Turkish businessman and owner of Martı, Oğuz Alper Öktem in 2018 introduced the country of Turkey with one of the world’s fastest-growing means of transportation, the e-scooters.
Micro-mobility is a field that is slowly taking over the transportation markets throughout the EU and the world in general. So, in order to tackle the lack of presence of this segment in Turkey, Öktem decided to step up and offer what this country desperately needed: an alternative system of transportation.
Öktem founded Martı and the company became an instant success. It is a start-up that operates in 22 districts around the Istanbul area, and it does not intend to stop. The company also covers parts of Turkey such as Antalya, Ankara, Gaziantep, Izmir, Yalova, Eskisehir, and Bursa.
Öktem said that the beginnings were tricky as they had been constantly getting comments that this initiative will not work in Turkey, or that the roads in Turkey are not suitable for these kinds of vehicles. However, Oktem and his company did not stop for any of these comments.
He said that before founding Martı and starting this initiative he went to 7 cities in Turkey and explored the road infrastructure. He was inspecting the sidewalks for hours in order to check if they can be used for vehicles of this range.
Öktem discovered that the sidewalks are much more suitable for e-scooters than Lisbon, for example. Lisbon has very slippery sidewalks and using an e-scooter is much more difficult. But there are thousands of e-scooters that operate through the city. Therefore, Istanbul is well above the global standards for the use of these scooters.
About the competition, Öktem says that there are companies that are also trying to penetrate this market segment. However, at the moment all of the minor players that emerged have been eliminated.
He took Mexico as an example and said that out of 3 companies that emerged in this segment, only one remained operational. The situation in Europe is also the same. He also mentioned that this segment is also used for raising awareness about the environment, especially in Turkey. The founder of Martı said that with this initiative they highly contribute to this cause and move Turkey forward in these matters.