25.11.2016 İstanbul
One of the most important events of the Global Entrepreneurship Week, celebrated simultaneously in over 160 countries all over the world, the 6th g3 Forum (Future Entrepreneurs Forum) was held in Istanbul.
At the forum hosted
by TOBB, during a panel moderated of Hakan Güldağ, the editor-in-chief of Dünya
Newspaper, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak and TOBB
President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu addressed entrepreneurs.
Speaking at the
panel, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the only way to achieve
prosperity is through entrepreneurship, and that they want to prosper both as
individuals and as a society.
Hisarcıklıoğlu, giving
the examples of Germany and Japan in terms of entrepreneurship, explained that
after the World War II these two countries were reborn from their ashes thanks
to their entrepreneurs.
Emphasizing that the
solution to unemployment is through entrepreneurship, the TOBB President said, “Today
the richest countries in the world are the most entrepreneur-rich countries.
One entrepreneur employs 10 people. We need 90 thousand entrepreneurs every
year in order to provide employment for 900,000 people.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu reported
that 5% of the total population in Japan and 2% in Turkey; that 2 million new
entrepreneurs are needed in Turkey to reach the level of Japan.
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated
that the most important potential in reaching more entrepreneurs are women and
young people, and said, “You can’t box with one arm. More women should be
entrepreneurs. Young people should also be more enthusiastic in this area. To
achieve this, we established the TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council in 2007 and
the TOBB Young Entrepreneurs Council in 2009. Our councils are working with
great enthusiasm to promote more young people and women as entrepreneur role
models, by telling their success stories throughout Anatolia. When we started,
the rate of women entrepreneurs was 6.5%, today it has reached 8.5%. We brought
thousands of young people together with hundreds of mentors.”
- “We will make İstanbul the center of global
entrepreneurship”
Stating that they
have created an important agenda for entrepreneurship for a stronger and richer
Turkey, Hisarcıklıoğlu went on, “The future is very promising. We believe that
99% of innovations in the world have not been done yet. However, it is
necessary to do what is not done or to do it differently. So it does not matter
which sector is invested in, it is important to invest in the mind. The only
thing that makes money in the world anymore is the mind. Innovation is possible
through reason. We are trying to make Turkey an innovation hub through
entrepreneurship. As the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey,
our aim is to make Istanbul a global entrepreneurship center. We need to give
startups all manner of tax and legislation support. If we promise this to young
brains in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and even Europe, then Turkey will achieve
revolution.”