Dr. Hüseyin Kami BÜYÜKÖZER
With the certification service we have started in 2009 as GIMDES, we have opened the path of Halal certified, healthy and reliable products that Muslim consumers deserve, by providing Halal and Tayyib certificates to hundreds of companies’ thousands of products. Since our establishment year 2005, we have organized numerous conferences, seminars, meetings and social events in order to increase the Halal and Tayyib awareness in the society.
By the incentives of GIMDES, Halal Dunya Markets were established by independent entrepreneurs to meet the local demand of Halal and Tayyib products in Turkey. It is expected to observe an increase in the number of these market branches and every district will have 1 such market insha’Allah in the future. In this way, more and more Halal and Tayyib certified products will be delivered to customers while, in return, increasing the number of firms obtaining Halal and Tayyib certificate.
On the other hand, our country is a food and consumer goods production base. Its geographical location also provides our country with the opportunity to be an excellent logistics center while foods holding an important place in our export rates. Unfortunately, the export of Halal certified products is at very low levels. When we put aside basic materials such as flour and pasta, which are considered as the main raw materials, and chicken / meat products produced in large enterprises, the export rate of other Halal certified products is almost none.
Although there are different reasons for each manufacturer, common ones can be counted as follows:
– Low capacity of manufacturing companies,
– Thinking that export is not important,
– Insufficient information about international marketing and sales,
– Foreign language,
– Inability to communicate,
– Lack of information about the official procedures,
– The absence of personnel to undertake the mission
As GIMDES, we are preparing an export project intending to promote Halal certified products in the foreign markets, finding customers and making business connections to bring foreign currency to our country and to reach consumers in the foreign countries. Without doubt, GIMDES will preserve its position of being a non-profit organization while engaging in this project. GIMDES will acts as the intermediary, which helps firms to communicate, rather than engaging in a trade activity as a non-profit organization. We hope to work with our esteemed SMEs in this project.
In the forthcoming future, our colleagues from the GIMDES center will visit our companies and provide detailed explanations in order to convey the issue and provide consultation service.
On this occasion, I pray Allah (SWT) to give Khair and Barakah to our firms and all the Muslim brothers.