Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Attending the organization hosted Trabzon Chamber of Commerce and Trabzon Commodity Exchange, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the need for capital has stopped being an issue in today’s world.

Hisarcıklıoğlu said “We’ve worked for years to bring many investors to Turkey throughout the years. If you have a good idea, there are a lot of people who will put their money into projects. All you need to do is invent; whatever you do, bring innovation. The essence of Turkish people harbors courage, they have ability; the issue is to refine it.”

Stating that entrepreneurship is the primary factor in international competition and in solving unemployment, Hisarcıklıoğlu stressed the need to increase the number of entrepreneurs Turkey by 2 million, “To this end, we’ve established the TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council in 2007 and the TOBB Young Entrepreneurs Council in 2009. We’ve brought together entrepreneurs and investors from 63 countries to meet with our young entrepreneurs. The only way to enable entrepreneurship to progress in our country is to raise awareness to it. We have an immense advantage with our young population. If we are able to increase the number of our entrepreneurs we can utilize our young population to achieve prosperity. That is why it is imperative that entrepreneurship culture is proliferated throughout Anatolia.”

- “Dreaming is the first step”

Pointing out that Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates have founded over 32,000 companies to date, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the sum value of said companies would form the 11^th largest economy of the world. Hisarcıklıoğlu stressed that there are 5 characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, “First you must dream; turn that dream into a goal; work hard towards that dream. Then, you must be courageous, willful and innovative. Many young people are hung up on the matter of capital. The need for capital has stopped being an issue in today’s world. To this end we’ve brought many angel investors to Turkey. In this day and age as long as you have a good idea there are plenty of people who will fund you. All you need to do is invent; whatever you do, bring innovation. The essence of Turkish people harbors courage, they have ability; the issue is to refine it. Our youth are quite qualified in regards to education and language skills. They are the reason I have hope for the future.”

G3 Forum brought entrepreneurs of the Black Sea Region together with the TOBB Young Entrepreneurs Council Chair Ali Sabancı and yemeksepeti.com CEO Nevzat Aydın as well as many other prominent entrepreneurs of the country.

As a part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week celebrated simultaneously in 160 countries which aims to raise awareness for entrepreneurship, TOBB Women and Young Entrepreneurs Councils, under TOBB, have been organizing the Entrepreneurs: Power of the Future (Geleceğin Gücü Girişimciler) G3 Forum every November since 2011 in İstanbul.

In 2015, it was decided that the G3 Forum would be held in Anatolian cities and held for the first time in Kayseri.