Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Hisarcıklıoğlu, stating that a foreign author had observed in 1912 that the Turks’ most favored careers were bureaucrat and soldier, said, “Whereas we have a great spirit for entrepreneurship. We discovered this only later. The most obvious example is seen in our citizens who migrated to Europe. They went there 50 years ago to carry sacks of grain. Now, there are 150,000 entrepreneurs in Europe. When at first they were workers, now they are providing employment to 750,000 Europeans.

If you want to prosper in this world and the next then the way to achieve this is through entrepreneurship. The most beneficent of men is he who is beneficent unto others.”

Stating that entrepreneurship means employment, Hisarcıklıoğlu reported that 900,000 new youth join the workforce each year. Stating that entrepreneurship if what enables countries to prosper, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed to Japan and Germany as examples of the results of an enterprising spirit, enabling these two countries to come to such greatness despite the devastation they suffered at the end of WWII.

Touching on the matter of Women and Young Entrepreneurship Councils, the TOBB President reported that the members of these councils have become role models; women entrepreneurship has increased to 8.2% from 6.2%.

- Tips for entrepreneurs

Stating that the first thing necessary for becoming an entrepreneur is to dream, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the freest we can be is in our dreams. He emphasized the importance of turning these dreams into goals as the second step.

Thirdly, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “You must work diligently in pursuit of this goal.” He stated that risk taking and therefore courage is a necessity of enterprise. “Another step is innovation. You must innovate. You must ask yourself each day what you can do differently.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu also stressed the importance of branding and partnership culture for success.