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Textile giant Gürmen eyes expansion in dairy and olive sectors
The group has spent $10 million in the last two years in these two fields. It is planning to increase the number of cattle it owns to 3,000 within the year, up from its current 1,000. Remzi Gür, chairman of the Gürmen Group, said the group is seriously considering expanding its operations in greenhouse cultivation, animal breeding and olive farming.
The group’s growing interest in these sectors doesn’t mean that its focus is shifting from textiles. Gürmen has sold over 60,000 suits in 18 countries so far in 2009, and it is planning to meet or exceed this number in 2010.
Gür was speaking in İstanbul at a conference titled “A Success Story in Business Life,” in which he shared his experiences with the members of the Business Life Cooperation Association (İŞHAD) on Saturday.
The company recently established a dairy and constructed a greenhouse on a 60,000-square-meter field earlier this year. Gür said they are now planning to increase the size of the greenhouse to cover a land area of 150,000 square meters. The company is also preparing to plant 250,000 olive saplings in the coming two years.
Gür said the coincidence of three crucial factors play a vital role in the rise of a businessman to the apex of business life: being the right person in the right place at the right time.
Textiles have been among the sine qua non of societies since ancient times, Gür argued, and stated that investing in this field has ensured sweet profits.
He explained that his father had stood against his plans of pursuing a career in business. “But I didn’t listen to my father and opened a textile workshop in Britain,” Gür said and went on: “In the early 1980s, I decided to open a store, but I didn’t have enough money to even pay the rent. I told the truth to the owner of the premises, that I would only be able to pay the rent after three months, and he naturally rejected my request to rent his place. But after three days, he came back and rented the store to us. We did a really good job in this store and managed to grow from this place.”
Gür said Jewish investors were the major factor for originally choosing the textile business while in Britain. Jews are almost always good in their businesses, he said, and remarked: “There is a famous saying which states ‘Always count your fingers after shaking hands with a Jew’. You have to protect your fingers. But I regret to say that Turkish businessmen are not as honest as Jewish businessmen. I have seen many Turks who don’t hesitate to tell a lie even soon after performing their prayers.”
As Margaret Thatcher’s government started increasing the burden on textile manufacturers in Britain, introducing stricter inspections on the industry in the 1980s, Gür decided to come to Turkey.
The Gürmen Group employs 1,400 people in Turkey. It has 23 stores in Turkey, along with 41 stores in 18 other countries.
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