EGET Vakfı: “Muğla cosmetics market should be supervised”

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Newswriter

Neval Çolak Arslan

EGET Vakfı: “Muğla cosmetics market should be supervised”

The only enterprise that sells its own branded cosmetics products approved by Turkish Minisry of Health which are the output of its self grown plant, Education, Geriatrics, Ecological Farming, Tourism Foundation (EGET), continues to work even in pandemic period. Safai Özer, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the EGET Foundation, stated that the Muğla market is flooded with many cosmetic products that are not approved by the Ministry of Health, and pointed out that this situation poses a great danger to human health and that the Muğla Provincial Directorate of Health should inspect the products on the market in the context of the Product Tracking System as soon as possible.

Neval Çolak Arslan

Özlem Uzman, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Safai Özer, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Education, Geriatrics, Ecological Agriculture and Tourism Foundation (EGET), evaluated the activities carried out by the foundation.

“THE ONLY BUSINESS IN TURKEY”

Stating that they take everything they do seriously and with care, Safai Özer, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, said: “We produce ten kinds of cosmetic products approved by the Ministry of Health. EGET Foundation Economic Enterprise is the only enterprise in the Aegean Region, perhaps in the whole of Turkey, that first produces its own plant, transforms the oil obtained from it into a cosmetic product under its own brand and then offers it to consumers with the approval of the Ministry of Health. Our business is also an organization that has rapidly moved into online retailing. First of all, apart from our official sales site www.eget.com.tr, our products are offered for sale on Trendyol, n11com, Pttavm and Çiçek Sepeti.”

WARNING TO THE MINISRY OF HEALTH

Stating that the Muğla market is flooded with many cosmetic products that are not approved by the Ministry of Health, President Özer pointed out that this situation is a great danger to human health and said, “Muğla Provincial Directorate of Health needs to inspect the products in the market in the context of the Product Tracking System. Let us warn the Ministry of Health and the Provincial Health Directorate through you.”

“THERE IS TOO MUCH UNDER THE COUNTER PRODUCTION IN TURKEY”

Noting that they produce ethical products and bear the high cost in a market dominated by products under the stairs, President Özer said, “Our sales in Muğla’s center and districts are not enough compared to the sales in Turkey in general. There is too much production under the stairs in Muğla. It is not clear what they use in their products. They do not have a ministry-approved content, a formula or anything. It is not clear what is in the bottles and packages. They don’t prepare files and pay approval fees to the Ministry; they don’t have a responsible technical manager; nor do they have inspectors. Since the purchasing power of the public is decreasing day by day, the consumer is not looking for any products approved by the Ministry of Health.”

Explaining the foundation’s establishment process, President Özer made the following statements:

“The year we intended to establish the EGET Foundation, we decided that the foundation should also have an economic enterprise. Our project was to establish organic agriculture and animal husbandry, wellness tourism and farm tourism enterprises and to sustain the foundation with the income from these enterprises. Based on this project, we started looking for a land of over 150 acres. We found a land of this size in the Elkin district of Menteşe in Muğla. Later, we bought 53 acres of land in a region called Böbecen. The 1/25,000 zoning plans of the Muğla Metropolitan Municipality were being prepared at that stage. We requested that those lands be declared as eco-tourism areas. The Metropolitan Municipality’s Zoning Department decided that day tourism businesses could be established there. The zoning rate for day tourism enterprises is 3 percent. In eco-tourism enterprises, it is 10 percent. We were thinking of establishing integrated businesses. When this was the case, we had our own zoning plan prepared. One of the sine qua non conditions for organic agriculture is that the enterprises should be away from busy traffic routes. The Zoning Department didn’t quite understand what we wanted to do, so they imposed the condition of a 4-lane road right through the middle of our 156 acres of land. The forest road to which that four-lane road is connected is already 1.5 lanes! What are you going to do with those four lanes by dividing the land in half like a watermelon? In their justification, they said, “We want this so that in case of a fire, fire trucks can easily enter the area”. We are planning to build a pond in the area in case of a fire. We were planning to build a pond not only for our own enterprises, but for the helicopters of the Forestry Administration to provide water in case of a possible fire in the whole area. Our hands were tied. The Metropolitan Municipality’s Zoning Department blocked a business that we wanted to realize – not only in Turkey, but in the world. Moreover, a fee of 1.5 million TL is demanded for the approval of our three zoning plans, which is mind-boggling! If they pay as much money as that fee, we will give those lands to the foundation and the Municipality.”

“WE WILL ENTER THE PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET.”

Noting that they decided to produce medicinal plants this year, Mayor Özer said, “When our project was put on hold, we bought 22 acres of land in Ula, Armutçuk Neighborhood and planted lavender and truffle oak saplings there. We are the first lavender enterprise of all coastal cities. No one should try to ignore it. We have been harvesting the flowers of our lavender for three years. We are waiting for the truffle to develop in the oak roots. This year, EGET Foundation has also decided to produce medicinal plants. We will also enter the pharmaceutical market by producing medicinal plants on rented lands and extracting their extracts.”

“WE INCREASED THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS RECEIVING SCHOLARSHIPS.”

Referring to the distance education process, President Özer emphasized that this year, a university student living in a different city had difficulty in feeding himself or herself at home but was unable to continue his or her education due to the lack of internet or computers:

“We have continued our mission by increasing the number of students receiving scholarships this year. According to a study conducted by a university in 2020, 33 percent of university students either do not own a computer, do not have an internet connection at home, or both. In short, 1 in 3 university students do not have the chance to participate in distance education. Every third university student is prevented from higher education. Whose duty is it to provide this opportunity? Of course the central government. As long as this infrastructure has not been created, it is indeed a great fiasco that such an education program has been introduced due to the pandemic. Was it right to withdraw by not giving scholarships this year, it was not.”

WE REACHED 32.000 STUDENTS

Özlem Uzman, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of EGET Foundation, who stated that they have reached 32 thousand students across Turkey in 5 years, said that the situation is deplorable.

Uzman said that 62 students received scholarships from the EGET Foundation during this year’s academic year, and added: “These young people will receive a scholarship of 350 TL per month for 9 months every year, for their entire education. During this period, with that money, they can at least buy a computer and pay their installments.”

“DONATION IS A MATTER OF INDIVIDUAL CONSCIENCE.”

Stating that donation is a matter of conscience, President Uzman said the following about the scholarship application process:

“BUSED, our scholarship applicant evaluation system, records the applications online. We have been working on this program for five years, every year, with a computer programmer friend of ours, to rank the social, economic and achievement status of students applying for scholarships. This is a program that evaluates many issues and ranks the applicants from top to bottom. We do not touch the evaluations in any way. 108 students applied in 2016-2017, 11,395 in 2017-2018, 4,389 in 2018-2019, 9,183 in 2019-2020 and 7,168 in 2020-2021. The student must have a GPA of at least 2.5 out of 4 in order to continue receiving EGET Foundation scholarships. Those who receive loans or scholarships from the Credit and Dormitories Institution can also receive scholarships from us. We do not provide scholarships to those who receive scholarships from foundations or associations other than ours, or to those studying at private universities. One of the conditions of the scholarship is that the student must document that he/she works 3 days each year in a social responsibility project without getting paid. Our scholarships are repayable. With that payment, we want our seniors who previously provided scholarships to help another student to study. In terms of repayment, we don’t really have any sanctions. We ask the students we give scholarships to sign our regulation. There is neither a notary contract nor a guarantor. There is such an article in the regulation. We leave the repayment to their conscience, thinking that they will remember their signatures after they finish school, because donations are a matter of conscience.”

Stating that those who want to be a hope for the most successful young people can apply to the EGET Foundation with confidence, President Uzman said, “In our city, there are sometimes people who say, ‘We don’t know the EGET Foundation’; but we have reached 32 thousand students across Turkey in 5 years. Have we been able to meet the demands? We have met very few of them. In order to select the most needy and most successful students as much as possible, we make scholarship applications open to all universities in Turkey every year. They are our children; they are all of our children.”

Source Mugla Gazetesi