Okan Erdeve
ECF Engineering General Coordinator
The Covid-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the world, in terms of both health and economy. What are your general views on the effects of the pandemic?
Covid-19 is like an endless knightmare. When it first appeared, we didn’t believe it and didn’t care much because it was outside of our country. However, because of the news and the fast process that happened we found ourselves in the pandemic at the moment when we were wondering whether we could have so many cases. This suddenly brought us anxiety and panic. As someone who has spent a long time in Africa, I faced various epidemics and diseases. I thought that I was also experienced in preventing these diseases. However, coronavirus emerged as a completely different situation. It caused traumas spiritually and physically. After that, we started to produce more rational solutions and act together, thinking that nothing will be the same. Covid-19 showed us that we will recover from the economic process earlier than many developed countries by producing more rational solutions and with a sense of solidarity.
How have you been affected by this pandemic as a company? Have there been any changes in your goals in terms of turnover, sales, exports etc.?
It is a little difficult to fully answer this question, as the process is still ongoing. We will see the situation more clearly in the third quarter of this year and after. We had various contacts with domestic and foreign firms regarding pre-pandemic contracting works. Unfortunately, some work that has reached the stage that can be concluded has stopped during this pandemic. Some of the projects were canceled and some of them were only temporarily suspended. The situation will become clearer in the coming days. In our ongoing contracting works, we did not stop our construction sites. We took action and continued our work. On this occasion, I would like to thank once again for dedication of our staff and their families. We sent all of our other employees to their homes except for the construction sites and worked from our homes. During this process, we shared the concerns of all our staff and continued our way by trying not to make them victimized. We tried to help everyone as much as we can. In addition, we have completed our factory that we have established in this process and we have obtained our industrial license. There are currently changes in our goals. We are also evaluating the situation and we will continue our way with with shorter-term targets, borrowings and revised goals due to Turkey’s and world’s economic conjuncture.
How will be the new situation in the rest of the year and how will the sector be affected?
When we look before this process, the sector was not progressing very positively due to general economic conditions. However, the sector started to position itself according to the new order. With the pandemic process, the benefits of these preparations were seen. The cement industry in Turkey is very active in every aspect and has the knowledge and experience that will adapt quickly to changes. The sector employs many people directly and indirectly. In other words, if we think of it as a very large mass, it is a sector with a very slow dynamics. You can neither stop nor accelerate in an instant. Therefore, during these time intervals, you can take actions to continue the movement of this mass under all conditions. After all, it should definitely not stop. In this regard, our state and then we are obliged to do everything that falls upon us.
What kind of restructuring and a process do you foresee as a company after Covid-19?
As a company, we have always tried to be prepared for crises in the past. We have never borrowed long-term. We have always turned over half of what we earned into in-house investment. We have always been brave about work. We prioritized long-term contracting works and developed our human resources accordingly. In this pandemic process, I think these factors have allowed us to stand upright and robust. We want to walk to our targets with the same goals, but more cautiously. I think it will not be possible to act with the prediction of continuous growth in this process. Therefore, we will continue on our way by protecting our assets and even risking losing some of our equity. We aim to continue in parallel with the new situation and to grow by gaining momentum in the overall recovery process.