27.11.2018 Ankara
“The Women Writing the Future Project” promotion meeting was hosted by Emine Erdoğan, the wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, at the Beştepe National Cultural and Congress Center. TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the success of Women Writing the Future will destroy the perception that technology is an area belonging to men.
In
addition to Erdoğan and Hisarcıklıoğlu, Minister of Commerce Ruhsar Pekcan,
Minister of Education Ziya Selçuk and Minister of Family, Labor and Social
Services Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk also attended the meeting. The Women Writing the Future
Project aims to educate women about software and increase women's employment
capacity and entrepreneurship through the cooperation of Turkcell, TOBB and
TOBB Women Entrepreneurship Board. The project aims to support participants in
developing mobile applications.
TOBB
President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, in his speech at the launch, stated that the
project initiated by the Istanbul Women Entrepreneurs Board, has spread all
over Turkey through the support of Minister of Trade Ruhsar Pekcan.
Hisarcıklıoğlu
stated that they have achieved great success through this synergy between private
sector and civil society.
Hisarcıklıoğlu
stated that more than 200 applications were developed at the end of the
training and that a hundred trainees started to work as software control
specialists at Turkcell.
- “More women's hands will touch technology”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
stated that they will achieve much greater success in 2019 with the support of
Emine Erdoğan and added, “This time we have increased the number of provinces
we will carry out the project.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
pointed out that women have started giving direction to business life and the
efforts of TOBB Women Entrepreneurship Council cannot be overstated. “Praise be
to Allah, the seeds we’ve sown have taken hold, but we have a long way to go
yet. Our guide is the Prophet Muhammad. Khadījah, the wife of our Prophet
Muhammad, was the biggest merchant of the time, so we have to support our women
who want to emulate the example of the Sunnah, the life of the Prophet and the
path of the Messenger of Allah.”
Stating
that technological progress has changed the way business is done,
Hisarcıklıoğlu said:
“Technology
is perceived as a male-specific field all over the world. The success of Women Writing
the Future proves how wrong this perception is. It breaks down prejudices. If
you know how to develop software, you can work in companies that will grow the
fastest in the future. You can set up companies as well. The more software
developers, the higher the probability that the billion dollar start-ups will
come from us.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
stated that the times when everything was expected from the state were far
behind, “If the leaders of the chamber and commodity exchanges in the provinces
involved in the project did not take up our project, this success would not
have been achieved.”
- Emine Erdoğan, the wife of President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's wife, Emine Erdoğan, said, “I invite the young girls and
women with intentions to write the future to a world of technology which does
not enslave, but serves man.”
I
am very pleased to see our young people here, the architects of our future. You
thrill us with your presence. When your dynamism is combined with the
experience of adults, I believe that the future will be much more
promising."
Stating
that they want young people to be a step ahead, Emine Erdoğan urged them to not
deny the past, but at the same time to not be stuck in the past; to have robust
self-confidence, with a firm grasp on the times.
Emine
Erdoğan stated that they expect to see women, who at one time were held back
through various misconceptions, as active players.
Emine
Erdoğan pointed out that the world has changed with a speed never seen in
history. “Every morning we awaken to a new world. Not to be left behind, to
keep up with the times has become a race. Science and technology change our
values and life interpretation ways as it changes and facilitates our lives.”
Emine
Erdoğan stated that information technology now constitutes the new face of the
world and that a digital transformation lacking women's voice is an incomplete future.
Erdoğan
continued her speech by saying that a process in which women are designing,
producing and taking part in information technologies will open the door to a
stronger future.
“There
are more than 4 billion internet users in the world today, spending more time
in the virtual environment. Learning, entertainment, shopping needs are
provided here, and in a sense, life is digitalized. For this reason, the
importance of information and communication sector cannot be ignored in
policies to increase women entrepreneurship.”
- Minister of Trade Ruhsar Pekcan
In
her speech, the Minister of Trade Ruhsar Pekcan said, “Sine qua non for Turkey
to make the jump from medium income to high income level league is increasing
the number of women taking part in export-oriented business life.”
Minister
Pekcan stated that the project in question with the Istanbul Women
Entrepreneurs Council Chairwoman Hatice Dinçbal Kal with, “Address for Mobile
Solutions: Women,” and thanked Emine Erdoğan for her support of their work on
women entrepreneurship during that time.
Stressing
that the project was very successful in Istanbul, Pekcan reported that they
have decided to expand the project throughout all of Turkey, under TOBB’s leadership
and with the support of Turkcell.
Pekcan
reported that the first implementation of software development training was
organized in 18 cities with approximately a thousand women participating; more
than 200 projects were developed by the end of the training.
Pekcan
expressed their aims to further spread the project throughout Turkey, “We are
aiming for 5,000 women in 21 provinces. 5,000 women means, 5,000 families. This
project is one of the biggest investments for Turkey's future. Sine qua non for
Turkey to make the jump from medium income to high income level league is
increasing the number of women taking part in export-oriented business life.”
- Turkcell Chairman Ahmet Akça
Turkcell
Chairman Ahmet Akça stated that Turkcell works day and night to contribute to
society and peace.
Stating
that they are the only company in the world that allocates 1 percent of the
company's revenue to benefit society, Akça reported that Turkcell supports
students at all levels including those with disabilities as well as
extraordinary abilities.
Akca
said that women who participated in the project contributed to Turkcell's
products, and that 100 of the women receiving training were employed in
Turkcell. Akca said, “In order to provide an institutional structure to good,
love, respect, compassion, we established Turkcell Foundation. Turkcell
Foundation focus on these endeavors more intensely.”