Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The memorandum of understanding, which will allow Turkey to partake of the USA’s Global Entrepreneurship Program, was signed by TOBB President and TEPAV Board of Trustees President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu and the USA Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone. A series of activities to develop entrepreneurship in Turkey will take place throughout the coming year, organized by TOBB, TEPAV and the USA Ankara Embassy.

- “Taking part in the American market is a matter of development for Turkey”

Stressing how critical a point Turkey is standing at the moment in regards to moving on from medium-income to high-income, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that during the last ten years Turkey has come a long way and become an industry giant in the region. Hisarcıklıoğlu, “We need to make one more move to become a high technology center.”

Stating that until today they’ve sold most of what they produce to Europe, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We must take the crisis in Europe into account. We need to be entering new markets. Without a doubt the most important of these new markets would be the USA market. To enter the US market permanently, we must develop and sell high tech products. If we are able to enter the American market there is no market we cannot sell our products in.

It is for this reason, entering the American market is matter of development for Turkey. I think that this is how we must approach this issue from now on. I think also that we must market high technology products to achieve this. We can do this by bringing American and Turkish entrepreneurs together and give them the means to work and produce together. China and India’s successes in the last 10 years have been due to the close relations they had with American entrepreneurs.

If we want to enter the American market, we must allow Turkish and American entrepreneurs to work together, to develop new technologies together and Turkish companies to make use of American funds to enter the global arena. Like I always say, we don’t have petroleum or natural gas in Turkey, but we have thousands of innovative entrepreneurs seeing opportunities everywhere in Anatolia and providing employment.

Entrepreneurs are one of our most important assets. Now we want to enable our entrepreneurs to see global opportunities. This is why we have started the Global Entrepreneurship Program with the United States government.

- Silicon Valley coming to Turkey

With the memorandum of understanding signed, speaking of the activities that will take place throughout the year, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu “In November, a group of angel investors from the States will come to Turkey to be introduced to Turkish angel investors. This will allow the relations between the investors of the two countries to develop.

In December, we will bring a group of entrepreneurs and investors who have been successful in the Silicon Valley to Turkey. This group will meet with both the young entrepreneurs who have been successful in the various business plan competitions throughout Turkey and the winners of our Allword competition.”

- Activities aimed at Universities

Stating that activities aimed at universities are also a part of the plan, Hisarcıklıoğlu went on; “We will work to improve the entrepreneurship programs in pilot universities. We will initiate collaboration programs with experienced universities in the States like the Babson College. The first pilot implementation in Turkey will be TOBB-ETU. One of the priorities of the Global Entrepreneurship Program will be to further the development of the technology transfer system and technoparks. We will provide concrete suggestions for implementing of successful attempts in the US.

- “The development of entrepreneurship is one of our most important priorities”

Expressing that with the Global Entrepreneurship Program, the value of TOBB will be made manifest, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the development of entrepreneurship is one of TOBB’s most important priorities.

Stating that Turkey will grow as the number of entrepreneurs developing and marketing goods globally increases, Hisarcıklıoğlu went on to talk about the initiatives they’ve taken to ensure this; “In the last two years we have established the young and women entrepreneurs councils, throughout Anatolia, in 78 provinces, which brought together more than 3000 entrepreneurs. These councils are working tooth and nail to pass on their experiences to the entrepreneurs in their regions. We have companies with fast growth potential in all sectors. We are hard at work to provide financiers for these companies. To this end, we are also working towards the development of venture capital in our country.

With this vision we established one of the first venture capital funds in Turkey, KOBİ Inc. in 2006. The sector has advanced since then. This year, we established the TOBB Venture Capital Sector Council, bringing together 35 fund representatives. The council works closely with the public administration for the development of Turkey’s venture capital. The council takes an active hand in the establishment of the “fund for funds” which will provide support for the sector.

I believe the activities of the newly founded Industry, Science and Technology Ministry will pick up momentum. In addition, we are following closely the endeavors of the Undersecretariat of the Treasury to encourage angel investors.

We are also working on encouraging entrepreneurship, case in point, the Allworld competition started in April in cooperation with the Harvard University to introduce our fastest growing enterprises to the world. Due to an overwhelming amount of applications we have extended the application period to August. The 25 winning companies will be announced during the Global Entrepreneurship Week in November. Once again, small or large, I invite all our companies to apply to the competition.

We know that without universities, we cannot train entrepreneurs. It is for this reason that we established the TOBB University of Economy and Technology in 2004. In the International Entrepreneurship branch we established two years ago, we are training entrepreneurs who are well educated in business and economy, speak languages such as Russian and Arabic, who can work not only in Turkey but the whole region. In addition to this, the Entrepreneurship Clubs network in universities being put together by our Young Entrepreneurs Council will provide support for our entrepreneur candidates. We will be holding the first meeting of this network at the start of the next academic year.

- “As the leading country of the region we have many experiences to pass on”

Stating that the Global Entrepreneurship Program heralds a new era in Turkish-American relations, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that for the first time, steps were being taken to directly between Turkish and American entrepreneurs to develop the economic and commercial aspects of the relations between the two countries.

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu went on; “I was in Washington D.C. at the beginning of June for the world summit of the Partners for a New Beginning program with the same aims in mind. During the summit, we met with the USA Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton and assessed the potential and cooperation opportunities for the development of the private sector and middle class of our country and the region.

As the leading country of the region we have many experiences to pass on as well. In this regard I have invited the leaders of the Partners for a New Beginning program in Palestine, Morocco, Indonesia and Pakistan. We will contribute to stability and prosperity as much as we are able to build bridges in our region and between our region and America.

- US Ambassador to Ankara Ricciardone

The US Ambassador to Ankara Ricciardone stated that entrepreneurship is a shared interest by Turkey and the USA and that they planned to increase cooperation with Turkey via the Global Entrepreneurship Program.
Starting his speech in Turkish, Ricciardone said that TEPAV and TOBB were the best choice for this spearheading this program in order to supporting Turkey’s economic aims and developing entrepreneurship, and that it was a pleasure to be working together.

Stating that in the past 10 years, the Turkish economy has grown to 3 times its size, Turkey’s exports have quadrupled, the national income per capita has increased substantially, Ricciardone pointed out that the trade between Turkey and the USA has increased by 60% in comparison to 2010. Ricciardone, “This indicates a strong interest in strengthening the bonds between the two countries.”

Continuing his speech in English, Ricciardone stated that in actuality, Turkey’s modern economy is a sophisticated platform for entrepreneurs and went on to say, “But we want to cooperate with Turkey in regards to global entrepreneurship in order to strengthen entrepreneurship in Turkey. This way, we can provide positive support for Turkey’s growth. We can also increase the trade volume and investments between the two countries. Via the Global Entrepreneurship Program, the USA wants to share its own experience with Turkey. This experience has enabled the advent of many inventors, innovators and the realization of many peoples’ dreams into big companies.”

Ricciardone said that he had talked on these matters with the Google Board President Eric Schmidt in Turkey. Expressing that the activities of the global entrepreneurship program excited him, Ricciardone said that the plans for this year were very promising and went on;
“For instance, the establishment of the Angel Investor Network or the establishment of more than one network is very exciting. This is something new in Turkey. The establishment of new institutions, cooperation with Turkish universities, these are all very exciting. Also, a committee comprised of American entrepreneurs will visit Turkey and take part in a competition as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Program. New ideas will be showcased in this competition. Turkey will be organizing and entrepreneurship summit the autumn.”

Ricciardone, pointing out that both Turkey and America were aware of a very important fact, said that national economy is something that develops from the bottom up and not the other way around, people serve communities with the businesses they establish following small dreams.

- “Google wants to increase its investment”

Ricciardone was posed the question; “You said that you talked to the Google Board President Schmidt. Do they have plans for investing in Turkey?” and answered with, “I, of course, can’t speak for Google. But I can say this, Mr. Schmidt and his representatives in the region and Turkey are very impressed with Turkey’s dynamism. They are also impressed with the competition of ideas.

Freedom of expression, the government’s role and its effects on the internet, however, are cause for serious concern. As far as I know they have expressed this to Turkish media clearly before.
I shared my own experiences with them as someone who has lived in Turkey years ago and come back after 10 years. I told them that Turkey is a very excitingly dynamic country, a country not afraid of competing ideas, a country whose companies aren’t afraid of competing in the global arena. Google wishes to increase its investments in Turkey. Many Turks actually work for Google and develop ideas for them.
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