Maltepe, Istanbul — Lunch With Umit Ak and Betul Celik in their Ottoman style office and studio with a view of the Bosporus is not only a delicious feast for the eyes and the stomach.

Aside from the Turkish mezze, soup and main course, there are beautiful flowers in the garden, especially roses and the conversation flows like the wine served with two of the most knowledgeable hospitality specialists in Turkey today. UAS Tekstil with the two ladies as sole principals now have projects in the Baltics, Russia, Northern Iraq, Azerbaijan, Romania, Dubai and Iran.

These two ladies go for business where most are afraid to go. Umit Ak

Umit started UAS  (stands for Umit A Soysal—her former married name) in 2010. Betul joined the company soon after as a partner. She too worked at Persan that is where the two ladies met.

Umit established cut length export for Persan in 2004 prior to starting UAS.

Persan continues to be the leading Turkish fabric wholesaler. Prior to that, Umit worked for the Dina division of Vanelli where she worked on hotel and residential projects outside of Turkey from 1995-2001.

“There is strong competition for contract projects in Turkey so we prefer to work on hotel projects outside of Turkey,” Umit says.