Interview: Gülay Yıldırım Kavak
Today on onbusinessinsight.com, we are hosting Dilek Çakır, who shaped her career along a multifaceted path extending from nursing to a global healthcare brand and from there to the culinary world. We will hear from her about her pioneering steps in the healthcare sector, the birth of ASMED – which has become a worldwide school of thought in hair transplantation – the story of L’Olivetto restaurant launched in the middle of the pandemic, and her inspiring messages to women looking to leave a mark in the business world.
Ms. Dilek, you have had a significant career journey spanning from the healthcare sector to entrepreneurship. Could you tell us about this journey?
Actually, everything in my life is about touching people’s lives and making them happy. It has always been this way. Even as a child, helping people, healing their wounds, and most importantly making them happy were top priorities for me. Pursuing my professional education in nursing after completing primary and secondary school felt completely natural to me – like something that was simply meant to be.
However, coincidences play just as important a role in a person’s life as natural inclinations. In the late 1990s, right after my graduation, I came to Istanbul to work. Among all the hospitals and clinics, the very first place I encountered was a hair transplantation clinic. At that time, hair transplantation was hardly known and was just beginning. It was an area with an uncertain future that neither doctors nor nurses particularly preferred to work in. Even though I was a very young nurse with little professional experience, I wanted to try this field, learn how the work was done, and started there.
What I would describe today as “youthful courage” became one of the greatest “I’m so glad…” moments of my life, perhaps even the very first. Of course, nothing comes easy. I worked day and night to learn the trade and master it. My greatest motivation was that I genuinely loved my work, worked with immense pleasure, and saw the happiness of patients who underwent hair transplantation and were satisfied with the results.
During that time, Dr. Koray Erdoğan – whom I met back then – and I decided to do this work together in our own clinic. In 2001, we founded ASMED. Our journey, which began in a small practice in Suadiye, has now reached a clinic in Ataşehir housed in a 10,000-square-meter building with 10 operating theaters and a staff of over 100.
ASMED was, of course, a venture connected to my profession. Therefore, rather than a classic startup experience, the process developed step-by-step in a natural flow of progression and growth. Entrepreneurship truly came to life for me with L’Olivetto Mediterranean, I would say. Opening a restaurant right after the pandemic required quite a bit of courage, to be honest. But today, it is an extremely successful venture that I am deeply proud of. I personally attend to every detail, from the decoration to the menu and staff. Being among people at L’Olivetto and hosting our patients and guests gives me a brand-new experience. Even though it is in a completely different field, continuing to make people happy does me good.
What role did you assume at ASMED, which has become a major brand in the healthcare sector?
As I mentioned, we founded ASMED in 2001. Initially, we were a small clinic. Back then, a technique called FUT dominated worldwide. In this technique, a strip of tissue was surgically removed from the back of the head, and the hair grafts were extracted from it. However, a surgical scar inevitably remained after the operation. This created an aesthetic problem if you preferred to wear your hair short. Around that time, FUE emerged – a technique where individual hair follicles are extracted from the nape area and transplanted without any surgical incision. As a clinic that always placed great importance on development and education, we adopted this new technique. However, our distinction was that we used the Manual FUE method.
The defining feature of the Manual FUE method is that the roots are extracted one by one by hand using a punch. This technique eliminates the risk of uncontrolled graft harvesting seen in hair transplants performed with motorized punches; it perfectly preserves the donor area and ensures that the hair transplant results look extremely natural. We continue to work with the exact same technique today.
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“The New Generation of Turks Naturally Bridges Two Cultures”When we started, the sector itself was very new. Therefore, we focused both on developing the tools and devices needed for hair transplantation and on training those who wanted to work in this field.
The Coverage Value calculation and the FUE system known as the “Sequential Technique” developed by my partner Dr. Koray Erdoğan; the “Graft Calculator” application used to functionally apply Coverage Value during operations; the K.E.E.P. developed to place hair roots without damaging them; the KE-Rest designed to ensure maximum patient comfort during surgery; the KE-Head developed for training surgical teams; the KE-Photo photography system; and most importantly, the advanced robotic analysis system KE-Bot, which can perform 360-degree circular scanning, have contributed immensely to hair transplantation and continue to do so.
Today, the name ASMED stands at the pinnacle of Manual FUE hair transplantation worldwide. That is because ASMED is the only place that combines manual skill – the most critical aspect of hair transplantation- with the most advanced technological devices of its own invention. Here, we perform not only standard hair transplants, but also long hair transplants, beard/mustache and eyebrow transplants, and female hair transplants with great success.
Turkey is one of the world’s major centers for hair transplantation and health tourism. In your opinion, what are the key elements that make Turkey attractive to international patients?
Today, hair transplant tourism forms the backbone of health tourism in Turkey. In fact, even during periods when the number of health tourists declines due to various reasons, hair transplantation remains completely unaffected. There are several reasons for this:
- Cultural Aptitude: Just like in carpet weaving or jewelry making, we have a cultural inclination toward work requiring high concentration and manual dexterity.
- Investments and Incentives: Recent investments made and incentives provided in our country strongly support health tourism.
- High Experience Level: Thanks to the high volume of incoming health tourists, staff in the hair transplant sector encounter a vast number of cases, enhancing their experience and manual skills.
- Attractive Price-Quality Balance: Driven by employment and competition, Turkey offers a superior quality-to-price balance, especially compared to European countries.
When all these factors combine with successful results, it makes Turkey highly attractive for international patients.
How is trust built when an international patient chooses a clinic? Are the expectations of international patients changing?
The vast majority of patients coming from abroad want to undergo this operation in a center they can genuinely trust. At ASMED, we handle all patient communications with our own in-house team. We do not work with any intermediary agencies.
Prospective patients establish initial contact with us through the forms on our website. After that, our patient coordinators reach out to them directly. At ASMED, we have patient coordinators who speak 10 different foreign languages at a native level. Initial contact is established through them. First, we inform our patients about all details, primarily the operation process, as well as travel and accommodation. We then request pre-operative test results and photos of their hair from different angles to perform a preliminary evaluation.
When our patients arrive for the operation, their primary consultation takes place, and we conduct the required pre-op tests and ECGs. Our anesthesiologist evaluates our patients’ overall health condition prior to surgery. From the very beginning, the process is completely transparent and designed to answer all questions and concerns our patients may have.
Our patient coordinators stay by our patients’ side throughout the entire process. Even after the operation, we follow the growth stages of their hair for a full year through our patient coordinators.
Patients can verify through their own research before coming that ASMED operates this way, which instills great confidence in them. However, international patients can sometimes also have low price expectations, which influences their choice of clinic.
Which countries do most of your patients come from?
95 percent of our foreign patients come from the United States and European countries, primarily the UK and Germany. ASMED is an institution that has led the sector for over 25 years. As I mentioned, we do not work with intermediary agencies; we connect directly with our patients through our own patient coordinators. All consultations are personally conducted by Dr. Koray Erdoğan, and the hairline is designed by him as well.
Using our US-patented hair analysis robot KE-Bot, the operation plan is executed flawlessly, applying perfect donor management. Our operations are performed in an operating room environment by our highly experienced and professional surgical teams under the direction of Dr. Koray Erdoğan. Local anesthesia is administered by our anesthesiologist, who also monitors the patient’s vital signs throughout the entire duration of the procedure.
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“Technological Transformation is No Longer Measured in Years, but in Months”Post-operative checks are carried out by Dr. Koray Erdoğan. The initial hair wash is always performed at our clinic by our own staff. During this wash, patients are instructed and shown what to do over the first 10 days. After returning to their home countries, we continue to follow their progress through our patient coordinators.
Following the healthcare sector, you launched L’Olivetto Restaurant in the culinary field. How did this investment idea come about?
Surprisingly, it was an idea that came to us during the pandemic. You’ll remember it was a period when everyone was confined to their homes and social life ceased to exist. That sense of isolation and inability to see anyone affected us deeply. We already love good food. So we thought: what if we offered delightful flavors to our loved ones and patients and socialized with them through food?
Once the idea was born, we took action immediately after the pandemic. L’Olivetto truly became a place that holds a special spot in people’s hearts – a place where they feel comfortable in an elegant, beautiful atmosphere while enjoying Mediterranean flavors. Personally handling every detail from the decor to the menu and staff, being among people at L’Olivetto and hosting our patients and guests brings me a brand-new experience.
From your perspective, what are the similarities and differences between managing a clinic and running a restaurant?
At its core, people are at the forefront of both businesses. As someone who has always loved making people happy, both ASMED and L’Olivetto are enterprises that pave the way for beautifying the lives of those around me in different ways.
Operationally, of course, they are very different. Also, due to my profession, I am involved in every single stage of the work at ASMED. At L’Olivetto, however, the operational work is entrusted to experts. My role there is more focused on decision-making and direction.
What kind of brand and customer experience do you aim to create at L’Olivetto?
L’Olivetto is only 5 years old, yet it has managed to become one of the first restaurants that come to mind when people think of “Mediterranean cuisine.” It is particularly popular on the Asian side of Istanbul. Because we are located in Ataşehir, we receive high demand for business lunches at midday. In the evenings, we are a favorite choice for large gatherings of friends, celebrations, or intimate dinners for couples. On certain evenings of the week, we also feature live music performances. L’Olivetto has become a place where everyone feels good and happy.
As a woman entrepreneur operating in two different sectors, what would you like to say to young female entrepreneurs?
I advise them to work in a field they truly love, derive immense pleasure from, and can pour both their mind and heart into. Because nothing comes easy. Learning a business, mastering it, and achieving success requires a lot of effort and time. We can only dedicate such intense effort and time to something we genuinely love.
Of course, just as important as – or perhaps even more important than – these factors is having courage. Because at the end of the day, the fundamental factor that delivers success is always courage. Courage makes life beautiful.
What are your new investment or expansion plans for the upcoming period?
We are actually on the verge of a new investment. We will be opening a version of L’Olivetto in Ataşehir Finanskent. Our preparations are nearly complete, and we are eagerly looking forward to its launch.
Finally, is there a name that inspires you with their story, stance, and accomplishments? If we asked you to suggest someone for our next interview, who would you recommend?
Most definitely Ms. Semahat Arsel, Member of the Board of Directors at Koç Holding. She is the visionary who established the Koç University School of Nursing, founded the Semahat Arsel Nursing Education and Research Center (SANERC), and serves as the Vice President of the Florence Nightingale Foundation. Her deep respect and immense support for my beloved profession are profoundly valuable to me. Having had the honor of meeting her personally, I would love for everyone to hear her views and work on this subject.
