Meet Derya Yenice Oflu | Co-Founder & Technical Manager

We had the good fortune of connecting with Derya Yenice Oflu and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Derya, how does your business help the community?
An estimated 1.5 – 2.5 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent) are manufactured annually, predominantly in China. As these large, durable, long-lasting steel containers continue to amass, taking up valuable real estate in cities around the world, and becoming not just an eyesore, but an environmental concern, there is a growing international movement to reuse, recycle, and generally reposition them, particularly as living and working spaces. This trend is rapidly evolving to become one of the more popular alternative building methods, bolstered by containers’ inherent stability, relative affordability, and ease of transport. Containers are currently used in sustainable and green building, as a student and affordable housing solutions, as well as emergency housing and shelters during disaster relief and recovery. Design possibilities and uses are near endless, and as businesses and cities continue to utilize convert more often, more visibility is being brought to the form. On the other hand, many people are suffering from hurricanes & storms in our region. Containers are made to fight weather conditions so the building that made out of a shipping container will be the fighter!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Domer Trade specializes in re-purposing intermodal shipping containers into storage containers, offices, homes, shelters, and other functional spaces for a variety of applications. There is growing worldwide interest in re-using and recycling shipping containers, of which there are over 15 million decommissioned across the globe. And as thousands more are produced daily and trade imbalances persist, that number continues to grow and become a significant environmental issue. Very few alternative options exist aside from repurposing containers into shelters, homes, and other spaces, a social and architectural trend that is gaining traction worldwide. Containers are becoming a common, if not essential, component of environmentally-conscious architecture as well as pro-active approaches to disaster relief. Domer Trade leverages these trends, as well as its relationships with a network of shipping partners for use as disaster relief housing, mobile, and modular offices, portable buildings, stackable offices, and even self-sustaining homes.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would go to the Key’s for snorkeling with my friend or go to Naples to watch the most beautiful sunset! Both options there are so many delicious local seafood restaurants. If you like to take pictures like me don’t forget to empty its storage card before going there.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
In 1999, I was one of the first ladies to attend our University as an Oceangoing Marine Engineer Student. These days it was a huge step to impose the existence of women in the maritime sector in Turkey also all over the world we visited. Many of them tried to discourage us and we were told, we could have graduated from that university but we could never have worked onboard! Of course, we did it! I had been working onboard for more than 10 years and became an Oceangoing Chief Engineer. Because our only mentor was “Mustafa Kemal Ataturk” His reforms empowered Turkish women and set an example for the developing world in the ’30s. I would like to share one of his quotes ” Everything we see in the world is the creative work of women” M.K.Ataturk

Website: www.domertrade.com
Instagram: @domertrade
Linkedin: @domertrade
Facebook: @domertrade
Youtube: @domertrade

Image Credits
Derya Yenice Oflu Seda Turhan