Turkey's 'Consubcon' to meet investors in Saudi Arabia

Bringing subcontractor construction and contracting companies together on a digital platform, Turkish initiative "Consubcon" will be participating in the StartSmart Conference and Exhibition in Saudi Arabia next month.

Entrepreneur Emrah Inanc spoke to Anadolu Agency on the Consubcon system, and the exhibition scheduled in Mecca from March 5-7.

He is now preparing to present the project, Subcontractor Bank, to international investors taking part in the conference from around the world.

Some 80 global entrepreneurs have been invited to the event co-organized by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the U.S. and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The event will give startups the opportunity to open up to Saudi markets.

Inanc, whose company has been invited from Turkey, will publicize Consubcon's app in the event.

He said he started developing the system in 2013 to bring multiple subcontractor construction and contracting companies on a single digital platform, creating a digital initiative with a high added value.

Turkey, Inanc added, has one of the most advanced construction sectors in the world.

"Turkish companies work in many international construction projects. We wanted to make use of this experience and merge it with contracting companies' potential," he said. "In order to become a global brand, we carried 80 percent of our work in the Middle East since 2017... this year we started Consubcon, bringing construction, subcontracting and contracting together."

Referring to the problems in the sector, Inanc said: "We have seen illegal persons and companies making unfair profits through workers, and we have seen confiscation of workers' wages."

Inanc also touched upon reports of international organizations on the situation of migrant workers.

"In order to solve this problem and remove all intermediaries in the process, we send all of the work demand to workers in the countries that we operate in, on a weekly and monthly basis," he said. "In this way, workers are not deceived with the hope of finding work, they do not pay fees to persons or companies who provide work, and are not forced to leave their countries with no work."

He said the initiative had attracted great attention in the Middle East and other regions.

"Hence, we have been invited to StartSmart Conference," Inanc said. "We will introduce our projects and meet potential investors. We will have the opportunity to expand our initiative in the Middle East, as well as represent Turkey in the best way possible."