Could you please tell us about yourself?
Mert Samet Şatır. I was born in Kadıköy in 1998. Since a very early age seeing my parents conduct their business with ambition and passion led me to entrepreneurship. As my family gave priority to learning foreign languages, I began taking private English lessons since age 3. Next, I attended language schools in the UK for 5 months at 4th and 6th grades, in Canada for 2 months at 9th grade and in the USA for 2 months at 10th grade. After I have completed my primary and high school education at TED Bursa Koleji, I was accepted to Koc University and I am currently a senior at the Business Administration – Economy department. I actively contributed to the family business during summer holidays throughout my school years and at weekends and in the summer for the first 3 years of university. I took part in customer visits and fairs held in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, and Italy and I grew a tendency towards import and export. During the pandemic, I continued working for the company besides getting my education online. Nowadays, I am applying to master’s programs and I plan on graduating from the university and continue working for our company.

SunGrup Family is a group of companies that incorporates SUN Grup Inc., Kolortek Inc. and MVS Inc. and works towards developing the world and making it more sustainable as well as developing its shareholders with its masterbatch, liquid masterbatch, compound and recycling facilities, over 30 years of experience in the sector and R&D laboratories that cover an area of over 3000 square meters. 

Could you please tell us about your company and its operations?
Our companies give service to the entire world in 5 separate locations in 2 countries – 3 production facilities in Bursa Organized Industrial Zone, 1 factory in Kayapa Industrial Zone and 1 company in Germany. We carry out our operations on masterbatch, liquid masterbatch, compound and recycling in an area of 40.000 square meters.

When did you cross paths with your company?
Personally, I crossed paths with our business when our CEO Sühendam Urbay wanted to have a child. Since my childhood, she took me to the company, fairs and meetings whenever possible so that I could adopt and like our business, industry and sector. Although as I was a kid, during some meetings I only slept on two chairs, since I was 16, I have tried to learn the business actively. This ambition and passion I were imbued with are the two things that took me where I am today. I would like to thank her for her efforts and infinite love as well as for being both a boss and a mother to me at the same time. My goal is to take our business and our nation one step forward with the mission and vision of SunGrup.

Could you tell us about the organizational structure of your company?
Our companies are deeply committed to their ethical values, environment and mission, are open to improvement, solutions and innovations, prioritize customer satisfaction and efficient work, and achieve their missions to the best level and within the expected time.

Every department in our companies is fully sustainable. In terms of new investments, R&D investments, different sectors and projects for other countries, the executives from all the departments involved come together with the Board to work in collaboration.    

Which sectors do you provide service to?
We provide service to 13 distinct sectors: but primarily the white goods, automotive, textile, cable and injection sectors. Also, we constantly carry out R&D operations to open up to new sectors. 

Could you tell us about your export rates and which countries do you export the most?
We work mostly with Germany, Spain, Italy, and Romania, but we are proud to say that we export to 52 different countries including many in Africa, the Middle East, and Americas. 

What distinguishes you from your competitors?
We give local service with global technology, we can develop customized products in colors and with technical features desired by every customer, we have an R&D operation that can serve 13 distinct sectors, and we are the first and only company that can produce masterbatch, liquid masterbatch, compound and recycling.

Could you please tell us about your new investments and R&D operations?
With our new lines added in May 2021, we now have the best machine park of Europe with its dosing, production and packaging systems and we updated and integrated the zero-touch production system from raw material entry to the end product, also known as the Industry 4.0. Moreover, we are currently building a new production facility in Bursa Organized Industrial Zone and continuing with the TEKNOSAB project. 

Could you tell us about your operations during the pandemic? How was 2020 for you and what are your predictions for 2021?
During the pandemic, we raised awareness with our job security specialists and company doctors among all our employees, took all the necessary precautions on time, and set an example for the sector and the entire industry. Moreover, we communicated with the families of all our employees regularly so that the awareness was not limited to the company employees, but included all the indirect shareholders, as well.

During that time, we carried out production NON-STOP even during all the legal lockdowns filing all the necessary documents and taking all the necessary precautions. We continued this achievement during 2021 and can give service to our customers without interruption.

What do you think about how Industry 4.0 is progressing in Turkey? What are your operations and actions regarding?
Turkey is one of the leading countries that come to mind in terms of production, and she is ready to take us and the industry to the next step which the world has taken with her advanced R&D operations needed for the Industry 4.0, more effective production facilities, and increased production capacity. All the sectors and industries that carry out production in Turkey, especially the automotive, white goods, textile and chemical materials, will transition to the Industry 4.0 and carry us forward. SunGrup family has adopted the Industry 4.0 systems and integrated MVS Inc. to 4.0 in 2015. With that, the effectiveness and sustainability of our production increased. 

What are your thoughts on and expectations from BEYSAD?
Since we entered the white goods sector, we have been following BEYSAD and it is a pleasure for us to be a member. We think it is a critical issue not only for our industry, but for the entire country that we, all of the white goods suppliers, move together towards a shared goal and vision. With the increased use of the social media in the 21st century and our valuable togetherness, we will surely create more efficient results. We prioritize coming together with friends from the sector with whom we can work together and help each other towards taking the white goods sector to the next level thanks to BEYSAD.

Sühendam Urbay
The founder and CEO of our companies, Sühendam Urbay started her business life working for the number one foreign company in the market. With the experience and culture she gained there, she founded SunGrup and built the new production facility in the Organized Industrial Zone in 2005. With her achievements in the sector making her name and our company’s name known in the industry even overseas, she was awarded the Most Successful Woman of the Year award in 2011. Sühendam Urbay continues her work non-stop and diligently as a strong woman: She invested in Compound, Liquid Masterbatch and Recycling facilities to expand the sectors the company works for and carried on with the momentum and success she achieved in these areas. The impact created by Sühendam Urbay attracted the attention of not only the sector, but also the Board of Bursa OIZ – Turkey’s first organized industrial zone – and she became the firstly and only board member in 2018. Proving her ambition and strength in this area, as well, Sühendam Urbay renewed the water businesses and environment and wastewater recycling projects of the entire OIZ and currently manages them.    

Derya Akça
Our Vice CEO and General Manager Derya Akça started her career at SUN Grup Inc., upon her graduation for Econometry, Uludag University. She undertook various positions in various companies of the group since the day they were founded. Derya Akça drew attention with realizing applications that create a difference in people’s lives in the area of social responsibility and she carries on her achievements as the General Manager of SUN Grup companies. She led projects to make the company 100% waste-free and managed operations that will take us 2 steps ahead of our competitors and that will develop our business in terms of sustainability and eco-friendliness.