Turkey: Your Business Partner
Most global businesses focus on selling to the developed world, but a reality is that these markets are sometimes over saturated, over competitive and ageing. Emerging economies, on the other hand, have a rapidly developing middle and upper class, and by focusing on trade and investment in the developing world, it is possible to tap into a substantial chunk of the world's population and exploit numerous opportunities. Turkey, although currently not among the first four – BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) – most attractive emerging markets in the world, is definitely in the list of top 10 emerging countries together with South Korea, Mexico, Poland, South Africa and others. In fact, in the last couple of years Turkey's role in the world economy has strengthened and it is reckoned to be world's 17th largest economy. IMF projects Turkey's Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) adjusted to GNP at $708 billion in 2007 and $755 billion in 2008. Moreover, Turkey's GNP is expected to surpass Australia's in 2008 and the country is implied to become one of the top economies in the world by 2050. Obviously, besides the political stability in the past few years, there are certain economic facts that significantly contributed to the current image of the country. Since 2002, after decades of hyperinflation, the inflation has been reduced to a single digit, growth is on the average 6 percent and as a result FDI figures went up outstandingly.
Turkey awareness event in London
As a consequence to this progressively brighter picture, various governmental institutions have organized awareness events on behalf of Turkey. A recent one “Turkey: Your Business Partner,” initiated by UKTI – U.K Trade and Investment and the Turkish Embassy took place in the beginning of December in London. Besides the general perspectives and trade overview about the market provided by Mr. Nick Baird, the British ambassador to Turkey and Mr. Mehmet Yiğit Alpogan, the Turkish ambassador to the U.K., business opportunities have been discussed and view from the Turkish private sector has been given by Mr. Duncan Blake, the chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Turkey. To fully understand the growth potential in the market, major U.K. investments, such as those made by Aviva, Cadbury Schweppes, Vodafone, Tesco, HSBC, BP, Shell, Unilever and many others have been cited.
Highlighted facts
Attending the event, I had the chance to talk about services to British companies considering trading or investing in Turkey and also listened about future prospects from various speakers. Some interesting killer facts about the Turkish economy, as highlighted in a range of speeches are as follows:
Automotive, textile and white goods are the leading group of exports of Turkey, 65 percent of which are directed to the EU and U.S. markets. Turkey is the world's fourth largest textile exporter after China, India and Italy. Turkey is among the top refrigerator producers in the world; even in the U.K., one of every 10 refrigerators is made in Turkey. Turkey is the largest TV and DVD player producer in Europe. One in every four TVs sold in Germany, U.K. and France is made in Turkey. Turkey's tourism sector is one of the biggest in the world and it is the ninth tourist destination; hosting around 20 million tourists per year. Turkey is an important energy corridor between East and West and around 8 percent of world oil import is currently carried out through Turkey. GSM penetration in the country is around 75 percent and it is forecast to reach 100 percent by 2008. The Group Chief Executive of the leading upmarket retailer Harvey Nichols, Mr. Joseph S. Van, was also present to talk about the Group's experience of doing business in Turkey. To this end, Mr. Van, while explaining “Why Turkey” from their own perspective, mentioned the attractiveness of the obvious economic realities of the country as well as the historic links once established in the region.
However, he also rightfully drew attention to the current traffic situation in Istanbul and how it can unexpectedly affect a foreigner doing business here. Ironically, it takes a bit more than three hours to fly between London and Istanbul, but sometimes approximately the same amount of time is required to travel from one destination to another within Istanbul: A reality of cosmopolitan cities that can hardly be ignored. Many representatives of British companies looking forward to benefit from overseas opportunities were present at this well-organized event. Of course, going international presents fantastic growth opportunities – but only if you can find and recognize them. From this perspective, Turkey is highlighted as an emerging market and as often emphasized by the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey, it is the place to be.
Nese Yahya is a member of International Subsidiary Development Inc. based in Turkey.