The long-service awards ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of Acar Group was held on Monday, 21 June, at the Acar Group headquarters with the participation of Zekeriya Acar, Chairman of the Board of Acar Group, İhsan Acar, Chairman of the Board of Acar Basım and General Manager of Acar Group A.Ş. Companies, Mustafa Acar, Board Member of Acar Group and Founding Partner of Azim Kutu ve Ambalaj, and Executive Board Members Acar Group, Savaş Acar, Faruk Acar, and Seçkin Acar. The long-service awards ceremony saw the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Acar Group and the presentation of a plaque and a full gold coin to the employees who had been working for the company for twenty years. The ceremony was only attended by the employees who were to receive awards due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Zekeriya Acar: “As Acar Group, we are celebrating our 40th anniversary, and marking the beginning of 41st year of service. During this forty-year period, we have witnessed hard years in Turkey and the world. We saw those hard years and learned lessons. Our business grew as the years passed by. We tried our best to see the opportunities among the difficulties, and we did not give up.”
Zekeriya Acar, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Acar Group, emphasized his sadness for holding this ceremony with a limited attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was a hot topic in the whole world in 2020, in his opening speech and said, “Despite the worldwide pandemic, we had a successful year in all aspects. This success is a result of Acar's reputation from the past, knowledge and experience, investigative spirit, determination to improve, and your devoted work.” “Our executive board consists of the second generation of our family, who are young, dynamic, and determined, and I have no doubt that they will pass on our legacy to the next generations.” “We are aware of the importance of a strong economy for the development of our country and for it to reach the same level as modern civilizations. Today we export 80% of our products. We continue on this path and improve our competitive power, knowledge, and capacities to make this sustainable, and we should continue to do so. We feel that this is our responsibility towards the Acar family and our country. We are committed to work, develop and add value to our country to this end.” At the end of his opening speech, Zekeriya Acar, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Acar Group, said, “I would like to thank you, our esteemed workers, all our employees, customers, and our family, who contributed to 40 years of success and gave their best to our Group throughout the years, for the strength and experience they have given to us and their trust. I hope we will achieve much more together, I am glad that you are with us!”
İhsan Acar: “The better you do your job, the farther it will develop. Otherwise, either the economic conditions will take it down, or you will dissolve as it is a family business. We came from the bottom, and have always strived to do our best. We have always worked with a commitment, appetite, and love.”
At the beginning of his speech, İhsan Acar, Chairman of the Board of Acar Basım and General Manager of Acar Group A.Ş. Companies, said “As Acar Group, we have been working for 40 years in line with our strategic roadmap, which we have created with a long-term perspective. We are managing our portfolio with a dynamic approach and focusing on technology- and knowledge- based areas with high growth potential while choosing the business lines of the future. We have completed the fortieth year of our company with many successes by protecting our vision with our goal-oriented working discipline.” İhsan Acar continued his speech thus: “With our understanding of working at a universal standard, sustainability, human rights, and responsible use of resources will continue to be our priority along with financial success in the upcoming period. We will continue to work and produce to create value for our employees and customers without giving up our strategic goals and in line with our dynamic and strategic portfolio management and technology focus, as required by the culture and vision of Acar Group.” “I would like to thank our employees, customers and my family who are a part of these forty years of success, for making us more experienced and their trust.”
Mustafa Acar: “I and my brothers always help each develop ourselves by telling our mistakes and guiding each other. This approach brought us where we are today and has been the main driver of our success.”
Mustafa Acar, Board Member of Acar Group and Founding Partner of Azim Kutu ve Paketleme, started his speech by sharing the happiness and pride of working with his brothers Zekeriya Acar and İhsan Acar. Stating that he grew up among his colleagues and saw Acar Group as a school, Mustafa Acar made the following remarks: “The foundation of printing companies is extremely important. Our foundation years proceeded as exactly opposite compared to many companies in the industry. 99% of companies in the industry first opened a printing house and then moved on to establish a binding department. As Acar, we first established the binding department. An examination of our country and the world today, would show that there are expert printers, but not many expert bookbinders. I think our current position is a result of our expertise, which gives us a position above the competition in the industry, labor-intensive work, and being in charge of our family business.” At the end of his speech, Mustafa Acar, Board Member of Acar Group and Founding Partner of Azim Kutu ve Paketleme, said “Through these 40 years, we learned by experience that the basis of transformation and development is to keep up with change. They always say that you can turn a local grocery into a market, a market into a larger supermarket, but you can't create a supermarket chain from that supermarket. It is difficult. Acar Group's new vision is to transform this supermarket into a supermarket chain and to open branches in Turkey and the world.”
The employees who have been working with us for twenty years and received awards at the long-service award ceremony organized on the occasion of 40th anniversary of Acar Group are as follows: Gülbahar Bozkurt, Sedat Eraslan, Şenol Şahin, Osman Çakas, Murat Koç, Mustafa Çelik, Kemal Bayrak, Şerafettin Dündar, Ali Osman Çalış, Zafer Özmen, Mualla Acar, Memet Altundağ, Adem Çetinkaya, İbrahim Korkmaz, Engin Şimşek, Ahmet Ünal Özdemir, Kenan Yolcu, Nurettin Yılmaz, Bedir Uğur, Salih Çer, Ahmet Pınar, Ali Osman Acar, Fikri Karaman.
Employees who have worked at Acar Group for twenty years shared their feelings in the award ceremony.
“Acar is our life, and the place where we learned it all.”
Gülbahar Bozkurt, Acar Group Purchasing Manager
Moved to tears while receiving her award, Acar Group Purchasing Manager Gülbahar Bozkurt made the following speech: “I started my career at Acar in late 1990, and worked in different positions, from secretarial to purchasing. We have done as Acar Group. We struggled and questioned our works. We brought it to its current position together. We solved issues by trusting Acar. We've always been honest. Acar turned into a school for me and my bosses into teachers. I am sure that the company will see much better days with new colleagues and new blood.”
“They saw me as their child.”
Mualla Acar, Acar Group Finance Manager
Mualla Acar, Finance Manager, who has been working at Acar Group for 22 years, said made the following statement: “I started working at Acar Group when I was 18. In the 22 years I worked in here, I have gradually risen to the position of finance manager. I saw Acar as my own company. They also saw me as their child. We have overcome the troubles, crises and difficult processes in our country together. I believe that the biggest reason for the current strong position of our company is our commitment to work and long-term efforts. Thanks to the humane and ethical approach of our managers, I spent many years in Acar.”
“I grew up with Acar and I am continuing to do so.”
Şenol Şahin, Offset Printing Specialist
Şenol Şahin, Offset Printing Specialist, who started working at Acar Group in 1990, made the following speech: “We too have improved ourselves with technology. We had always thought hard about the machines in the market and the technologies being used and invested in the highest technology of the day. Thus, we produced faster and more efficiently. I grew up with Acar and I am continuing to do so. I have no doubt that we will achieve much more together.”
“Acar protects the rights of its employees.”
Engin Şimşek, Acar Group Accounting Manager
Engin Şimşek, Accounting Manager, who has been working at Acar Group for 20 years, made the following speech: “I believe that one of the most important factors for Acar to come this far is that they adopted a fair management system. Acar carefully establishes good relationships with its employees, and maintains this approach during the work process and when they quit the job. It also preserves the rights of his employees.”
“I cannot wait for the morning and going to work.”
Mustafa Çelik, Production Quality Control Manager
Mustafa Çelik, who started to work in Acar in 1991 as he graduated from school, made the following speech: “I grew up here with the support of Mr. İhsan. I have experienced the culture for years and carried the self-confidence of having learned the business in Acar. I have reached my current position by always setting goals to become better. I do my job with great pleasure: so much that being at work is a great pleasure for me. Most days I find myself saying “I cannot wait for the morning and going to work”. Now, I pass on what Acar has taught me for years to my colleagues with the same devotion. At Acar Group, everyone's ideas, suggestions and thoughts are considered valuable, from the tea maker to the manager. Here, knowledge develops by sharing. We have had the same trust within the Acar family for years.”
“We are a big family.”
Salih Çer, Head of Cover and Manual Works Department
Salih Çer, who has been working at Acar Group for 20 years, made the following speech: “Acar is known for its quality and fulfilling its commitments. The difference of Acar comes from its ability to organize and take action after taking the job. The standard quality is always ensured regardless of the job being urgent or not. Speed and quality are the focus of company's employees. Since the day I joined the Acar family, our production areas have grown continuously. We always try to keep up with the technology and innovations in production areas. As a result, the customer satisfaction in the domestic and foreign markets became the biggest helper of us. From the security guard to the chairman of the board, we are a big family.”