Last month, I spent some time in Turkey interviewing Ahmet Bayraktar, President of both Farba and Odelo, and visiting two new facilities close to Istanbul. During my career at Valeo, I visited Farba many times and I remember my first visit a very long time ago, when Farba asked help from Cibié to get technology—which at that time meant glass optic lenses and stamped and varnished metal reflectors.
I discovered at that time a dynamic entrepreneur, very involved in R&D and seeking the best conditions to start his young company Farba. The business grew with time thanks to a continious R&D effort and investment. The arrival of customers including Toyota and then German OEMs, has fed continued growth of the business.
The biggest step for Farba was the recent acquisition of Odelo and the extension of their operations in China, Germany, Slovenia, and Turkey.
A few decades later, I caught up with him again—now seeking to make his Odelo-Farba group rank among the best setmakers after more than 35 years of effort in lighting.
All throughout his life, Ahmed Bayraktar has been passionately and devoutly focused on lighting. It is a great pleasure to know him and to talk about lighting with him. It’s a rare opportunity to hear at such firsthand the details of the business, and their particular perspectives on the techniques of lighing.
Read all about it in this week’s news.
Sincerely yours
DVN Editor in Chief