Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The Entrepreneurship Council Strategy Workshop, organized by KOSGEB, took place at the Bolu Grand Abant Hotel with the attendances of TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Science, Industry and Technology Minister Nihat Ergün and KOSGEB President Mustafa Kaplan.

In his speech, the TOBB President explained the importance of entrepreneurship. Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Ten years ago, there was hesitance in giving a daughter in marriage to an entrepreneur. They wouldn’t let you marry unless you were a public servant. Businessmen and entrepreneurs were regarded as second class. But the truth is that entrepreneurship is the only remedy for poverty and unemployment. There is no solution but to support entrepreneurship in order to solve these problems.”

Using the examples of war torn Germany and Japan following WWII, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the reason that these two countries are two of the strongest economies of the world is thanks to their entrepreneurs. “Every year, 750,000 youth join the workforce. We need to provide jobs for them,” said Hisarcıklıoğlu and stated that we must solve this problem by supporting entrepreneurship. To this end, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu promised to support the Entrepreneurship Council in every regard.

- The entrepreneurship climate must be supported

Drawing attention to the importance of the entrepreneurship climate, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “If we want there to be job opportunities for our children tomorrow, entrepreneurship must be supported. We must support the facilitation of doing business. Entrepreneurs should not be viewed as potential thieves. Thankfully this perception is changing.”

Stating that there are extraordinary contributions in Turkey such as the increasing of TÜBİTAK’s budget, the TOBB President emphasized that academics have entered the industry and have started becoming entrepreneurs.

“We have neither petroleum nor natural gas but we do have a great entrepreneurial spirit. If we can cultivate this nobody can hold us back,” said TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu and stated that he saw a bright future for the country and emphasized that what needs to be done is the supporting of entrepreneurs.

- “There are ten years left to reach our goal. We must work together”

Stating that it is not enough to just have entrepreneurship give buds as part of the entrepreneurship climate, Hisarcıklıoğlu drew attention to the need for supporting that bud five years after its emergence.

Recalling to mind Turkey’s aim to be one of the 10 largest economies of the world by 2023, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “The USA reached this goal in 44 years; Japan, in 19 years. We have 10 years. We must perform this miracle together. We need to be providing immense support to entrepreneurs and opening the way for them.”

- One mind, one goalü

Stating that they had organized a search conference as TOBB in 2002 and that, when they looked back after 6 years, they saw that things were shaped according to these conferences, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We must be of one mind and set a shared goal for ourselves. We are a part of a meeting wherein the future of Turkey will be determined.”

- “New Bill Gates’ should emerge from among us”
Hisarcıklıoğlu said:

“The establishment of women’s and youth’s entrepreneurship councils was an idea from the search conferences. Today, Turkey’s largest women’s organization is under the TOBB umbrella. The youth entrepreneurs council is an encompassing institution. It was stated that consultation services were needed by entrepreneurs and SMEs; we established ABİGEM. We provide consultation services from 19 branches. A housewife who used to sew wedding dresses at home after her retirement is now employing 300 people. They export wedding dresses to 71 countries. Consultative services are vital for her.

We have the Credit Guarantee Fund in regards to support the acquisition of funds. We established KOBİ Inc. in order to provide venture capital.”

Providing information regarding the establishment of TOBB ETU as well, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “TOBB ETU is the first and only in its field in Turkey. There are no winter or summer vacations. Each year is a tree semester period for us. Students work in establishments for one of the semesters. A student working in a factory in Bolu created an invention, patented it and sold it. This is where we provide preparation for life. We established the garage in TOBB ETU. There used to be a time when you needed capital. Now you don’t even need that. A computer and a garage is all you need. New Bill Gates’ should emerge from among us.”
- Science, Industry and Technology Minister Nihat Ergün
In his speech, Science, Industry and Technology Minister Nihat Ergün stated that the structure of the Entrepreneurship Council is one of the best examples of the harmonious functioning of state, private sector and NGOs in Turkey.

Drawing attention to the facilitation of the solutions to problems by becoming of single purpose, Ergün said, “The environment of trust and stability we’ve nurtured in Turkey in recent years is, perhaps, one of the most valuable results of this. Now, both state and private sector institutions are able to make mid-to-long term plans. This is vital and allows us to accurately analyze our strong and weak aspects.”

- KOSGEB President Mustafa Kaplan

Small and Medium Sized Establishments Development and Support Administration (KOSGEB) President Mustafa Kaplan reported that they have raised the no-pay-back portion of the Entrepreneurship Support Program to 30,000 TL from 27,000 TL.

Stating that enterprises are fragile especially in their early years, Kaplan drew attention to the need for a delicate approach especially in these early years and the need to focus on the entrepreneur when formulating strategies.
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