Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

TOBB Düzce Women Entrepreneurs Council President Serap Küçük, giving the opening speech of the meeting, stated that they support women entrepreneurs and women's cooperatives as the Women Entrepreneurs Council and said, “Our women's cooperative continues to operate in Düzce. As the Women Entrepreneurs Council, we provide all manner of support to our cooperative. Within the framework of the protocol for strengthening women's cooperatives, efforts have been initiated on the promotion and marketing of handicraft products of women's cooperatives in our province. Under the leadership of Governor Cevdet Atay, Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Tuncay Şahin, a 'Women's Labor Center' was established for our women's cooperatives to produce and market the products they produced. The vision of ‘strong woman, strong family, strong Düzce’ was brought to life. Kindergarten for the education of the children of those working in the Women's Labor Center and office facilities for young entrepreneurs are offered. In this center established in Düzce, it is aimed to make women more robust in business life. Our aim is to promote women's cooperatives in our province, to ensure its sustainability and to create a structure where women are involved in production.”

Küçük stated that with the aim of strengthening the cooperatives located in the East Marmara region and increasing their institutional capacities and competitiveness under the leadership of Bursa Women Entrepreneurs Council President Sevgi Saygın, and said, "Our project is with women with bachelor's degrees between the ages of 18 and 30. Our trainings are currently underway. Our goal is to prepare the new generation of women for corporate industry and business world, and we want to increase the number of strong women who can stand on their feet economically in our region.”

Tuncay Şahin, Düzce Chamber of Commerce and Industry Council President, pointed out that 50 percent of Düzce's population is female and said, “The figures show that the female population has the potential to create serious economic value. As a chamber, we care very much about women's employment and women's entrepreneurship. We try to keep a closer eye on companies established by female entrepreneurs. The higher the number of women working in a country, the higher the level of well-being. The lower the female employment, the more poverty there is. The same applies to the number of female entrepreneurs.”

Tuncay Şahin said that women's cooperatives are the safest formations in increasing women's employment and developing themselves economically for women living in the countryside.

Tuncay Şahin stated that they will continue to support the Olympic Mothers Cooperative. This center will be at the service of all our women. It will be very useful to create a system where guidance studies will be carried out for the research of potential cooperative issues and the establishment of cooperatives according to the results of the research. The involvement of Düzce University in these processes will contribute to the much faster development of women's cooperatives.”

The meeting, in which the heads of the councils from the provinces of the region also gave information about their work, ended with the presentation of plaques and gifts.