01.11.2023 Antalya
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu in his speech at the 100th Year G3 Summit, pointing out that it is possible to sell goods all over the world through e-commerce, “In the first 6 months of this year, Türkiye's e-commerce volume increased 110 percent compared to the previous year. 653 billion lira trade volume was realized. Great opportunities have emerged for those who see and evaluate the opportunity here. This issue is not limited to the domestic market. E-export volume also exceeded 2 billion dollars. But there are greater distances we will cover in this field.” Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the new wealthy of the world are entrepreneurs who succeed in catching up with the age and inventing.
The 100th
Anniversary G3 Summit was held in Antalya with the participation of TOBB
President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Antalya Chamber of Commerce and Industry
President Ali Bahar, Antalya Commodity Exchange President Ali Çandır, Antalya
Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Muhittin Böcek, TÜSİAD President Orhan Turan,
ANSİAD President Akıncı, TÜRKONFED President Süleyman Sönmez, Gen Tr President
Nevzat Aydın and G3 Platform President Gülden Yılmaz.
Delivering a speech at
the summit, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “For years, I have
always pointed out and emphasized that we are facing a digital revolution. It
is now possible to sell goods to many countries via the internet. You can reach
every corner of the world through e-commerce. Billions of potential customers,
trillion-dollar markets, all within your reach. However, there is still work to
be done. Only 25 percent of our SMEs are involved in e-commerce and only 4
percent can e-export.”
On the other hand,
Hisarcıklıoğlu said that when we think of exports, we should not only think of
selling textiles, food or goods: “Innovative business models born in Türkiye
also catch on in the world. For example, many of you have bought things from
companies that distribute over the internet. In fact, the original of this
business was the ‘sending the order with the apprentice’ model of our grocery
stores in the past. Turkish entrepreneurs have modernized this old business
model and brought it to the present day. They expanded it by using digital
applications and distributing it from their own warehouses by motorized
couriers. They spread the same business to Europe and America. Again, it used
to be important to have a store or a market on the busiest street. Now, where
is the most valuable land in the world is on the screens of our cell phones.
The important thing is to get a place on this valuable land. In other words, to
be able to take place on the cell phone screen.”
- Wealth does not come with oil and gas
Hisarcıklıoğlu said:
“Oil and natural gas do not bring permanent wealth to countries. Today, the
position of countries depends on their entrepreneurial capacity. Switzerland
and South Korea have no natural resources, but they are more advanced than
Russia, which is rich in natural resources. Germany and Japan emerged from the
World War completely destroyed and devastated. But within a generation they
were among the most developed countries in the world. Because they had an
entrepreneurial middle class. And today, those who keep up with the times and
invent things are the world's new wealthy. Those who come up with new ideas and
use technology are flying. In the past, the world's biggest companies came out
of energy, banks and industry. Now the biggest ones come out of technology. New
initiatives of 5-10-20 years leave the giants of the past behind. Young
entrepreneurs and their companies are replacing the old rich. All this tells us
this: With a computer, a good idea and perseverance, it is possible to start
our own business. Look, now you may think. These things happen in other
countries, but not in ours. Last year, around 340 Turkish start-ups received
1.7 billion dollars from abroad. Especially Gaming and Fintech applications
attracted a record number of investors. Most of these were founded by
university students or young entrepreneurs who have just finished school. The
number sounds big, but it is actually just a drop in the ocean. Worldwide, the
money coming to such initiatives is around 450 billion dollars a year. We, on
the other hand, have only a 4 per thousand share of this pie. So we have a long
way to go here too. Money is abundant in
the world, but ideas are scarce. Now, some may think that you need to know
coding for these things, but you don't. So what I am saying is that
opportunities abound. In these times, the real capital is not money, but good
ideas and perseverance. But for this, we need to act in order to bring a new
tradition to the old village. And our professors need to train young people to
invent things. Because we believe that becoming a richer country will only be
possible if we have more entrepreneurs.”
- To become one of the most important centers of
entrepreneurship in the world
Hisarcıklıoğlu
mentioned that they established the Women Entrepreneurs Board and the Young
Entrepreneurs Board within TOBB in order to create more entrepreneurs, and said
that together with these boards, they organized more than 1,200 activities in
81 provinces last year alone.
Stating that in 2000,
Türkiye's total R&D expenditures were only 1.2 billion dollars, while today
Türkiye allocates approximately 11.5 billion dollars to R&D annually, TOBB
President said, “The number of our technology development zones was only 2 in
2001. Today, there are 101 technoparks in Türkiye. At that time, Türkiye did
not yet have a unicorn, that is, a start-up enterprise with a value exceeding 1
billion dollars. Today, 7 technology-based start-ups in Türkiye have succeeded
in becoming unicorns. The target is to increase this number to 10 by 2025. By
2030, 100,000 techno-startups are expected to be established in Türkiye. We are
expected to become one of the 20 most important centers of the world in
entrepreneurship.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
concluded his remarks by mentioning the characteristics that a successful
entrepreneur should have. Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that the most important
conditions in entrepreneurship are dreaming, setting goals, working hard,
partnering by building a good team and not being afraid of failure by being
brave.