Çalik Denim
In 1997, Ahmet Çalik founded the Çalik Holding in Istanbul. Currently, the company employs 24 000 people in 17 different countries extending over Central Asia to Middle East and from Balkans to North Africa. It’s one of the largest industrial enterprises in Turkey with at its base the principle of ‘creating added value for the society’. This is accomplished through the 6 core values of Fairness, Ethics, Reputation, Respect, Solidarity and Human Focus. The Çalik Holding is active in 6 different sectors: textile, energy, construction, finance, telecom and mining. In the first sector, textile, the holding includes one of the top denim exporters in Turkey: Çalik Denim. This part of the company puts a lot of effort into eco-production, with innovations such as the ‘Natural production systems’, a recyclable and organic production technique. To achieve these innovations, the company collaborates with various universities in Turkey.
Çalik Denim uses the machines of Picanol to make the fabric. The denim is woven with 144 OptiMax, but now the company has also installed its first 40 OptiMax-i. Çalik Energji is a company in the energy sector that is divided in two parts: Power Systems and Oil-Gas. Power Systems is specialized in turnkey construction services, which is a type of project that is constructed so that it could be sold to any buyer as a completed product. They offer HEPPs, wind plants, thermal plants, international electricity trading and electricity distribution. The Oil-Gas business includes pipelines and refinery, exploration and production, field services and gas storage and trading of oil and oil derivatives. Both Power Systems and Oil-Gas invest heavily in renewable energy, for example hydroelectric, thermal, solar and wind plants. The third part of the Çalik Holding, named Gap İnşaat operates in the construction sector.
The company started off in the 90’s as the company making the buildings for the Holding. Nowadays, they have more than 100 projects ongoing in 8 different countries. A unique bank operating in the fields of branch-free retail Banking, Investment Banking and Regional Banking is the Çalik Bank. They are the first and only bank in Turkey to offer widespread and extensive banking services at low costs. The bank has more international awards than any competitor in Turkey in the field of payment systems, technology, quality, innovation, investment products, distribution channels and communications. The bank is thus highly esteemed in the finance world in Turkey. The telecom company ALBtelecom was taken over by the Çalik Holding in 2007. They provide qualitative communication through fixed telephony, ADSL, Dedicated Internet Access, Dial-up, Intranet, ISDN service, prepaid cards, etc. The sixth and last sector in which the Holding operates, is mining. Lidya Madencilik pursues all aspects of mining operations, from exploration to extraction of metals like gold and copper, but also silver, lead and zinc.
