Isparta roses opening up to the world with innovation

In Isparta, the "City of Roses" in southwestern Turkey, a company that has been producing rosewater for decades is looking for even more business thanks to innovations in how it transports the valuable liquid.

Having exported 150,000 bottles of rosewater to countries such as China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States in 2014, the company has now set a target of 600,000 bottles to be exported in 2016.

Gül?ah Gürkan, the third-generation representative of the Gürkan Company, is promoting "Gülsha," an innovative brand breaking old taboos in the entrepreneurship of rose production in Turkey.

Launched in 2012 in Antalya, the globalized Gülsha brand transfers rosewater to glass bottles from plastic bottles - which cause changes in the product's essentials - with the aim of protecting the product from harmful solar rays by using colored glass, according to Gürkan.

Gürkan said the company had also created its own cosmetic series in addition to rose water.
 
"Our first product was rosewater in glass bottles. I wanted to offer a better one than the products in the market recognized as rosewater. Thus we produced a rosewater distilled from fresh blossoms, maintaining the entire oil inside, packaged with colored glass bottles. We are responsible for making sales and exporting 95 percent of it. In Turkey the product is only sold in pharmacies," she said.

Emphasizing that rose oil was one of the most valuable oils, Gürkan said: "It is a significant renovator of cells. When you use it as a tonic, it is absorbed purely by your skin."

Gürkan, who is also the vice president of the Executive Board of Gürkan, is pursuing her career in the business as a member of Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey ...