I have been in Anatolia this year approximately more than 100 times. With each visit, I discovered new details that make me smile despite the financial bottleneck. On Friday, I delivered a conference themed “Ataturk and Economy” in Hatay. The room was full of people of all ages, with different occupations. As a guest of the Association of Young Business People of Hatay, I was welcomed incredibly warmly in this city. So I would like to take this occasion to extend my sincerest thanks to my hosts.
On Friday evening, the conference room was full of many people who believe that Turkey will grow and develop not only through industry but also by virtue of agriculture and tourism therefore making significant investments to help the country develop on the basis of these two specific sectors. Thankfully, most of the questions I got over the course of the conference were mainly about the things we should do to create more value added. For almost 2 hours, we talked about the great opportunities the Republic provided to all of us and the fact that how incredibly fortunate we are.
Business people of Hatay have perfectly grasped the importance of engaging in foreign currency earning activities. However, they are upset about the Municipality’s inability to do anything to promote such activities because of political as well as personal reasons. Particularly, the Samandağ Region has remarkable potential for tourism and agriculture. For instance, the Region is about to become one of world’s biggest tangerine exporters. A pretty powerful citrus and cereals producer, the City of Hatay is actually divided into two main regions: Antakya and İskenderun.
“Need to Develop the Smokeless Industry…”
A highly developed city thanks to its large volumes of steel and iron processing, Iskenderun now differs widely from Antakya. Just like the Asian and European Sides of Istanbul… Different styles, different lives… I think the banking activities in Hatay have also developed based on these fundamental differences.
Antakya stands out as one of the leading cities in boutique hotel business. Although an analysis is required to find out whether this business is making enough money, boutique hotels are full of national and international visitors. A promising industry that deserves every kind of support indeed…
I feel like I’m more interested in small-scale businesses higher profitability and higher efficiency while every other person in Turkey is seeking absolute high profits with big impressive numbers. I wanted to share my impressions of Hatay with you to remind you that you should avoid focusing too much on large-scale businesses with questionable profitability since they can make you miss out on super obvious opportunities.
So, once again, I would like to extend my warmest thanks to the esteemed President of Association of Young Business People of Hatay (HAGİAD) Mr. Yusuf Kavak and distinguished members.
