Eczacıbaşı

Founded in 1942 by Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı, the Eczacıbaşı Group takes its name from the honorary title “chief pharmacist”, conferred on the father of Dr. Eczacıbaşı at the turn of the last century. Eczacıbaşı is a prominent Turkish industrial group with 42 companies, close to 9,900 employees and as of end-2007, a combined net turnover of $ 3.2 billion.

=The Group=

Eczacıbaşı’s core sectors are building products, pharmaceuticals and consumer products. Additionally, the Group is active in finance, information technology, welding technology and real estate. In Turkey, Eczacıbaşı is the leader in most of its businesses and has distribution networks for pharmaceuticals, building products and fast-moving consumer goods that are among the strongest in their sectors. Internationally, Eczacıbaşı is best known for its flagship VitrA brand, a powerful contender in global bathroom and tile markets. It is also a major exporter of tissue paper, pharmaceuticals, welding electrodes, electronic smart cards and industrial raw materials such as clay and feldspar.

International partnership is a central component of the Eczacıbaşı Group’s growth strategy. Eczacıbaşı has 12 international joint ventures and numerous cooperation agreements with leading international companies. All of these are grounded on the principle of long-term mutual benefit, based on firm business criteria and ethical business practices.

The Founder

Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı (1913-1993), the founder of the Eczacıbaşı Group, used to say that "the real measure of private entrepreneurship is the success with which it increases the wealth of the community as a whole".

Süleyman Ferit Eczacıbaşı was the first university-educated pharmacist in the city of Izmir and distinguished himself with a long career of public service during the early years of the Turkish Republic.

Companies

* Building Products
** burgbad AG [http://www.burgbad.de/]
** Eczacıbaşı Building Products
** Eczacıbaşı Koramic Building Chemicals
** Engers Keramik GmbH [http://www.engerskeramik.de/]
** Eczacıbaşı Esan [http://www.eczacibasiesan.com.tr]
** Eczacıbaşı Esan Italia
** İntema Building Products [http://www.intema.com.tr/]
** V&B Fliesen GmbH [http://www.villeroy-boch.com/en/home/products/tiles.html]
** VitrA Bathtub
** VitrA Tiles [http://www.vitra.com.tr/default.aspx]
** VitrA UK
** VitrA Bad GmbH
** VitrA (USA)
** Zao VitrA Bath&Tiles JSC(Russia)

* Pharmaceuticals
**Eczacıbaşı Baxter Hospital Supply [http://www.eczacibasi-baxter.com.tr/eng/home/default.aspx]
**Eczacıbaşı Corridor Health Services [http://www.eczacibasisaglik.com/home/default.aspx]
**Eczacıbaşı Health Care Products Joint Stock Co.
**Eczacıbaşı Monrol Nuclear Products [http://www.monrol.com/]
**Eczacıbaşı Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing
**Eczacıbaşı Pharmaceuticals Marketing [http://www.eip.com.tr/Home/default.aspx]
**Eczacıbaşı Pharmaceuticals Trading
**Eczacıbaşı Zentiva Health Products [http://www.eczacibasizentiva.com.tr]
**Eczacıbaşı Zentiva Fine Chemical Products [http://www.eczacibasizentiva.com.tr]

*Consumer Products
** Eczacıbaşı Beiersdorf [http://www.nivea.com.tr/gateway/?show=gateway]
** Eczacıbaşı Girişim Marketing [http://www.girisimpazarlama.com.tr/about.html]
** Eczacıbaşı Schwarzkopf [http://www.eczacibasi-schwarzkopf.com.tr/]
** İpek Kağıt Tissue Paper [http://www.ipekkagit.com.tr/ing/index.htm]
** İpek Kağıt Tissue Paper (Kazakhstan)

*Finance
** Eczacıbaşı Investment Holding
** Eczacıbaşı Investment Partnership
** Eczacıbaşı Securities [http://www.emdas.com.tr/wps/portal]
** Eczacıbaşı UBP Asset Management [http://www.eczacibasiubp.com.tr/]

*Information Technology
** E-Kart Electronic Card Systems [http://www.e-kart.com.tr/]
** Eczacıbaşı Information and Communication Technologies [http://www.ebi.com.tr/]

*Kaynak Tekniği Welding Electrodes [http://www.askaynak.com.tr/Asp/Anasayfa/anasayfa.asp]

*Others
** Eczacıbaşı Construction
** Ekom Eczacıbaşı Foreign Trade
** Yapı-İş Real Estate and Construction
** Kanyon Management and Marketing [http://www.kanyon.com.tr/]

=Brands=

=Eczacıbaşı and Community=

Corporate citizenship is a fundamental component of the Eczacıbaşı Group’s identity that derives from the Eczacıbaşı family’s tradition of community service and pioneering role in the development of modern Turkish industry and institutions.

Education

Hygiene Project for Primary Boarding Schools

The Eczacıbaşı Group and the Association in Support of Contemporary Living (ÇYDD), one of Turkey’s leading educational NGOs, are cooperating on a major initiative to provide primary school children at state-run boarding schools a modern, high quality and healthy environment. As a partner in the project, the Eczacıbaşı Group is designing new bathrooms for primary boarding schools in eastern Turkey and equipping them with VitrA and Artema products. It is also providing personal hygiene education to students at these schools through İpek Kağıt’s “Primary School Personal Hygiene Education Program”. Eczacıbaşı Volunteers, the Group’s volunteer program, is collecting school materials for students and organizing supplementary activities, including educational trips to Istanbul for high achievers.

The 30 schools involved in the first phase of the project through 2010 are located in Artvin, Bitlis, Erzincan, Giresun, Hakkari, Muş, Sivas, Şanlıurfa, Şırnak, Tunceli and Van. In addition to designing new bathrooms, Eczacıbaşı Building Products’ architects are redesigning the plumbing infrastructure of these schools. The governors, educational directorates and district officials of these provinces are also providing support to the project.

Solo Personal Hygiene Program

İpek Kağıt, the Group’s tissue paper manufacturer, has long been at the forefront of public awareness campaigns on healthy personal hygiene practices. In 2002, it began cooperating with the national educational system to provide primary school students basic information on personal hygiene. To date, İpek Kağıt had organized personal hygiene classes for almost five million students at more than 5,800 schools in 32 cities around Turkey. By the end of 2008, the project aims to have extended the program to 10 more cities through the organization of personal hygiene classes at another thousand schools.

The Turkish Foundation of Education Volunteers (TEGV)

The Eczacıbaşı Group contributes regularly to this NGO through direct budgeting or special fund-raising events, like the 2002 auction of ceramic statues created by the VitrA Ceramic Art Studio.

Young Inventors

Organized with TEGV, Young Inventors is an alternative education project that aims to contribute to children’s knowledge and interest in science and mathematics and help them develop their creativity and skills in these areas.

With the Eczacıbaşı Group’s sponsorship, TEGV prepared a set of stimulating math and science textbooks and educational material for children of different ages and organized educational workshops and “Inventors Clubs” for children of mainly low to middle income families. Beginning with the southeastern city of Gaziantep in April 2005, the project was extended to Istanbul, Izmir, and Afyon in 2006 and Eskişehir, Ankara, Van, Diyarbakır, Samsun and Antalya in 2007. As of end-2007, Young Inventors had reached 10,500 children in the 8-16 age group.

Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation Music Scholarships

These scholarships enable outstanding young Turkish musicians to pursue graduate musical studies abroad. To date, the Foundation has provided financial support to 85 musicians studying a wide range of instruments as well as orchestration, direction and composition.

Primary School Sponsorship

The Eczacıbaşı Group has built four primary schools for the Turkish public school system to which it provides annual funding. Around 4200 students attend these schools.

Eczacıbaşı Sports School The Eczacıbaşı Sports School teaches volleyball to young girls in the 6-14 age group, who often have less access to organized sports. It also assists young girls develop their motor and coordination skills.

Reproductive Health Hotline

In 2000, Eczacıbaşı Pharmaceuticals Marketing established a free, 24-hour reproductive health hotline (ALO-OKEY) with the Family Planning Association of Turkey. The aim of the hotline is to enhance public access to professional and accurate information about reproductive health.

port

Established in 1966, the Eczacıbaşı Sports Club single-handedly trained many of Turkey’s best sportsmen and women in the fields of basketball, volleyball, gymnastics and table tennis before focusing its resources exclusively on women’s volleyball in the early 1990s. During this period, the Club won 13 National Championships in table tennis, eight National Championships in men’s basketball, 12 National Championships in men’s volleyball, and three National Championships in chess.

Since 1968, the women’s volleyball team has won 27 National Championships, five National Cups and played in eight European Cup Finals, winning the “European Cup Winner’s Cup” in 1999. In addition to its A-team, the Club has three junior teams that have contributed players over the years to the A team, other first division teams and the Turkish National Volleyball Team. [http://www.eczacibasisporkulubu.org.tr/]

Arts and Culture

İSTANBUL MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

[http://www.istanbulmodern.org] The Eczacıbaşı Group is the founder of Turkey’s first privately-funded museum of modern art, to which it provided the initial investment and project management finance as well as the core collection of paintings.

İstanbul Modern is a dynamic and multifaceted museum committed to preserving and exhibiting Turkey’s heritage of modern and contemporary art and to fostering an appreciation of its artistic creativity and modern cultural identity. Open to change, the Museum seeks to reach a wide and continuing audience and to promote Turkey’s artistic production within the international art scene. İstanbul Museum of Modern Art.

Using a combined chronological and thematic exhibition design of its permanent collection, İstanbul Modern showcases the major trends and styles of modern and contemporary Turkish art through their foremost exponents. Additionally, the Museum organizes temporary retrospective exhibitions of Turkish modern masters and of internationally acclaimed artists that reflect the most recent trends in worldwide art. All of these exhibitions aim to strengthen the bond between the Turkish and international art scene and serve as a platform to introduce Turkish artists to the rest of the art world. İstanbul Modern also organizes periodic exhibitions of photography, video and modern Turkish sculpture in addition to thematic film programs.

İstanbul Modern is the only museum in Turkey with a mission to appeal to the mass public through a diverse and dynamic program of learning opportunities and cultural events. To date, more than 400 thousand students have participated in the educational programs organized by İstanbul Modern’s Educational and Social Projects Department in the Museum and around the city. Overall, almost two million people have visited the Museum’s exhibitions during its first two-and-a-half years of activities. www.istanbulmodern.org

Eczacıbaşı Virtual Museum

[http://www.sanalmuze.org/indexeng.php] The Eczacıbaşı Group has long been committed to raising public awareness and appreciation of Turkish modern art. To this end, it has developed one of the largest permanent collections of abstract and figurative work by Turkish painters, which it has sought to exhibit in a variety of forums.

In 1999, in an effort to increase public access to this collection and other paintings, the Group established a virtual museum of Turkish visual art. In line with contemporary museum norms, the Eczacıbaşı Virtual Museum contains both permanent and temporary collections supplemented by curatorial text.www.sanalmuze.org

İstanbul International Music, Film, Jazz, Theatre and Visual Art Festivals

[http://www.iksv.org/english/] The Eczacıbaşı Group is a staunch supporter of the İstanbul International Festivals, both through its sponsorship of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and the Arts, founded in 1973 on the initiative of Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı, and its direct patronage of selected festivals. In particular, the Eczacıbaşı Group’s unwavering support of the Istanbul International Music Festival has contributed greatly to its growing international prestige. Starting in 2006, Eczacıbaşı has become the Leading Sponsor of the İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts. In its new role, Eczacıbaşı Holding will contribute to the International Istanbul Film, Theatre and Jazz Festivals as well as the Music Festival, enhancing its involvement in the Foundation and broadening its communication with art lovers. www.iksv.org

VitrA Ceramic Arts Studio

Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı established the VitrA Ceramic Art Studio in 1957, with the goal of encouraging ceramic artists and public appreciation of this medium. Over the years, the VitrA Ceramic Arts Studio has opened its doors to a large number of young and talented ceramic artists, organized public exhibitions of their work and hosted master classes, conferences, slide shows and workshops on ceramic art. The VitrA Ceramic Arts Studio is a member of the Geneva-based International Academy of Ceramics (IAC).

Eczacıbaşı Arts Encyclopedia

Published in 1997 by the Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation, the Eczacıbaşı Arts Encyclopedia is a three-volume work on international art and architecture that begins with pre-historic Anatolian cultures and focuses especially on the Byzantine, Seljuk, Beylik, Ottoman and Republican periods in Turkey. About 250 researchers, writers and university faculty worked on the project, which contains 4,400 articles.

Public Policy and Scientific Research

Eczacıbaşı Scientific Research and Medical Award Fund The Eczacıbaşı Group established this fund in 1959 to promote high caliber medical research. To date, the fund has supported 171 medical research projects and presented 65 awards to Turkish scientists for valuable research in health and medicine. Since 2002, the Scientific Research and Medical Award Fund is also supporting promising research carried out by medical students.

The Eczacıbaşı Scientific Research and Medical Award Funds are presented every two years at Eczacıbaşı Medical Day. This biannual event organized by the Eczacıbaşı Group aims to provide a forum for scientists and health professionals in Turkey to discuss current medical topics and developments in the health sector and to recognize the valuable medical and health-related research of their colleagues. More than 700 people attended the third Eczacıbaşı Medical Day in 2006, which focused on new treatment approaches to dermatological diseases.

Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)

Eczacıbaşı is an active supporter of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, an independent, non-profit think-tank dedicated to conducting and supporting research on public policy issues. TESEV is the successor of the Economic and Social Studies Conference Board, which Dr. Eczacıbaşı founded in 1961. Every year, the Eczacıbaşı Group sponsors a competition organized by TESEV to promote public policy-oriented research and encourage young researchers in this field.

Turkish Informatics Foundation

[http://www.tbv.org.tr/en/] The Eczacıbaşı Group is a corporate sponsor of the Turkish Informatics Foundation, established in 1995 through the efforts of the Group’s vice-chairman, Faruk Eczacıbaşı, also the foundation’s current chairman. The foundation’s main goal is to contribute to the development of the legal, technical and physical infrastructure required for Turkey’s full transition to an information-based society.

=See also=
*List of Turkish companies
*Eczacıbaşı Sports Club

=External links=
* [http://www.eczacibasi.com The Eczacıbaşı Group]
* [http://www.vitra.com.tr VitrA's site]
* [http://www.kanyon.com.tr Kanyon Levent]
* [http://www.istanbulmodern.org/en/f_index.html İstanbul Modern]