15.01.2021 Ankara
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu participated in the introductory meeting of the 'Clean Business Project' developed by TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council with the support of the General Directorate of Lifelong Learning of the Ministry of National Education and OPET via video conference.
In
his speech here, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that under the leadership of Nurten Öztürk,
TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council President, a very auspicious and much-needed
project was created and said that they are very pleased that this project was
launched before World Hygiene Day.
Emphasizing
that with this project, public and private sectors come together and action is
taken to leave a better and cleaner Turkey for citizens and future generations,
Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “You know, in our belief, cleanliness comes from faith. We
grew up with this motto. Indeed, cleanliness is a healthy life, a necessity for
a healthy generation. The healthy generation is also the future of the country.
We've seen how important this is during the pandemic. On the other hand, thanks
to the pandemic, there has been a significant increase in awareness of
cleanliness and hygiene in all segments of the public and at all age levels.
Here in our Women Entrepreneurs Council, they will respond to this sensitivity
in society, they designed this beautiful project just in time and implemented
it together with our Ministry of National Education.”
Referring
to the industrial aspect of this project, TOBB President continued: “You know,
one of the complaints of tradesmen and entrepreneurs, especially in tourism
centers, was not being able to reach foreign tourists due to the influence of
the all-inclusive system. But part of the reason was our shortcomings in
presenting the environment offered in hotels to the same standard outside. The Clean
Business Project will support micro-enterprises operating in the field of food
and drink, accommodation and transportation in the service sector to stand out
and for consumers and especially tourists to choose these places.
This
project, which is now launched in 3 pilot provinces with our TOBB Women
Entrepreneurs Council members, which is one of the largest women entrepreneur
networks in the world with 7,000 members in 81 provinces, will then spread to
all provinces. I would like to take this opportunity to thank project partners,
our TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council, the Ministry of National Education, the
General Directorate of Lifelong Learning and OPET, one of the leading companies
in our country, to become a brand in terms of hygiene.”
- MEB Lifelong Learning General
Manager Büyük
Yusuf
Büyük, General Manager of Lifelong Learning at the Ministry of National
Education, stated that their mission is to provide high quality education that
can be documented and monitored, providing guidance to everyone anywhere at any
time during the transformation process into a learning society, supporting the
individual to take responsibility for the development of humanity by improving
their competencies.
Büyük
expressed his satisfaction that the Clean Business Project, which is a new
beginning in hygiene, will be implemented with the cooperation of TOBB Women
Entrepreneurs Council and the support of OPET.
- TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council
President Öztürk
TOBB
Women Entrepreneurs Council President and Founding Member of OPET Board of
Directors Nurten Öztürk said that each individual and company, especially
public institutions and organizations, have basic duties and responsibilities
in protecting and improving public health, improving quality of life, raising
healthy generations with adequate training in cleanliness and hygiene.
As
OPET, living on the basis of stakeholder participation; seeking solutions to
social problems; Öztürk said that they have produced long-term projects and fully
supported many projects, “We have given hygiene and cleaning trainings to more
than 10 million people since 2000 with the Clean Toilet Campaign we have been
carrying out since 2000 in order to create a clean and healthy society. These
difficult days with the pandemic once again revealed how important the
space-human relationship is in transmission and how necessary hygiene is for
every environment."
“Hygiene
is a healthy environment where secure cleaning is conducted and should be the
first priority for workplace and employee safety in all public living areas,
large and small. In our Business Clean Project, we aim to provide clean,
hygienic and healthy services to micro enterprises by organizing hygiene
trainings for the service sector together with our project partners. We aim to
declare a national transformation throughout Turkey. We want to make our
hospitality, which is one of the most important values of our country, people
and tourism, safer with hygienic rules. By raising awareness in the community,
we aim to increase the capacities of micro enterprises and increase their
revenues during this challenging period.”
- “Clean Business Project”
The
“Clean Business Project”, implemented by the TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council with
the goal of creating equal opportunity for the sustainability of micro
enterprises by increasing the hygiene capacities of micro enterprises, begins with
pilot studies in Izmir, Muğla and Antalya, one of the most vibrant provinces in
Turkey in terms of tourism.
Under
the leadership of TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council, the “Clean Business
Project, which will walk in cooperation with OPET, which has an important
experience in this field with the General Directorate of Lifelong Learning of
the Ministry of National Education and the Clean Toilet Campaign it has been
carrying out for 21 years, is carried out to have clean, hygienic and healthy
service enterprises all over Turkey by creating hygiene-oriented training
programs for micro enterprises in the service sector.
With
the “Business Clean Project,” it is aimed to increase the hygiene capacities of
enterprises called micro-enterprises, whose annual employee employment is less
than 10 people, and whose annual net sales revenue or financial balance sheet
does not exceed 3 million TRY, and to increase their income with the
satisfaction they hear about their business.
The
project, which will be developed to make a difference for micro enterprises and
work within the norms, will create specially structured hygiene-oriented
training programs in cooperation with the General Directorate of Lifelong
Learning of the Ministry of National Education.
These
training programs will be brought together with micro enterprises through MEB's
online training platform by the instructors of the Center for Public Education
in pilot provinces. In the pilot project launched in Izmir, Antalya and Muğla,
where tourism potential is high, we create awareness in the community and
become involved in the service sector; micro-enterprises operating in the field
of food and drink, accommodation and transportation will be supported to stand
out.
The
project, which is aimed at reaching a total of 31,500 businesses in three
provinces, will continue until the end of June 2022. The project, which will be
expanded throughout Turkey after the studies in pilot provinces, will benefit
from the experience of OPET, which has taken important steps to create hygiene
awareness by reaching more than 10 million people in 21 years with the Clean
Toilet Campaign.
- Hygiene training will be given to
a total of 31,500 enterprises in three provinces
Within
the scope of the project, a total of 18,000, including 6,000 from the food and
drink sector in Izmir, 6,000 from the hospitality sector and 6,000 from the
transportation sector, 3,000 from the food and drink sector in Antalya, a total
of 9,000, including 3,000 from the hospitality sector and 3,000 from the
transportation sector, and 1,500 from the food and beverage sector in Muğla,
1.50 from the hospitality sector Hygiene trainings will be organized for a
total of 4,500 micro enterprises, including 1,500 from the transport sector and
31,500 micro enterprises in total, to create and operate hygienic conditions
that are vital for public health.
With
the project where online workshops will be organized for three different areas,
the information, attitudes and changes of the target audience will be reported
with the researches carried out before and after the applications. People who
have completed their training will be entitled to receive the 'Hygiene Training
Certificate', while the business will be able to take the “Clean Business Hygiene
Training” certificate and display it in the appropriate place of its business.
In addition, social impact research will be conducted to measure the impact it
has had during the project process. 3 different sector-specific hygiene
trainings and other project applications to be developed within the scope of
the project will be carried out in the pilot provinces of Izmir, Antalya and
Muğla and it is aimed to expand the trainings to all of Turkey through MEB
online training platforms thanks to the online training content developed.
- Priority expectations were
determined by research
Within
the scope of the project, a qualified research was carried out to determine the
insights of micro enterprises and micro enterprises in the service sector on
cleanliness and hygiene. As a result of the research, it was determined that
the need to feel comfortable, peaceful and safe in the environments where the
perceptions of hygiene and cleanliness changed with the corona period. It was
also seen that the level of hygiene expected by those receiving parallel
services from a post-pandemic business gained a high priority compared to
before the pandemic. In addition, it was observed that business owners as well
as participants who received services developed methods themselves outside of
routine measures.
According
to the findings of the research:
•When
it comes to cleaning for the hospitality industry, the most important elements
are associated with the whiteness of the furnishing and the pleasant smell of
the environment;
•It
is compatible with concrete indicators such as staff using bonnets, gloves,
equipment, etc. for the café-restaurant sector.
•For
the transportation sector, concrete indicators such as cleanliness of the
exterior, pleasant smell of ventilation and environment come to the forefront.
•The
common expectation in these 3 sectors, where human traffic is heavy, is again;
taking special precautions for surfaces where people come into contact the most
(door handles, faucet arms and heads, spices, handles, etc.)
Those
who served in the research stated that there is a need to prepare a training
program that is structured on the training of personnel and includes
implementation recommendations. Micro-business owners, while not knowing their
names and contents, emphasized that although they are aware of a number of
hygiene certificates, they are not interested due to their busy work tempos.
Business owners have announced that they will be interested in the trainings to
be offered with MEB certification in the Clean Business project. With these trainings,
they shared that it will contribute to raising awareness about how to do the
right cleaning and hygiene, increasing and visibility of the business and
creating a perception of trust in the consumer mind. While the online education
was received positively, it was emphasized that supporting the project by the
public and private sectors increased the confidence in the project.