Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The pioneering of the Union of Chambers & Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) in cooperation with the related Chambers of Trade and/or Industry has resulted in the establishment of EU Turkish Business Centres (ABİGEM) in Gaziantep, Kocaeli and İzmir with European Union (EU) funds in 2002.

Due to the success of these first three ABİGEMs, “Expansion of the European Turkish Business Centres Network Project” had been started in May 2008 and the number of Business Centres established with EU funds has increased to 15 all around Turkey. The ABIGEMs that were established in 2008 are located in Adana, Afyonkarahisar, Çorum, Denizli, Eskişehir, Erzurum, Kayseri, Konya, Malatya, Trakya, Trabzon and Uşak. The total EU financial investment in the ABIGEM network is exceeding 50 million Euros, making it one of the major EU projects in the world.

ABİGEMs provide professional trainings, consultancy and information services in the regions where they are established in order to help SMEs improve their competitiveness within the national and international markets and increase SMEs’ contribution to both local and national economies. The abovementioned services provided are included in a wide and diversified range of product and services going from financial packages to internationalization, from innovation and R&D to quality management, from entrepreneurship to institutionalization, from business planning to sectoral projects including clustering, among many others.
For the good performance and monitoring and evaluation of the network, the preservation of a quality standard, the increase of coordination and share of best practice between ABİGEMs, and the lobbying at national level, an ABİGEM Coordination Unit has been established within TOBB with the Expansion of the European Turkish Business Centres Network Project.

For detailed information: http://www.abigem.org