Ilgaz Construction Success Story and Founder Selahattin Düzbasan

Selahattin Düzbasan achieves quite big things but he is such a modest businessman. Selahattin Düzbasan is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Ilgaz Construction that is founded in Adana in 1994. He describes his company as a value rising from the heart of Anatolia and states that his greatest desire is to show Anatolia’s power to the world. Düzbasan indicates with great pride that they constructed Türkiye’s longest viaducts with the latest technology and were involved in projects in several countries including Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, Albania, Romania and Iraq.

Ilgaz Group was established when its main company Ilgaz Construction was founded in 1994 by Selahattin Düzbasan. Although Ilgaz Group started in the construction sector, it has grown day by day following the addition of railways, mining and robotic automation sectors to its chronology.

Mr. Düzbasan, could you introduce yourself and give information about the development process of your company?

I was born in Eskiahır village of Kurşunlu town of Çankırı. I pursued my primary, secondary and high school education in Çankırı. In 1986, I graduated as a civil engineer from Karadeniz Technical University. Then I started working in the bridges department of the General Directorate of Highways. In those years, such institutions were like schools; courses and trainings were continuously given, various practices were carried out. After working for 2 years, I decided to leave and start my own business.

In the second half of 1980, construction investments started in Türkiye. In 1989, I went to Çukurova for the construction of some bridges on the Tarsus-Pozanti highway. Our first connection with Adana was established on this occasion. I was involved in a lot of projects on the TAG highway. I established a concrete pipe production facility for the projects around Iskenderun. Later, I moved this facility to Adana, and then to Yenice/Mersin. We were producing prefabricated concrete elements while the contracting works continued. There were not many companies doing bridge works in Türkiye. For this reason, we focused mostly on bridge contracting projects and took part in many bridge projects across the country. Considering that there was a great need in the prefabricated concrete elements in the sector, we established facilities in various parts of our country.

In the 2000s, railway investments started in our country. However, prestressed concrete sleepers were being imported. We had long years of negotiations with the German PCM RailOne AG, which is among the largest manufacturers in the world. Eventually, we decided to establish a partnership to build a production facility in Türkiye.

Starting the production in the sector with RailOne enabled us to closely follow the developments in railway sector in Europe. When we noticed our country’s need for wagons in this sector, we made an initiative in this field and we had meetings with American Greenbrier and then Slovak Tatravagonka.

In 2016, we established a company called Tatra-Ilgaz for the production of freight wagons with Slovaks. Our research for robotic production lines to support the need in the freight wagon production led us to Intecro Robotic Automation and Robital Robotic Welding Technologies companies. Our partnership with them continued for a while. For our other technological investments, we established Ilgaz Quality in 2018.

In 2020, we opened our first company in Romania which is in the construction sector. Our activities take place at our own facility in Bucharest and involve production of ready-mixed concrete and concrete products.

Düzbasan is currently the Chairman of the Board of ILGAZ Construction AS, ILGAZ Construction SRL, RailOne ILGAZ, ILGAZ Quality and Fil.

What were your key strategies for success?

I believe reading and research are very important. First of all, it is necessary to understand the needs of the target sector clearly, secondly finding the best product or service that meets this need and lastly acting in this direction. In parallel, we have had partnerships with companies from several countries including France, Slovakia, Germany and the USA. Our focus in these partnerships was identifying the knowledge base and experiences of our partners that our country lacks and transferring these values to our teams in order to establish sustainable business systems.

What products do you manufacture?

Today, we are producing ready-mix concrete, concrete elements and specialized concrete products at our facilities in Türkiye and abroad while continuing contracting projects in our main industry, construction sector. We are specialized in bridge and viaduct construction. Our prominent projects include the 80-100-meter-high connection viaducts on the European side of Istanbul Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, the Meriç River viaduct connected to the Pazar Kule border gate in Edirne, the 2.4 km long Ankara-Istanbul high-speed train line viaduct, which is the longest viaduct in Türkiye, and the Çakıt viaducts on the Adana-Pozantı highway. In the past, we had similar jobs in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia and Albania, and today we have contracting jobs in Iraq and Romania.

We have been in partnership with the German PCM RailOne AG since 2007 and produce high-strength concrete line and turnout sleepers for railways.

Ilgaz Quality started its investments for the production of freight wagons. We currently have TSI-compliant 90 feet tall platform freight wagon design.

Could you give information about your R&D studies and new projects?

Research and development projects in our sector are very important. So far, our companies have presented nearly twenty papers in various national and international congresses on high-strength concrete, placing concrete in cold weather, viaduct constructions, reinforcement of multi-story buildings, effects of aggregate quality on concrete quality, concrete sleeper production, etc..

We also have fully equipped laboratories at our facilities. Quality and customer satisfaction are essential for our products and services. We perform all the necessary research and development accordingly.

 

What are your overseas activities?

Our companies aren’t involved in retail and international trade, thus our activities in overseas are very low. Our international trade activities are mainly between Romania and Türkiye.

For RailOne-Ilgaz and Ilgaz Quality, the situation is slightly different. European factories were heavily affected by the pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war. The cost of reviving the businesses after the pandemic doubled by the effect of war on energy prices while European employees did not want to continue manual labor in industrial production.  All these circumstances directed employers to the eastern countries for their needs. Türkiye was among the first of those countries. For RailOne-Ilgaz and Ilgaz Quality, we anticipate an increase in trade opportunities in Europe in the coming period.

What are your plans for the future?

As mentioned, the pandemic and war environment brought a new order with the impact on business decision-makers and the micro-macro economy worldwide. If the developments are managed wisely, it will bring many more opportunities for Türkiye on top of the current advancements because of its location advantage for logistics.

Moreover, 95% of the businesses in Türkiye are family-owned businesses and we are one of them. Having second generation involved, our companies have a sustainable system to continue to achieve successful business both at home and abroad. Our primary goal is to have a share in the welfare of our country. If our country wins, we win; if we win, our country wins. Today, we have new investments in both Ankara region and Çukurova region. We follow international developments very closely.

In addition to our investments in Türkiye, we also aim to grow in Europe. In 2020, we started our investments with our own facilities and vehicle fleet in Romania. We aim to enter other European countries after Romania.

Social Activities

Supporting education, services for the disabled and numerous social projects, Selahattin Düzbasan is a Member of the Board of Çankırı University Foundation and Ankara Çankırılılar Foundation, and a member of INTES, IMO and Adana Contractors Association.

In 2010, he was awarded by the Presidential Council of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye with the “TBMM OUTSTANDING SERVICE MEDAL and CERTIFICATE” for his outstanding services to the Republic of Türkiye and its Nation at the national and international level, his contribution to the promotion of Türkiye, his useful services for the welfare, education, happiness and social development of the people.

In 2013, he was given the 20th Anniversary Award as a token of gratitude for providing superior services in the fields of Turkish world culture, art and science by the International Organization of Turkish Culture in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the organization’s establishment.

Being granted the TBMM outstanding service award and the International Organization of Turkish Culture award, and having won the appreciation and respect of people from all walks of life with his support for education, Selahattin Düzbasan states that he aims to show his effort as a citizen to serve our country at the highest level and that he works in towards this purpose.

 

What is the secret of your success?

Selahattin Düzbasan, who has a constructive and unifying attitude with an extended vision, stresses that everyone should work for their country and protect the values of our country so that our country will reach brighter days. Prioritizing customer satisfaction over everything else by offering quality and reliable products, Selahattin Düzbasan aims to carry the successes to the next generations by going beyond the customer needs and expectations with science, expertise and professionalism and constantly seeking perfection.

Selahattin Düzbasan: I take care to maintain the bond of trust between my employees and then my suppliers and customers. I have always been sincere and honest in my work, and I have not given up my respect and discipline. I prioritized reading, researching and learning. I have always been dedicated on my long-term goals, I have always targeted the better and the highest quality.

Selahattin Düzbasan is a very determined businessman who trusts himself and his country. Düzbasan, who is very impressed with the quote of “Trust is like a soul, it does not return to the body it comes out of”, has the main goal of maintaining the sense of trust that he provides primarily to its employees, then to suppliers and customers.

Another secret of success is the persistent desire and the determination to achieve the goal.

What are your advice and messages to young people, entrepreneurs and industrialists?

Relationship management, effective communication, setting goals and working hard are tools that we cannot separate from each other. Humans build their lives on relationships and these relationships guide our path. Therefore, we should pay attention to our environment and learn to maintain the healthy relationships we have established. This is possible with effective communication.

Learning never ends in life, but we don’t have time to try everything by ourselves. Therefore, we should benefit from the knowledge and experience of others. We should learn to ask the right questions. We need to put together what we’ve learned, set measurable goals, and work hard with good time management. Only this will bring the reward of our efforts.

However, we shouldn’t forget that there is good in everything. From my experience, I can say that if there is anything that cannot be achieved after all, I have seen at the end that it is for our sake.

We wish Allah’s mercy to Mr. Selahattin Düzbasan, the founder and chairman of the board of ILGAZ Construction and member of ARUS, and we wish condolences to his family and relatives. We are proud of Mr. Selahattin Düzbasan who received awards with his leading works in its sector nationally and internationally.