Honorary President

İbrahim Polat

İbrahim Polat Holding Founder and Chairman of the Board, our Honorary President İbrahim Polat, one of the leading figures of Turkish entrepreneurship who achieved significant success in the industry, construction, and tourism sectors through the companies within İbrahim Polat Holding and rendered great services to Turkey, passed away in July 2024.

With the values he entrusted to us, İbrahim Polat will continue to live in the hearts of the entire Ege Seramik Family.

Who is İbrahim Polat?

İbrahim Polat, who laid the foundation of one of Turkey’s most established enterprises with the contracting company he founded in 1955, was born in 1931 in Aşkale, Erzurum.

İbrahim Polat, who married Suna Polat in 1950, was accompanied throughout his nearly 80-year challenging and successful business journey by his sons Adnan Polat and Murat Polat, and his daughter Songül Sel, who became successful in their respective fields and contributed to the development of İbrahim Polat Holding.

Between 1955 and 1971, İbrahim Polat completed dozens of residential and commercial projects in many districts of Istanbul. Over the years, he expanded his success in the construction sector into other industries. In 1972, he became a founding partner of Ege Seramik AŞ with a 25% share in its capital, and in 1976 he acquired nearly all shares and became Chairman of the Board of Ege Seramik. Polat İnşaat Malzemeleri AŞ was established in 1976, Polat İnşaat AŞ in 1977, and Ege İnşaat Malzemeleri Pazarlama AŞ in 1982. İbrahim Polat Holding, which brought the entire group under its umbrella, was founded in 1983. Success in every sector led to growth, and subsequently International Marketing Companies, Polat Tourism and Hospitality, Polat Mining, Renaissance Polat Istanbul Hotel, Ege Vitrifiye Sanitaryware, Ege Birleşik Enerji, Polat Palandöken, Renaissance Istanbul Polat Bosphorus Hotel, and Piyalepaşa Real Estate companies were established.

During this period, he realized Turkey’s first smart building, Polat Tower Residence, and one of the largest urban transformation projects carried out by the private sector, the Piyalepaşa Istanbul Project, as well as the Polat Fulya and Hacıbektaş Mihmandar projects.

Since its establishment, Ege Seramik has become one of the pioneering companies in its sector, introducing many innovations. In the early 1990s, the company focused on infrastructure, technology, design, and quality standards. Ege Seramik achieved many firsts in the sector. In 1993, the company went public and its shares began trading on Borsa Istanbul (BIST) under the stock code EGSER. Ranked among Turkey’s 100 most valuable brands, Ege Seramik introduced digital printing technology to the Turkish ceramics industry in 2009 with the “Digital Tile by Ege Seramik” brand, contributing to the development of the sector. As the first company in the ceramics industry to receive ISO 9001 certification, Ege Seramik established a strong distribution network with over 150 authorized dealers and more than two thousand sub-dealers in Turkey and continues to export to over 170 countries. In recognition of the value he added to the sector and Turkey, İbrahim Polat was awarded the “Honor Award” by the Turkish Ceramics Federation in 2006.

In 2018, İbrahim Polat was deemed worthy of the “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the world’s largest hotel group, Marriott, for pioneering the franchise system in Europe, establishing the first collaboration in Turkey with Marriott and its sub-brands, opening Turkey’s first Renaissance hotel, and elevating brand value to the highest levels with outstanding annual performance.

In addition to his business achievements, İbrahim Polat placed great importance on social responsibility projects. He carried out many charitable works in education, health, and culture, supporting different segments of society through foundations and associations. He contributed to Turkish National Education and the training of qualified intermediate staff by building İbrahim Polat Primary School in Aşkale, Erzurum; İbrahim Polat Primary School in Bağcılar, Istanbul; and İbrahim Polat–Ege Seramik Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Kemalpaşa, İzmir. In 2023, the Suna Polat Youth Center, named after his late wife, was opened by the Polat Family in the Samandağ district of Hatay to enable hundreds of young people affected by the Kahramanmaraş earthquake to spend their free time engaging in sports and arts.

With his contemporary Corporate Governance approach and a working philosophy centered on customer satisfaction and the trust of business partners, İbrahim Polat inspired all his employees. Having progressed through various stages of business life, he proved his personal talent and skills and achieved success in every sector he entered.

Throughout his professional life, İbrahim Polat adopted the principle of fulfilling responsibilities toward society and the environment in the best possible way and acting with a mission to create added value. With the correct financial steps taken in his fields of activity, his emphasis on production and technology, his transparent and ethical business approach based on global standards, and his human- and environment-sensitive policies in quality–environment–safety, İbrahim Polat Holding continues its steady growth under the leadership of his children and grandchildren, following the path he paved.

In 2007, to inspire future generations, he immortalized his challenging and successful business journey in his own words in the book “Alnımın Teri,” and in 2018, in the book “Toprağı Altın Eden Adam,” he told the story of the establishment of Ege Seramik, sharing many inspiring views.

Advice from İbrahim POLAT – Excerpts from His Books:

You must know how to be happy. I am happy at every moment. I am happy because I am healthy, because nothing hurts, because I can eat and drink what I want and go wherever I want, and I thank God for this. If you give thanks, God gives more. I am happy because I have never taken anyone’s rights. If you do evil, you expect evil. Since I have harmed no one, I have no enemies.

You must not be arrogant. From the tea server to the worker to the general manager, everyone who works with us can meet with me whenever they wish. I meet with all of them and take their problems and requests seriously. I am a worker with the worker, a boss with the boss. Thank God I have hands; I do not make the driver open my door. Neither being a servant to anyone nor making someone a servant is right.

You must be tolerant. If a person makes a mistake, I forgive once. The second time, I forgive again and warn them. I say, “The door is there, yet you enter through the window.” But the third time, our paths part. One eye of the boss is blind, one ear is deaf. To survive in this era, you will not hear everything, you will not see everything. There is no other way to live, manage, and get along.

You must not forget to help those in need. Instead of eating four bowls of food a day, eat two and give the other two to those who cannot eat; you will find peace. God gives to you, and you will give to them.

Working is beautiful. If you lie down from morning to night, you become ill. The job you love to do is the right job. But whatever the job, you must stay on top of it. Business cannot be run by remote control. Work and private life should not be mixed.

No profit comes from a business where friendship intervenes. In a negative situation, you cannot speak up. The other person does not see their fault, and you suffer loss. Even if it were my father, I would not mix anyone into my business.

You must not lie, you must not steal, you must appear as you are. If a person does not lie, they will not face evil. When you incur a loss in a business, do not insist on it. It is profit wherever you cut your losses. Stubbornness does not work. Decisions must be made thoughtfully. Sudden decisions cause harm. We also made sudden decisions when we were young and suffered losses. That is how we learned.

You must be open to criticism. We are all human and can make mistakes. Unity and solidarity are necessary in everything. One person alone can do nothing. This is true at every stage of life. You must raise someone to follow you. When the time comes, you leave and your child comes. Then they leave, and their children take over the flag.

In my opinion, the golden rules of trade are: you must not lie, you must not steal, you must appear as you are. You must never deviate from honesty. If a person does not lie, they will not encounter evil.

When you incur a loss in a business, do not insist on it. It is profit wherever you cut your losses. This proverb was not said in vain. Stubbornness does not work.

One must think carefully before making decisions. Sudden decisions cause harm. We made sudden decisions when we were young and saw the damage. Nothing works with haste. This is how we learned.

I have never envied anyone in life. God has given you a mind and eyes; you see everything and draw your own direction and goals. You cannot go far with someone else’s mind. If I do not set my own goals, I am not at ease.

I have always been satisfied with the work I do. I worked with enthusiasm in construction, industry, and tourism because each allowed me to learn many things, meet people, and gain friendships.

If a person, a nation, a state is content with what is rightfully theirs, everything goes well. As the state protects you, you must also protect your country. In this country, there is work for every honest citizen. As long as you work honorably and are content.

One of my principles is not to turn back. What will you do by turning back? You will only be upset and angry. Therefore, I do not row in vain. I do not interfere in anyone else’s work, and I do not allow anyone to interfere in mine.

When I give my word, I become indebted before God. I give my word, the day comes, and I do not pay. That cannot be. The person you promised also relied on you and made a promise to someone else. Because of you, they are embarrassed. This situation is like a chain accident. Therefore, one must always speak very carefully.

When you borrow money from someone, you must pay on the day you promised. If you fail to pay, you are erased from the market. You must stand by your word. In the past, people did business with their word. Roll your words in your mouth, think forty times, and speak once. And once spoken, never go back on your word.

When you become a boss, do not lose balance thinking, “I have become rich.” Never lose the way home. Spend according to the money in your pocket.

Even friends, spouses, or partners should be chosen according to your budget. Even business. You cannot enter a ten-million-dollar business with one million dollars. A solid businessman who uses twenty-five liras of credit for a hundred-lira job will not go bankrupt. But if he borrows one hundred liras for a hundred-lira job, he will fail.