Could you please tell us about yourself? How did you start to work in İnterlab?
I started my business life in 1995, my second year of university, in our own family business. So I started to learn about export operations. The business I mentioned has ended in about 2003. I started to work in İnterlab in 2005, since then I do work in here. And since 2010 I am working here as the export manager.  
 

Could you give us some information about İnterlab’s export department and export operations?
We are a crew of four, which includes me. We give service to approximately 68 countries, in most of them we have distributors but in some of them, we have multiple customers. Totally we have almost 100 customers around the world.

What’s going on in 2015 for labware and laboratory instruments market? 
First of all, in 2015, we have the most powerful catalog we ever had; which has been appreciated by everyone.  In first place, our Chairman of the Board Mr. Faruk Kutay has made an enormous effort to make it happen. Wherever I have gone, actually wherever we have sent our catalog we had positive feedbacks. Our previous catalog used to include 80-85% of labwares which are used in an average laboratory, now our product portfolio includes 95% of them. It got wider. I hope we’ll get our reward, and I suppose we’re already getting it. That’s why we expect very good sales.

Last month you have visited South America. Which countries were included to this comprehensive business trip? Could you please talk about that business trip?
Just a month ago I made a trip to South America. I have visited respectively Paraguay, Chile, Peru and Mexico. Peru and Paraguay are less developed countries compared to Chile and Mexico. But I have had really good feedbacks from all of the countries. First of all they were really glad to see an Isolab representative in their home country. These firms are our business partners for years, our distributors, they sell our products. It was a nice trip.

You’ve also visited Russia? 
I went Russia last week. There was an exhibition. We made a touch to our end users, they were also glad to see an Isolab representative in Russia.
 

Which exhibition was that? 
Analitika Expo 2015. It was in Moscow. Our distributor was an exhibitor at that exhibition. I was also there to support them as the representative of Isolab and our company. Of course this gives an extreme motivation to them. We had a good period of time during the exhibition, it was quite busy. We have distributed at least 200 catalogs each day. So it was a successful exhibition.

 How is Isolab known in South America? 
Isolab is a well-known German brand in South America. Our products are being sold for many years there. Because of the short distance to USA, American brands can be easily sold in these countries. However German quality is an important value for them. Chinese and Indian products are also pushing limits to get into the market. But there is a fact: these people are conscious consumers. They do not give a second chance if they had a bad experience before. So they know so well our brand.

How about Russia? How is Isolab known there? 
Because of the distance to Europe, we are known more in Russia. I can say same things. As the company, we have a principle for all over the world. We always stand by our products; our priority is always “the good quality”. If there is a problem for our customers we always stand by our products and solve the problem, without putting the customer to a bad position. And this situation makes our Russian customers satisfied. As Europeans, Russians are glad to see that their expectations are rewarded by us, as an European brand.

Have you ever been in an interesting situation during your travels?
Let me think about it… My luggage got lost. It might be a little interesting for us but, my luggage got lost on my flight to Paraguay from Brazil. But the airport crew definitely didn’t find it an interesting situation. They got used to it. It’s an usual case for them. You’ll ask why? A Brazilian Airline… They said it was just an “ordinary” situation. “It can get lost but soon or late it’ll be found” they said. They found it one day later. Of course it made me upset and irritated at the beginning of the trip. I have had 15 days in front of me and on the first day my luggage got lost. Anyways, reunion with my luggage after one day break, it was an interesting story for me.