Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of KADEM Foundation Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar and Saliha Okur Gümrükçüoğlu presented their awards to 30 women entrepreneurs who made it to the finals among 13 entrepreneurs.
Minister Varank, in his speech at the award ceremony of the 7th Entrepreneurship Camp of the KADEM Women in Innovation Project, stated that non-governmental organizations; He said that there are initiatives that work on a voluntary basis by focusing on social issues and problems. Noting that KADEM also strives to be a pioneer in building an exemplary society with its struggle for women and the family with the motto of "equality in existence, justice in responsibility", Varank said, "Despite its short 9-year history, KADEM raises the representation power of Turkish women in all areas of social life with its activities. Today, we are witnessing one more of these efforts together. I wish that this beautiful organization, which encourages our women to be entrepreneurs, will be beneficial for our country.” he said.
WELLNESS IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Varank stated that he expressed his gratitude to the Istanbul Development Agency, KOSGEB, Informatics Valley, Yıldız Teknopark, TÜBİTAK Marmara Teknokent, Istanbul Technology Transfer Office, Turkey Exporters Assembly, Üsküdar Municipality and all other stakeholders, who contributed and supported, especially KADEM, and said, “Here, our funds are there is. We must not forget them either. Funds, which are the dynamo of this business, are the drags in this business. I also thank them very much. As the Ministry of Industry and Technology, we see entrepreneurship as the most important tool for creating prosperity in the digital age.” said.
GREAT MOVEMENT
Explaining that they clearly revealed this in the 2023 Industry and Technology Strategy prepared under the guidance of the National Technology Move, Varank said, “One of our most important goals in our strategy was to launch at least 2023 unicorns, that is, companies with a billion dollar valuation, from our country by 10. When we set this goal, there was not a single unicorn in our country. Thank God, Turkey has 6 unicorns, or Turcorn as we call it. Investments in Turkish technology companies gained momentum. In 2021, the investment received by Turkish enterprises from the funds increased 9 times compared to the previous year and reached 1,5 billion dollars. In the first 9 months of this year, we have already achieved the investment figures of the previous year.” he said.
GOLDEN AGE IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Stating that he has witnessed many impressive success stories, Varank said, “One of them fits the meaning of today's ceremony. I'm talking about Hande Çilingir. Insider, which he is the founder of, became the first unicorn in software from Turkey with the investment he received as a software company. It also showed all of Turkey how successful women can be in the field of entrepreneurship. When we look at the year 2022, we see that the fund investments made worldwide decreased by 2021 percent compared to 27. Turkey is experiencing its golden age in entrepreneurship today. So why are we living in this golden age today and not in the past? We need to highlight this as well. The reason for these successes today is the investments we have started to make in the entrepreneurship ecosystem.” made its assessment.
2.2 BILLION LIRA GRANT
Varank stated that they have increased the number of technoparks to which they provided 20 billion lira grant support from 2,2 to 2 in the last 96 years, adding, “We have increased the number of R&D and design centers supported by our Ministry to over 1.500. We have supported more than 81 thousand projects in these centers so far. Recently, we have taken very important steps in financing, which is one of the biggest problems in front of entrepreneurship. We implemented the Technology and Innovation Fund, the Regional Development Fund and the Informatics Valley Investment Fund, with a total size of 1,3 billion liras, with the resources of the Ministry. The 4 funds, which were established with the Tech-InvesTR program, which we support together with the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, have invested 52 million TL in 572 different initiatives so far, and these investments will continue quickly. We contribute 500 million TL to venture capital funds with our local development agencies.” he said.
MORE THOUSAND APPLICATIONS
Noting that more than 2 women have applied to the Women in Innovation Project and that more than 200 women have received entrepreneurship training, Varank said, “Our women entrepreneurs who received awards from this program achieve great success in different fields. For example, Aleyna Yıldız received an award from us after the Women's Entrepreneurship in Innovation Camp, became a company with the support of TÜBİTAK and received her first investment during this time. She established a screen printing production area for the manufacture of electronic parts and equipment by receiving KOSGEB Advanced Entrepreneurship Support in order to carry the biosensors and electronic components she developed further. Likewise, Duygu Yılmaz is one of our women entrepreneurs who received an award after the Women's Entrepreneurship in Innovation Camp. He established a biotechnology startup that produces completely natural bioplastic granules with an investment from Vestel Ventures with a valuation of 30 million dollars.” she said.
VENTURAL CAPITAL FUNDS
“Another example, Başak Demir, took part in the Women's Entrepreneurship in Innovation Camp and received an award.” Varank said, “KOSGEB is currently taking the drone systems it has produced with the R&D, P&D and Innovation Support Program even further. In Samsun, it provides services to companies and farmers in its region. Every step taken in the name of entrepreneurship in Turkey actually supports each other. Those trained in the Women in Innovation Project then establish their businesses or develop their products with public support. They are also expanding their businesses with the support they receive from venture capital funds.” he said.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP ECOSYSTEM
Noting that the entrepreneurial ecosystem they built from scratch, Varank said, "From now on, we will carry out much more successful works together with the increase of the stakeholders of the ecosystem. We will build the Century of Turkey together with our valuable entrepreneurs. Hopefully, a unicorn will emerge from the women participating in the Women in Innovation Project, I believe wholeheartedly. Our people have this potential. As long as we share our opportunities with them, the ecosystem here works properly. We are currently running this ecosystem, which we have built from scratch in 20 years under the leadership of our President, in a good way. I hope we will continue to reap the benefits of this in Turkey's second century, in the next century, in a much better way.” he said.
"I HAVE AN IDEA"
KADEM Chairman of the Board of Directors Saliha Okur Gümrükçüoğlu stated that more than 2 women entrepreneurs applied to the Women in Innovation projects by saying 'I Have an Idea' and said, “More than 200 women entrepreneurs received training in our camp. 30 of the 13 women entrepreneurs who were entitled to the award established their own companies and received national and international awards. When we looked at the projects that participated in our innovation camp this year, we saw that the sectoral diversity was in a wide range.” said.
The ceremony was attended by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of KADEM Foundation Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar, the Chairman of the Board of KADEM Dr. Saliha Okur Gümrükçüoğlu, President of TÜBİTAK Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal, KOSGEB President Hasan Basri Kurt, Istanbul Development Agency General Secretary İsmail Erkam Tüzgen, Informatics Valley General Manager Ahmet Serdar İbrahimcioğlu, TÜBİTAK Marmara Teknokent Chairman and General Manager Mehmet Ali Okur and women entrepreneurs who took part in the project participated in the project.
AWARDS WERE WINNED
At the ceremony, the women who made their first sale by turning their venture into a company were given seed investment support in the "Incubation" category, and the entrepreneurs whose projects were within the scope of ideas and models and had not yet started sales were awarded financial support in the "Pre-Incubation" category.
Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of KADEM Foundation Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar and Saliha Okur Gümrükçüoğlu presented their awards to the women who were ranked within the scope of the project.
During the award presentation, Varank asked the project stakeholders in the hall to increase the support of 150 thousand TL for the first place, 100 thousand TL for the second place and 50 thousand TL for the third in the “Pre-Incubation” category by fifty thousand TL each.
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