Bilkent News interviewed two recent graduates last week to find out how they have become successful entrepreneurs. Çağdaş Yüksel (Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, 1999) and Oktay †nsal (Economics, 1999) have been friends since they started TED Ankara College together. When they celebrated completing their degrees at Bilkent last May, they had no idea that soon afterwards their academic training would be put to the test in a joint business venture.
Just before graduation, Çağdaş had a look around Ankara to see what kind of business he wanted to start. In the end, his family history had some influence on his decision. While growing up, Çağdaş lived in İzmir for 11 years. He spent a lot of time on recreational fishing boats with family and friends in Foça and Çeşme. In 1984, his uncle opened the first fish restaurant in Bodrum Marina. Çağdaş spent some time in Bodrum in the restaurant and developed a feel for the various types of fish and their quality.
Drawing on that past experience, Çağdaş decided that a high quality fish restaurant with a pleasant environment and live classical music might make for a successful business in Ankara. Çağdaş found a business partner and took out a five-year lease on an old building in Gaziosmanpaşa which had previously housed a bar. Next, he applied his interior design skills to create a totally different decor for the restaurant.
Çağdaş designed the restaurant from scratch. He drew sketches, chose the colors for the interior, designed the garden, had special rocks (kaynak taşİ) brought from Bodrum to build the walls, and ordered trees from Bolu. Unfortunately, personal financial difficulties forced his partner to opt out of the venture. That is when Oktay Ünsal, his longtime friend, came into the picture.
In no time Çağdaş realized he had found an ideal business partner. Oktay quickly brought his Bilkent training into the business. Oktay says, "It was really quite different to put the theoretical knowledge I learned at school into practice. We both learned many things during the start-up process. For example, we had to deal with the new staff, the kitchen, food stocks, and customers. Although it consumes almost all of our time to run our own business, we are very happy to personally greet the customers every night."
Their fish restaurant is named TRİLYE, after an ancient fishing village by Bursa. The restaurant interior resembles a cozy log cabin and the decor and garden were clearly designed by an architect. Çağdaş and Oktay attribute part of their success to their insistence on high quality standards. Fish are bought daily from Marmara, Samsun, İzmir, and Mersin. When you ask them what success is, they say, "If a customer comes back, that is success to us. We now have regular customers who bring along their friends, which tells us we must be doing something right."
In the garden, apricot and cherry trees cast their shade on the bar. Customers dine to the soothing sound of live classical music with flute, piano, viola, and violin. For the summer they are planning "happy hours" with Latin American music on the terrace for people who would like to get together with friends after work. They also have plans for a Millennium Party.
Here are two people who did not wait long after graduating to become entrepreneurs. They took immediate action to start their own business in one of the nicest areas of Ankara. They only have one regret: If only they had taken a month off right after graduation before starting the business!
