Tag #125774 - Interview #97938 (Moiz Isman)

One day in 1971-1972, while I was the general manager of the glass division of the Koc Company, I received an invitation from a firm in Britain, which we imported some goods from. “Pilkingtone Brothers” was Britain’s most famous glass factory, had 40.000 workers, and everything was automatized.  My wife Suzan, and I went to Britain to visit the factory upon the invitation we received. They took us around. We went to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark with the overcraft. (the guide who showed us around in Sweden, was Jewish-Swedish) . We went to Austria after this trip. I had to make a decision, as a result of the meetings I had had with one of the division managers over there.  We were producing glasswool under the brandname “Izocam”, within Koc’s divisions.  The population of Austria was only 7 million and was consuming 17 tons of this material (Izocam) a day.  On the other hand, Turkey had a population of 25 million people, and we were only producing one ton a day. We learned that lack of advertising was the cause of the situation. When we returned, we prepared a feasibility report, and presented it to Koc Holding. We founded a factory, with 4 million liras, and I became a shareholder. We produced 4 tons a day of the material and sold one ton of it. After 6 months of advertisement campaigns, it was not possible to find glasswool on the market any more. The 4 tons we produced daily, was sold immediately. As a result, we enlarged the factory, and increased the production to 11 tons a day. As you can understand “I can say that I’m the creator of Izocam. As you know this is very good material used both in sound and heat isolation.  Our expert engineers take part in the installation process, where the material is installed in the places it’s needed.

In the same way, I also took part in the foundation of Aygaz [an LPG, liquid petrol fuel company]. We used special lamps at our houses on the Princess Islands. We used to cook our food on them. On one of the trips we made to Israel, I saw Aygaz tanks [liquid fuel tanks], and its smaller sizes. Till then, we didn’t have such LPG tanks. Upon my return, I immediately presented a proposal to Koc Holding. We did some research. A Jewish Italian citizen, originally from Egypt, had founded such a factory there.  We contacted him and visited his factory. I brought him to Koc Holding. He explained to us about the things that had to be done. The factory was founded with 4 million dollars. This factory today is very rich. Besides its capital of 4 quadrillion, it owns ships, cisterns, and quite a lot of land.

My best friend, partner, and the person from whom I learned about life, Israel Menase, unfortunately died in 1973.  I was 60-61 years old then. The glass work, required personnel. When my children said: “Father dear, this is enough, live your life a little bit”, I  retired from the firm in 1975.  After I retired, I did few projects on my own. As you can understand I have had a very stable business life.