16.07.2018 Ankara
Members of TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Board and TOBB Provincial Women Entrepreneurs Committee Presidents met with M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu. Congratulating Hisarcıklıoğlu for his re-election to the TOBB Presidency at the General Assembly, Women Entrepreneurs consulted with Hisarcıklıoğlu regarding various works.
TOBB President Hisarciklioglu in his speech, thanked women entrepreneurs
for their gracious visits and said, “We have completed our General Assembly.
Now it is time for the Turkish private sector to start working together, both domestically
and internationally.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu expressed his pleasure in the first Minister of Commerce
of the Presidential Government System being a name from within the TOBB
community, “The President has announced the first cabinet.
Ms. Ruhsar Pekcan became Trade Minister of one a cabinet of historical
importance.
From the days we established with the 500 members of the Women
Entrepreneurs Board in 2007, we came to the days when the deputy president of
our organization is the first Minister of Commerce for a new term. The
appointment of Ms. Pekcan as Minister of Trade is an indication of the high
reputation our boards have. I strongly believe that Ms. Pekcan's ministry will
make very important contributions to help women take their place in business
life.”
- The planted seed has sprouted
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that, TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council is the most
comprehensive and effective structure, to increase the number of women
entrepreneurs and to support existing women entrepreneurs working in Turkey, “In
2007 we planted a seed. We organized 81,000 women entrepreneurs. This seed has
now sprouted. One of us is sitting on the seat to direct the Ministry of Trade
of Turkey today. We are all proud of this.”
- 5 main activities to develop
women's entrepreneurship
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that activities were carried out under 5 main
topics to develop women's entrepreneurship:
“The first is networking. Because a good network is one of the keys to
success in business life. You are actively participating in the Future Power
Entrepreneurs Forum, which has been uninterrupted for 7 years. You ensure
Turkey's most successful entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs meet. You took
part in the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, organized in April 2018 and
attended by over 3,000 entrepreneurs, investors and opinion leaders from abroad.
You are encouraged to develop women's international networks. You represented
the Turkish business woman in international organizations such as Chamber of
Commerce and Industry of the Organization for Economic Cooperation, United
Nations Women's Empowerment, International Women Entrepreneurship Initiative.
The second is competence. You have done many successful activities to
improve the skills of women.
With the Women Writing the Future Project, you helped 1400 women acquire
application software development skills. With the My Sister Project, you
continue to work for 9,000 women to receive financial literacy and business
management training. All the organizations with projects aiming to strengthen
women economically, especially the most important technology companies in the
world, are in queueing up to establish partnership with you.
Financing is third. You have worked to facilitate the access of women
entrepreneurs to finance.
With the KGF channel, we provide bail up to a maximum of 2.5 million TRY
in credit applications of companies that were established less than two years
ago and have a woman with a minimum of 50% ownership.
Fourth, you have been lobbying for woman entrepreneur friendly policies.
You have mobilized Governorships and Municipalities. You have implemented many
projects jointly with local public institutions. We’ve relayed the results of
your work and the reports you prepared to the ministries. We have provided affirmative
action for women in government support.
Fifth, we increased the visibility of female entrepreneurial role
models. We’ve organized Turkey’s Women Power Meetings to encourage young women
to become entrepreneurs. We organized well-attended meetings in the provinces
in Anatolia with Turkey's most successful female entrepreneurs. We encourage
Turkey's successful women entrepreneurs to participate in the entrepreneurship
competitions abroad. With all of these examples and many others which I did not
mention, you’ve changed Turkey. You have ensured that women have more say in
the economy.
In 2007, the rate of women in all employers in Turkey was 4.5%. In 2017,
this ratio is close to 10%. This is your success, your work. You have also
achieved significant increases in the number of women in the elected leaders of
the TOBB community. But not enough. We cannot be satisfied with this. We have
to work hard to make the women who make the half of the population equal to the
men in the economy. By your efforts; Women's social position will be further
strengthened, women entrepreneurs will have access to far more resources, and
more effective policies will be passed on to improve public entrepreneurship.”