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MAİD — Marmara Business Platform

President’s Message

A message from Ahmet Karakılınç, President of MAİD: the weight of the region, the platform’s position and the agenda for the term ahead.

Ahmet KARAKILINÇ
Ahmet KARAKILINÇ President

Competition belongs in the market; solidarity belongs at the table. Businesses that share the same port, the same road and the same workforce do not grow separately — they grow together. When we speak with one voice on access to finance, skilled people and predictable regulation, all of us win.

Dear colleagues and fellow business leaders,

The Marmara Region produces roughly half of Türkiye’s manufacturing industry and two-thirds of its exports. An investment decision taken here, a line installed, a shift closed — none of these concern only the company in question; they bear on the country’s industrial balance. We founded the Marmara Business Platform to build a structure worthy of that weight.

The weight of a region is a responsibility

These figures are not a privilege but an obligation. Anyone who wants to understand how the Turkish economy is doing looks at this region first — which means those who produce here must speak with a voice that is orderly, measured and documented. Scattered complaint becomes noise on a decision-maker’s desk. Our task is to turn that noise into an evidence-based proposal.

Why another platform?

Türkiye has many representative bodies for business, each doing valuable work in its own field. Three plain choices set MAİD apart:

  • We are region-focused. Our agenda is set by the real problems of Istanbul, Kocaeli, Bursa, Sakarya, Tekirdağ, Balıkesir and neighbouring provinces — not by generic headings.
  • Our positions are produced in committees. Reports are prepared by members who work in the sector, not drafted behind a desk. We do not defend a sentence that has no counterpart in the field.
  • We are independent. MAİD is not an extension of any political formation. Our relationship with public institutions is limited to placing our members’ problems on record and proposing solutions.

Representation grounded in measurement

I have practised as an accountant, independent auditor and forensic expert for thirty-five years. If this profession teaches one thing, it is this: when the numbers begin to speak, the argument ends. A balance sheet is the first to reveal a break in cash flow; the cost of credit and collection terms tell you when a sector has seized up.

For a demand to be met it is not enough for it to be justified; it must also be measurable. We measure first, then speak.

Four headings for the term ahead

  1. Access to financeIndustry’s current squeeze is not only about demand but about working capital. Terms lengthen, bank credit tightens, and producers with limited bargaining power end up financing their own customers. We argue for wider supply-chain finance and for micro and small producers to be assessed separately within guarantee schemes.
  2. Green transitionWith the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism entering its financial phase, carbon has become a cost line for exporters. We do not read this only as a burden: a firm that can measure carbon at product level can also calculate the return on an energy-efficiency investment.
  3. Skilled peopleMarmara attracts labour, but housing and commuting costs weaken that pull. Employers now compete on travel time as much as on wages. This calls for joint solutions between industrial zones and local government.
  4. DigitalisationAt SME scale the obstacle is as much method as budget. Software is bought and nobody uses it. We start from the process, not the technology: first a measured problem, then the right tool.

Leaving something lasting

I believe that being a business person acquires meaning when what you earn returns to production and to society. In Kilis, the city where I was born, I financed a 24-classroom high school and donated it to the Ministry of National Education; in Kağıthane, Istanbul, I built a mosque and education complex. I mention these not as a boast but as a yardstick: the success of institutions is measured not on the balance sheet but in what they leave behind. That is also how MAİD understands social responsibility — turning the good work our members do individually into projects we can carry out together.

An invitation

MAİD’s door is open to everyone who contributes to production, trade and services in the Marmara Region. I invite you not only to become a member but to take responsibility in our committees. This platform’s strength will be measured by how close it gets to the problem on its members’ desks.

With my respects.

Ahmet KARAKILINÇ
President