23.10.2017 İstanbul
Organized by TOBB, TOBB Women's Initiative Board and Turkcell, the “Women Writing the Future Project” has come to an end. The 3 project awards selected by jury among the 10 remaining projects in the final were awarded during the ceremony attended by TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu. Hisarcıklıoğlu, while emphasizing the importance of women entrepreneurs, said, “Our efforts have paid off. The number of women entrepreneurs should increase even more.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu reported that 1,400 women have participated in 18
trainings, having come to the end of a 6-month marathon to learn application
software development. Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out that the trainees have
developed 239 applications at the end of their software and business plan
training, “48 of them were in the semifinals and 10 of them were entitled to
compete in the finals. We will announce the top 3 entries. I’ll you up front;
in my eyes all of the entrants have made the grade for me. I heartily
congratulate everyone who participated in the trainings. Why do I celebrate all
of you? Because everyone won.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the road to Turkey’s prosperity is through
entrepreneurship. “We will carry our country to prosperous tomorrows. You will
both prosper and be the driving force of our country's prosperity.”
- Youth and women are our future
TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that young people and
women are not merely the present but the future, “Women and young people who
are treasures more precious than oil and natural gas. We need more software
entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs who understand software. In 2007, only 6% of
the employers in Turkey were women. In 2016, this rate increased to 10%. We
have been fighting for 10 years as TOBB. The increase of 4% points is due in
large part to the TOBB Women and Young Entrepreneurial Councils. The TOBB Women
Entrepreneurship Council, established in 2007, has become the world's largest
network of women entrepreneurs. We are grateful to have had the opportunity see
our efforts bear fruit.”
- Other speakers
TOBB Young Entrepreneurs Board Chairman Ali Sabancı emphasized that
despite the fact that half of the population is women, the number of women
participating in the workforce is insufficient. Sabancı pointed out that it is
necessary to raise awareness to this issue, and said that he believes in the
power of women.
TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Chairwoman Evrim Aras expressed that technology
is a catalyst for the business world. Stating that women will make a big
difference to practice and development, Aras expressed the importance the
process which starting off with 1400 applications.
Turkcell General Manager Kaan Terzioğlu stated that it will become
important to know not only foreigner languages but also software. Given that
all technologies exist to add value to human beings, Terzioğlu said that the
female labor force is the most important shortcoming of the economy.
- Otizmo awarded first prize
At the end of the 6-month journey, 10 projects were evaluated and
awarded at the ceremony. Gökçe Demir and Hilal Şener had the first prize of the
night with their projects called Otizmo. The software Otizmo offers the
possibility to diagnose autism with the signals received via the wearable
device.
Özden Çetin Near, winning the second prize, aims to help parents in
keeping their children healthy. Ayşe Nur Zengin, Evin Keles and Mary Sena Kılıç
developed Yubiva, which was awarded the third prize.
The Yubiva project offers sign language training for children with
hearing impairment between the ages of 6-12 using playing cards and augmented
reality.