04.02.2022 İstanbul
The Women Writing the Future Project Climate Idea Marathon Final and Award Ceremony, which was carried out in cooperation with the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council and Turkcell, was held in İstanbul with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's wife Emine Erdoğan, Family and Social Services Minister Derya Yanık, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, TOBB Vice President Tamer Kıran and Turkcell Chairman Bülent Aksu.
After jury evaluations,
the projects that were awarded were announced at the ceremony. Hüsne Temur,
Nimet Özmeral and Semanur Erbay completed the final with teknoTeam project in
first place. Merve Atalay was in second place with the Mapla project and Fatma
Aouani Çöpoğlu in third place with the CH+.ai project.
In addition to the
awards of 50,000 TL to the first, 30,000 TL to the second and 20,000 TL to the
third, entrepreneurship mentorship will be provided by TOBB Women Entrepreneurs
Council so that the contestants who ranked can implement their ideas. In
addition, the first three finalists will receive free office and infrastructure
services, free training and horizontal-vertical mentoring support for 6 months
at TOBB ETU GARAGE Incubation Center in Ankara.
- “As TOBB, we will
continue to support our women”
Tamer Kıran, Vice
President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB),
said at the ceremony that women learned to write code during the first two
periods of the project they launched in 2017. “Women have developed mobile
apps. They had the opportunity to test Turkcell's products and services. While
some women became entrepreneurs, a significant number were employed in
technology companies. The Women Writing the Future Project continued with the Climate
Idea Marathon, which became very meaningful during the pandemic period. They
competed with the technological solution ideas they developed on environmental
and climate issues.”
Kıran explained that
they matched each of the semi-finalists with the heads of TOBB Provincial Women
Entrepreneurs Council, adding: “Our presidents from different regions and
provinces gave mentoring support to the contestants in order to commercialize
and develop their ideas. Our Women Entrepreneur Councils have worked hard both
to increase the number of women entrepreneurs and to support our existing women
entrepreneurs. They mobilized for this purpose in 81 provinces. They encouraged
women to do these projects. This year, TOBB decided to give separate support to
the contestants, unlike other periods. Today, we will offer free office and
infrastructure support to our top three finalists who are eligible for awards
in our entrepreneurship centers called 'stations' that we have established in
13 provinces so that they can participate in the commercialization and
entrepreneurship ecosystem of their ideas. In addition, we will make free use
of the certificate programs offered within TOBB University of Economics and
Technology for all our semi-finalists.”
Kıran stated that the
world is now moving from talking in the process of combating climate change to
talking, and that the fight against climate change has become one of Turkey's
most important agenda items, together with the European Green Deal process
raised by the European Union and the Paris Climate Agreement signed by the will
of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Stating that ideas are
needed in Turkey that will contribute to innovative and green transformation in
every sector and in every field, Kıran said, “We care very much about this
competition because it motivates the formation of such ideas. As TOBB, we will
continue to support our women. If they’re strong, the family, the community,
the country will be strong. I believe that by working together, we will achieve
new success stories.”
- “We have created an
important community of software developers”
Turkcell Chairman
Bülent Aksu stated that they are working with the vision of being a model
company in both Turkey and the world in sustainability efforts, “In this
context, we are one of the first companies to implement the Zero Waste Project.
On the other hand, we are implementing sustainable development goals in all our
corporate processes within the framework of the United Nations Global Compact,
which we have been a signatory to since 2007. As Turkcell, we have determined
our sustainability strategy to be a carbon neutral company by 2050. In this
context, last year we met all of our electricity consumption by supplying 100
percent renewable energy sources.”