IDMIB Says "Güven Karaca" for the Second Time
The Istanbul Leather and Leather Products Exporters Association (IDMIB) held its 2025 Elective Ordinary General Assembly Meeting on April 2, 2026, at the Martyr Ömer Halisdemir Conference Hall of the TİM-Turkey Exporters Assembly Foreign Trade Complex. Güven Karaca, who was elected president for the second time with the strong support of sector representatives at the Ordinary General Assembly, wished that the election result would be beneficial to all sector representatives.
"We are bringing the world to Turkey, we continue to be on the road for exports"
IDMIB President Güven Karaca stated that they will accelerate their transformation and create a more competitive, more dynamic, and more effective structure on a global scale, and that they want to transform IDMIB from a structure that only represents the world into a structure that opens the market and brings buyers to Turkey, in line with the vision of "We are bringing the world to Turkey, we continue to be on the road for exports". Underlining that export associations should function like marketing companies, President Karaca said in his speech, “The world is undergoing very rapid change. We cannot achieve different results by doing the same things. We will either play the game as the world plays it, or we will stand still. The next four years will be a critical period in this sense. We want to prepare our sector for the future by correctly interpreting this process. We will be the pioneers, not just a part, of this transformation.
“We will adopt a more aggressive approach towards target markets.”
We have established our infrastructure in all areas, from sustainability to digitalization, from education to branding. Now it's time to reflect this infrastructure in the field. We will bring customers from around the world to Turkey with purchasing delegations and trade delegations, and we will take our companies to target markets more effectively. We will adopt a more aggressive approach, especially towards target markets. We want to make IDMIB a true global marketing center for our sector.
We will give more weight to our marketing efforts. In this way, we will also pave the way for our exporters.
"We have broken a record in the history of the exporters' association with both the average age and the number of female board members."
The average age of our board members who joined our team in the new term is 39. We are determined to build the future with young exporters. We also have 4 female board members. We have broken a record in the history of the exporters' association with both the average age and the number of female board members.
“Our goal is to increase our share in the global value chain through branded, sustainable, and value-added production.”
“We now have to sell less and produce higher added value. Although we are in a good position in terms of value-added exports, we aim to improve our position here even further. Our sector has already begun to experience this transformation. Our unit prices are rising. This is the most concrete indicator that we are on the right track. Our goal is to increase our share in the global value chain through branded, sustainable, and value-added production. The global leather and leather products market is worth approximately $300 billion. We are not yet getting the share we want from this pie. But our potential is very high. We believe that we will increase this share with the right strategy, the right team, and the right projects,” he said.
Photo: IDMIB