are exporting to, we apply the same standards for each country. Our products are being tested in laboratories. In brief, the standards of our products exported to countries worldwide are of unique quality.
Beta Stores are incorporated within the structure of Beta Group of Companies. Would you please give us some details on them?
Beta Stores have been established in order to operate in shopping centers. These shopping centers are continuing their operations in Central Asia and Turkic Republics in a widespread manner. Around 20.000 products are being sold in these shopping centers. 10.000 of them them consist of Turkish products. The products sold in these countries are exported from Turkey. Upon the outbreak of socialism in the region, we travelled to Kyrgyzstan and we were the pioneering company ever to have established the first supermarket and shopping center culture over there.
On the whole there are a total of 2 shopping centers. The third shopping center is currently in the project phase. Just like the other abovementioned shopping centers, this new one shall also be opened in Kyrgyzstan. God willing, we are planning to spread them all over the Turkic Republics.
Kyrgyzstan, the country of our forefathers.
In our point of view, Kyrgyzstan is a country of our forefathers. As we look back on history, we see that Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia are the regions from where our people originated from. Understandably, after 71 years of socialist rule, the late President Turgut Özal, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the period, the ex-President Süleyman Demirel vested importance to this region due to our historical connections. Apart from the economic dimension, the sentimental dimension is also in the forefront here. Within the framework of this vested importance, we in turn began to consider ways in which we should be able to extend our experience, business background and resources for the benefit of our brother countries that are in the transition period.
Beta Tea
The raw materials we that we obtain from countries such as Sri Lanka, India, Malawi, Kenya, Bangladesh and Vietnam are being prepared at the tea packaging factories situated in places like Moscow, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan. Beta Tea prepared in the above said places are distributed to world markets. We also own a tea factory in Sürmene, Trabzon. This factory, established over an area of 20.000 meter squares has been in operation for 3 years, two thousand tons of tea is being produced here. Turkish tea is also produced here and distributed to the Turkish market.
Finally, would you please talk about your new goals and plans?
The goals we set for 2013 have been achieved. We have more serious plans for 2014. The addition of European Union countries, Russia and Moscow to our portfolio has been a contributing factor towards the development of our plans and projects. Besides these, there are other countries in Africa and the Middle East where we shall newly commence working. In short, we are aiming to embark on an ambitious export program this year. Of course, our goal is to bring Beta Tea and Bawella brands to the place it deserves in the market.
