Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The 100^th Anniversary G3 Summit was held in Antalya with the participation of TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Antalya Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Ali Bahar, Antalya Commodity Exchange President Ali Çandır, Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Muhittin Böcek, TÜSİAD President Orhan Turan, ANSİAD President Akıncı, TÜRKONFED President Süleyman Sönmez, Gen Tr President Nevzat Aydın and G3 Platform President Gülden Yılmaz.

Delivering a speech at the summit, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “For years, I have always pointed out and emphasized that we are facing a digital revolution. It is now possible to sell goods to many countries via the internet. You can reach every corner of the world through e-commerce. Billions of potential customers, trillion-dollar markets, all within your reach. However, there is still work to be done. Only 25 percent of our SMEs are involved in e-commerce and only 4 percent can e-export.”

On the other hand, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that when we think of exports, we should not only think of selling textiles, food or goods: “Innovative business models born in Türkiye also catch on in the world. For example, many of you have bought things from companies that distribute over the internet. In fact, the original of this business was the ‘sending the order with the apprentice’ model of our grocery stores in the past. Turkish entrepreneurs have modernized this old business model and brought it to the present day. They expanded it by using digital applications and distributing it from their own warehouses by motorized couriers. They spread the same business to Europe and America. Again, it used to be important to have a store or a market on the busiest street. Now, where is the most valuable land in the world is on the screens of our cell phones. The important thing is to get a place on this valuable land. In other words, to be able to take place on the cell phone screen.”

- Wealth does not come with oil and gas

Hisarcıklıoğlu said: “Oil and natural gas do not bring permanent wealth to countries. Today, the position of countries depends on their entrepreneurial capacity. Switzerland and South Korea have no natural resources, but they are more advanced than Russia, which is rich in natural resources. Germany and Japan emerged from the World War completely destroyed and devastated. But within a generation they were among the most developed countries in the world. Because they had an entrepreneurial middle class. And today, those who keep up with the times and invent things are the world's new wealthy. Those who come up with new ideas and use technology are flying. In the past, the world's biggest companies came out of energy, banks and industry. Now the biggest ones come out of technology. New initiatives of 5-10-20 years leave the giants of the past behind. Young entrepreneurs and their companies are replacing the old rich. All this tells us this: With a computer, a good idea and perseverance, it is possible to start our own business. Look, now you may think. These things happen in other countries, but not in ours. Last year, around 340 Turkish start-ups received 1.7 billion dollars from abroad. Especially Gaming and Fintech applications attracted a record number of investors. Most of these were founded by university students or young entrepreneurs who have just finished school. The number sounds big, but it is actually just a drop in the ocean. Worldwide, the money coming to such initiatives is around 450 billion dollars a year. We, on the other hand, have only a 4 per thousand share of this pie. So we have a long way to go here too.  Money is abundant in the world, but ideas are scarce. Now, some may think that you need to know coding for these things, but you don't. So what I am saying is that opportunities abound. In these times, the real capital is not money, but good ideas and perseverance. But for this, we need to act in order to bring a new tradition to the old village. And our professors need to train young people to invent things. Because we believe that becoming a richer country will only be possible if we have more entrepreneurs.”

- To become one of the most important centers of entrepreneurship in the world

Hisarcıklıoğlu mentioned that they established the Women Entrepreneurs Board and the Young Entrepreneurs Board within TOBB in order to create more entrepreneurs, and said that together with these boards, they organized more than 1,200 activities in 81 provinces last year alone.

Stating that in 2000, Türkiye's total R&D expenditures were only 1.2 billion dollars, while today Türkiye allocates approximately 11.5 billion dollars to R&D annually, TOBB President said, “The number of our technology development zones was only 2 in 2001. Today, there are 101 technoparks in Türkiye. At that time, Türkiye did not yet have a unicorn, that is, a start-up enterprise with a value exceeding 1 billion dollars. Today, 7 technology-based start-ups in Türkiye have succeeded in becoming unicorns. The target is to increase this number to 10 by 2025. By 2030, 100,000 techno-startups are expected to be established in Türkiye. We are expected to become one of the 20 most important centers of the world in entrepreneurship.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu concluded his remarks by mentioning the characteristics that a successful entrepreneur should have. Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that the most important conditions in entrepreneurship are dreaming, setting goals, working hard, partnering by building a good team and not being afraid of failure by being brave.