"WE ARE MAKING INVESTMENTS WITH SUSTAINABILITY PRIORITY"
Polat Gülman is the chairman and CEO of Gülman Group, which has a 70-year business history and focuses on renewable energy, real estate development and venture capital. He believes that the future is only possible through sustainable development. Polat Gülman said, ‘Of course, Gülman Group, like every company, has a structure that has a growth target and therefore considers its own sustainability. We have long ago harmonised our activities, ways of doing business and approach with sustainability and declared this. We do our business with an eye to our world.’
As Gülman Group, we have gained significant experience in different business lines in Turkey and around the world throughout our history, which started 70 years ago with foreign trade. Today, as we carry out activities in the fields of venture capital, renewable energy and real estate development with our investor identity, we see that it is essential to look at the needs of our planet, our world, society and people with closer glasses. We believe that without prioritising this perspective, it is impossible to even dream of sustainable growth and a good future.
It is estimated that the Earth was formed more than 4.55 billion years ago. With the industrial revolution that began in the 1760s, we humans have increasingly mistreated and depleted it.
Of course, there was a time before, but especially in our world, which we have damaged recklessly in the last few centuries, can life continue under normal conditions for a few more centuries? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not very bright. We are all experiencing global warming, which has clear consequences, and food-agriculture and water are at a critical threshold. Therefore, ‘environment’ is one of the most decisive factors for ‘future’, which is our ultimate goal in social impact. We do not prefer investments and initiatives that do not prioritise the environment; we limit our energy investments to renewable energy.
NEW OUTLOOK FOR HEALTH
Another axis that we believe will make a difference in social impact and that we focus on contributing to is health. We have recently experienced a global pandemic that has changed many dynamics in the world. Beyond epidemics, diseases such as heart diseases, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer's, etc. threaten human health in an extremely common way in daily routine. In order for people to live a longer and healthier life, treatments for these diseases need to be found and developed, preventive measures and healthier living conditions need to be clarified. Healthier societies are only possible with healthier organisms. At this point, we take a step back and look at health from a broader perspective and support initiatives that seek solutions for a healthier life for all living beings and offer innovative solutions in the field of health technologies.
MANDATORY REQUIREMENT EDUCATION
Finally, we all agree that education is an absolute condition for the future. We consider education as a whole, including social-social-cultural awareness and development. We always prioritise education in our social benefit funds. Of course, good technologies that will support all these, that will beautify and facilitate our world and life are the MAIN TARGET: We define our main goal in social impact with the motto ‘future’. Although the future seems like a very general concept, we all exist in life with the hope of a good future. Social impact is an integral part of our future ideal. 3 COMPONENTS: At this point, we list the three main components of our social impact strategy as environment, health and education. We see technology and innovation as a lever in our journey to contribute to the ideal of a better future as a company. Therefore, technology is always on our agenda as a supporting, facilitating and accelerating element in our priorities in the areas of environment, health and education. We do not restrict ourselves in this field, we look at it from a broad perspective.
WE ARE MOVING FORWARD WITH THE WORLD IN MIND
The most important difference in Gülman Group's sustainability approach is that the way of doing business and investment decisions are aligned with sustainability priorities. We are sincere, proactive and determined in this regard. Sustainability is a journey, so we care about every step of progress. We can list these steps as follows. Gülman Group, of course, has a structure that has a growth target like every other company, and therefore considers its own sustainability. We sincerely believe that the future is only possible with sustainable development. For the future of our world, it is very important to harmonise and develop trade and production with sustainability conditions. Likewise, serious steps are being taken in this direction in a very important and widespread manner in the global conjuncture. We, too, have long ago harmonised our activities, business conduct and approach with sustainability and declared this. We do our business with an eye to our world.
OUR FIRST PRIORITY IN INVESTMENTS
We act in line with these principles in our venture capital investments, one of the main fields of activity of Gülman Group. Through our venture capital investment company Gülman Ventures AŞ, we have invested in approximately 234 projects in 29 countries in 31 sectors through funds. In these investments, sustainability principles are our top priorities. When we look at the companies in our investment portfolio, start-ups that seek innovative treatments and solutions in health, online education platforms, healthy food, new generation student dormitories, and initiatives that develop solutions for health, education and the environment through technological innovations stand out. We also support initiatives and investments in large-scale agriculture, soilless agriculture, ecological agriculture and food. We also have investments in initiatives that increase efficiency in clean energy, production and logistics. Our investment portfolio is truly environment and technology friendly. In addition to the initiatives in Turkey, we also take part in projects realised by Turkish entrepreneurs abroad. On the other hand, I am proud and happy to be a Turkish investor in Elon Musk's SpaceX, which will provide internet access to the whole world via satellites.
WE SIGNED THE UN GLOBAL COMPACT
We also take part in global initiatives in order to achieve the progress we desire in the field of social impact, to benefit from mutual learning opportunities and to confirm our international visibility in this field. By signing the United Nations (UN) Global Compact, we declared our commitment to 10 fundamental principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards, environment and anti-corruption. With this signature in 2023, we not only aligned our business strategies with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, but also formalised our efforts to project the world's resources and contribute to a stronger society.
OUR SOCIAL BENEFIT CO-OPERATIONS
We also work with various foundations and organisations ranging from entrepreneurship to culture and arts to education. Among these, we can list foundations and organisations such as Istanbul Modern, Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts - İKSV, Turkish Education Foundation (TEV), Argüden Governance Academy, and Entrepreneurship Foundation. The Turkish Education Foundation (TEV) has a special place for us. My father, our founder Kemal Gülman, who built our Group from scratch and brought it to where it is today, has put his 70 years of business experience into the book HISTORIES FROM WORK - MY EXPERIENCES, MY TIPS. All proceeds from the book are transferred to a special scholarship fund we have established at the Turkish Education Foundation, which we also support.
We have adopted the UN Sustainable Development Goals
When I took over the management of Gülman Group in 2013, with the support of my father, we have put this sensitivity towards the future into a clearer framework with clear lines as a corporation. We have declared that we adopt and support the UN's 17-point Sustainable Development Goals and that we accept harmonising our business and investment strategy with these goals as an important and continuous effort.
4 CRITICAL ITEMS: We have identified 4 items that we prioritise among the items in the Sustainable Development Goals, namely ‘Accessible and Clean Energy’, ‘Sustainable Cities and Communities’, ‘Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure’ and ‘Climate Action’, and we have committed to adopt these 4 items as a guide in our business strategy.
NATURE FRIENDLY PROJECTS: In all our real estate investments, whether residential or commercial, we have targeted human and nature-friendly projects with maximum efficiency in energy and water consumption, air conditioning, etc. Now we are prioritising clean energy and waste water recovery in our real estate projects.
CLEAN ENERGY In line with these principles, we have added clean energy to our fields of activity. We chose solar energy for our first investment in this field. In 2021, we took over Kayalar SPP in Muğla Milas, Nur SPP in Antalya Finike, Gülkent SPP in Isparta Kuleönu, and Kazan SPP in Ankara Kahramankazan in 2022. We aim to utilise different opportunities in this field.