17.07.2020 Ankara
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu and KOSGEB President Cevahir Uzkurt participated in the “KOSGEB SME Supports Information Webinar” organized in cooperation with TOBB and KOSGEB.
TOBB President M.
Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, speaking at the meeting held online with the wide participation
of SMEs, said that SMEs are monitoring every hardship experienced by SMEs day
by day through Chamber-Exchanges, Sector Councils, OIZs and entrepreneurs
during the difficult period we are going through. Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that
they relay the problems to the relevant institutions and ministers in person
every evening, “Thankfully, facilitation of access to financing, tax and
premium deferral, arrangements for working life, and many such demands from you
came to life as a result of our follow-up. In this context, KOSGEB has ensured
that KOSGEB-backed loan payments are postponed for 3 months. Thus, KOSGEB 's
loan support programs of 136,000 SMEs' debt of 713 million TRY corresponding to
April, May and June was deferred. Again, in this process, promotional videos
for KOSGEB supports were prepared and published in order to facilitate the
access of our SMEs to support."
- SMEs are the backbone of the economy
Noting that SMEs are
the lifeblood of the country's economy, the TOBB President stated that the most
important segment that spins the wheels of the economy are SMEs.
Hisarcıklıoğlu, according to TÜİK data, there are 3.5 million SMEs, “SMEs
represent 99.8% of the total number of enterprises, 74% of employment, 63% of
exports, 54.1% of wages and wages, 62% of turnover. For these reasons, our SMEs
are the backbone of the economy. Therefore, policies designed to develop and
grow SMEs are also of great importance. The most important of these policies is
access to funding. Today, KOSGEB takes on a very important task in providing SMEs
access to finance. KOSGEB is an important stakeholder in which we are represent
in its Executive Committee. I took this opportunity to celebrate KOSGEB's 30th
founding anniversary.”
TOBB President
Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that they have implemented many projects together as
TOBB and KOSGEB, and said that they are working together in a wide range of
areas, from SME guidance, foreign business trips, fair participations to
digitalization supports.