Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Implemented by the TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) General Directorate of Lifelong Learning and OPET, the “Clean Business Project” is being implemented in 81 provinces with the aim of covering a wider range of business lines.

Speaking at the meeting, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the project, which started in 3 pilot provinces in 2021, gained great momentum in a very short time.

Stating that the necessary steps have been taken to spread the project throughout the country, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “With the Clean Business Project, micro-enterprises operating in the field of food and beverage, accommodation and transportation in the service sector are supported to stand out with an improved hygiene understanding and to support consumers and especially tourists to prefer these places. In this process, our Ministry of National Education has done a very successful job in designing the trainings and providing these trainings to our women entrepreneurs. OPET, another project partner, has also made a great contribution to the scaling and field implementation of the project both locally and nationally.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu thanked the partners of the project and all stakeholders who contributed to this process.

On the other hand, Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized the importance of developing and equipping the female entrepreneurship potential in Türkiye and stated that leading the development of entrepreneurship culture among women is their main goal.

In this context, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they have carried out many studies guiding women entrepreneurs and said, “Our goal should be to increase the rate of women entrepreneurs above 10 percent. In order to support this, we express at every opportunity to encourage women entrepreneurs by purchasing the products of women manufacturers with a quota of 15 percent in public tenders. I always emphasize that intelligence and success have no gender. If the woman is strong, the family, society and the country will be strong.”

- “Our trainings were also requested by other sectors”

TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council President Nurten Öztürk said that they are happy to expand the project to 81 provinces.

Reminding that the project started with pilot applications in 2021, Öztürk said, “We started in 3 provinces at the beginning. Then we expanded to 20 provinces and reached 150,000 people. The expansion of the project to 81 provinces means that its scale has grown much larger. Our aim is to increase service and hygiene standards especially in micro enterprises and to provide better service.To contribute to the creation of a healthy, conscious society. Our trainings, which we initially started in the transportation, accommodation and catering sectors, were also requested by other sectors. Today, 81 provincial presidents and representatives of our national education community will come together. How can we spread this project in all companies and institutions? In short, they will mobilize.”

Cengiz Mete, Director General of Ministry of National Education's General Directorate of Lifelong Learning, stated that 150,000 people benefited from the trainings in the project, which was created with the aim of protecting public health, improving the quality of life, and raising generations trained in cleaning and hygiene.