Conversations with Turkey's Career Pioneers – Kamil Akın

The second guest of Conversations with Turkey’s Career Pioneers in April was Mr. Kamil Akın, the Chairman of the Executive Board of Rönesans Energy and Construction Company. Mr. Akın started the conversation by telling that his years as a student were not so bright but that the professional life and academic life can be very different from one and other.

Kamil Akın graduated from METU Department of Civil Engineering and started his professional career at a building site in Russia. Mr. Akın pointed the importance of seeing different places and gaining on the job experience and advised the students to be modest, ethical and well-educated.

Continuing the conversation by answering the questions of the students, Mr. Akın explained his reasons for choosing to become a civil engineer and stressed the importance of having the right human resources for a company. He said that the Rönesans Company owes its rapid growth to right timing and hard work. He recommended the new graduates to gain building site experience and work abroad.

Mr. Akın told how they started their company with his friends on 1994 in Moscow with only 9000 dollars and managed to survive thanks to their hard work. He explained the difficulties of working abroad, talked about their pork factory in Siberia which is their biggest project and mentioned that to do something which no one has ever tried before makes him feel satisfied. Mr. Akın also listed their company’s foreign investments and stated that they try to establish a young but permanent workforce. Mr. Akın ended the conversation by promising the students opportunities of internship in his company.