In this issue, we followed a slightly different path and directed our microphones to ourselves instead of industry representatives and companies. As the only private publication of the cement and concrete components industry, we had a pleasant interview with Nurhan Gürel, the founder of CemenTürk, which has been continuing its life without interruption for many years, and Ajans GN, which offers services in different fields with its creative solutions. In addition to CemenTürk magazine, how about getting to know the story and works of Ajans GN, which develops effective solutions in areas such as graphic design, organization, creative works, and promotion?
Let’s start our conversation by getting to know you a little bit before the story of CemenTürk and Ajans GN, the only private publication of the cement and concrete components industry. Who is Nurhan Gürel? Can you tell us briefly about yourself?
I was born in 1982 in Tokat. I lived in Turhal until my high school education and I settled in Istanbul with my family the year I started high school. I finished high school first in Istanbul. Then I studied Foreign Trade at the university. I worked in the foreign trade sector for about 1 year and I had different experiences here. At the end of this year, I switched to a company that provides agency services, publishes newspapers and magazines. I worked here for 3 years in different positions.
In the next stage, the idea of establishing Agency GN was developed. I was 26 when I opened the company. Later, with a rapid introduction to the cement and concrete industry, I started to publish the magazine CemenTürk, which is followed and distributed by the sector today. For 12 years, I have been working as a dedicated person, especially in cement and concrete components. Over time, we added different works besides the magazine.
How did you make your decision to enter the cement and concrete industries?
In a company where I worked and prepared the sectoral pages of a national newspaper, my field was the cement and concrete sectors. In fact, I followed these sectors closely before I started publishing the magazine and knew it very well. After working here for about 3 years, we tried to do something in common with a friend who worked in the same place for 1 year, but it did not work. Then I decided to continue only. The education I received in general was not very closely related to these professions. As someone studying foreign trade, I knew that these jobs did not suit me in general. But I thought that communication and meeting new people, which is the basis of this work and which I am personally competent, might work here. I love being in contact with people and getting to know new people. When I decided to continue alone and founded Ajans GN, I said I should do something about the cement and concrete industry. At this point, Assoc. Dr. Hasan Yıldırım encouraged me to publish a sector magazine in support of me.
While I was stepping into this sector, I never thought of being male dominant. Since I attach great importance to human-to-human communication and approach everyone in this way, I did not have the difficulty of being a woman publishing a magazine in the men’s world. The cement industry is really an area where there are high-level people in terms of education and quality. In this sense, I did not have much trouble in communication and acceptance. I would also like to thank everyone for taking me in and supporting me.
What was your biggest challenge when entering the cement and concrete industry?
The sector is a sector that gives up its habits very hard and rarely accept anyone even among themselves. When I try to enter the sector for the first time, I can say that I find it difficult to get support. I resisted a lot, but I think I was very patient. I never give up a job as a character. Even if I know that the results will be bad, it is in my character to conclude it and get a result from it. That’s why I didn’t give up. Today, when I look back, I am glad that I did not give up and continued to strengthen my team. There is a very popular saying in the industry: They say: “Whoever swallows the dust of cement cannot give up this”. I think I was like that too. We have been continuing to publish CemenTürk both printed and online without interruption for 12 years and we support information flows on social media.
Can you tell us a little about CemenTürk? What are you doing as CemenTürk?
CemenTürk is a sector magazine serving the cement and concrete sectors as well as their suppliers. In the magazine, works such as news, technical articles, interviews and product promotions are regularly published. CemenTürk came every two months in Turkish- English without a break. Cement in the world and in Turkey is a very big market and a market that will never end. Turkey, who is number one in Europe, has the world’s third largest cement market. As this sector appeals to the whole world, we decided to continue in Turkish-English in the second year of the magazine. We make our international shipments abroad. At the same time, we can reach a wider audience in the sector with the news, technical articles, interviews and online magazine that we regularly publish on cementurk.com.tr website. The fact that the entrance to the site is very high is proof that we are on the right track.
What vision did the agency GN set out?
When we first established the agency GN, we were in favor of providing graphic and design services. But publishing was also a job I personally liked. I started this job at the age of 26. I was always more open to learning from my eager, visionary perspective, and I was working very hard. I was attending the courses of my advisors in order to have a better command of the sector related content. Because the moment you go to meet with people, you should be able to talk to them. I tried to contact as many people as possible, I made them know me. Because it’s really not easy to have something in this industry. I understood this very clearly. I knew I would be accepted if I did this job very well. As CemenTürk Magazine, we started to increase our brand awareness by being accepted from a point. After that, it was time for organizations. As CemenTürk Magazine, we wanted to organize regular events. We have carried out many organizations with agency service in 12 years. And in December 2019, we started planning and hotel talks for the “CemenTürk 2020 Seminar”. But along with the pandemic, due to the difficult times Turkey and the world is experiencing, we had to stop our plans.
You postponed your plans, but would you please tell us about your plans for the “CemenTürk 2020 Seminar”?
In fact, it has been one of our goals for a long time to hold CemenTürk seminars regularly. With these seminars, we aim to create an environment that does not overwhelm in content, but keep the whole industry together, where the sector’s employees can catch up with the agenda, and they can be informed with new information areas about the new technology developments. We also dream of creating an environment for fun activities.
CemenTürk magazine has become an increasingly popular magazine not only nationally but also globally. We have a lot of interactions in both places. There are many magazines or many organization companies serving the cement industry in the global arena. We are as good at our business as these organization companies. But if these seminars will take place, we will need a lot of support from the industry. As a Turkish company, we want to take part in these works. For all this, we hope that the pandemic will be finished as soon as possible and the normalization process will begin.
You have entered this sector as a 26-year-old female entrepreneur. Would you show the same courage today?
I entered the sector at a very young age. My confidence and excitement about doing this work encouraged me at that time. And there were a lot of people around me who believed I could do this job. For this reason, I entered the sector without thinking too much and took action immediately. I actually understood the difficulties of the sector by living. Today’s conditions are much different, people are more afraid of losing something and taking risks. But if I was
determined, I would find a way to show the same courage.
How will your activities be shaped with pandemic?
Like every sector, we were affected by this process both on the agency side and on the CemenTürk side. But the pandemic did not change our working discipline. We love disciplined work as a team and we have a responsibility towards the industry, no matter what. In this process, we switched to the home work system and experienced that we can work with discipline without going to the office. Even a number has not been skipped for 12 years, we have reached the 70th issue. That’s why we are very proud. We will continue our work online and in print. With the new era, sectoral webinars and online conversations are among our plans.
We talked a lot of work. So what do you do outside of work?
Friendships and family relationships are very important to me. At this point, I take care to be with my loved ones frequently. I read a lot of books and reading books has become a need for me like eating and drinking over the years. Sports is the sine qua non of my life. I love it because it creates spaces for me to stay on my own. I create opportunities for myself to try new flavors and discover new places.