YILMAZ OZTASKIN: “After middle school, in 1950, I started working as a barber apprentice with my father, who was a barber. At the same time, I was selling holiday greetings, lettuce, seasonal fruits and vegetables in front of the shop. Seeing that I was inclined to trade, my father opened a grocery store on the corner of Kiçikapı with the 2000 TL capital I had earned. I worked in the grocery business from 1952 to 1956. After completing my military service in mid-1958 and returning to Kayseri, I continued to work as a grocer. I started very quickly after returning from military service. I bought various franchises, primarily soft drinks. In 1971, I traveled to America and Canada to start industrialization and conduct research. In 1975, we established our first facility, Süntaş Sünger Sanayi A.Ş. During the years I was running a grocery store, I took my brother, the late Mehmet Öztaşkın, who was born in 1947, with me when he came back from the military. And so, my four partners and I started Yataş Yatak ve Yorgan Sanayi A.Ş., sofa bed and seating group facilities, then a towel factory and finally a modular furniture facility in Ankara.”
REZZAN OZTASKIN:
Born in Kayseri in 1955, she married Mehmet Öztaşkın, one of the founding partners of Yataş A.Ş., in 1971. The mother of 3 children, she has been serving as a board member of Yataş Yatak ve Yorgan Sanayi A.Ş., Süntaş, Yataş İstanbul Pazarlama A.Ş. and Taşkınlar A.Ş. since 1992.
