Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Hisarcıklıoğlu attended the opening of the 2020-2021 Academic Year of TOBB University of Economics and Technology (ETU), where he also serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, via video conference and gave a lecture on, “Entrepreneurship and Leadership.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu described the Covid-19 outbreak as one of the biggest disasters of this century, saying that the epidemic threatens all mankind and that it is necessary to become accustomed to living with the virus until a vaccine is found.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stating that they founded TOBB ETU for a new generation which follows the world, recognizes the private sector and its needs and has combined theory and practice at the university, expressed his wish to educate entrepreneurial young people who invent in all fields at the university.

Hisarcıklıoğlu also pointed out the differences between generations in his speech, noted that generation Z is has much more advantages than previous generations.

Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out that generation Z, which is 39% of Turkey's population, is more than most countries' populations, and went on:

“You have great technology dominance. Your generation is full of people who made billions at the age of 18. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is the third richest person in the world with a fortune of $88 billion. If we can raise you well, we will be doing a good deed for the wealth of our country.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu, who called on students to travel, to recognize new cultures, to never stop reading and researching, noted:

“Most importantly, do not exclude anyone because of their language, religion, identity, opinion, ethnicity. Everything Turkey has suffered has been a result of being enslaved by its fears and seeing its friend as ‘other’.”

- “Go abroad but come back”

Hisarcıklıoğlu also touched on the issue of working abroad, expressing that everyone wants brain migration to become richer, “There is no problem in going and learning. Go, but come back. We did this in Turkey's Automobile Enterprise Group. Our CEO Gürcan Karakaş was trained in Turkey. He was said to be Bosch's number one CEO in the future. At the moment, however, he has returned to his country to fulfill Turkey's 100-year dream.”

Speaking about e-commerce, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the future is in this area.

“From a mountain village, you have the opportunity to reach 7 billion customers,” he said, noting that e-commerce grew by 159% during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that they have taken all the necessary hygienic precautions when it comes to face-to-face education, said, “We received the TSE Covid-19 Safe Service Certificate. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, 'I will close everything, I will not close educational institutions.’ That is why the best education is face-to-face."