Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

In his speech, TOBB Board of Directors Treasurer Faik Yavuz advised the participants not to be a prisoner of technology and to direct technology. Yavuz said that they have organized 78 events under the name of Technology Meetings so far and reached over 100,000 entrepreneurs, and that they have taken the lead for the Turkish business world to keep up with the digital age.

Faik Yavuz, who stated that they are working with all their strength to ensure that Turkey gets the share it deserves in the world's 20 trillion dollar e-commerce market, said, “When we look at the world, we see that the vast majority of rapidly growing companies choose the e-commerce path. We are especially working for our SMEs to improve themselves in cross-border e-commerce. We are developing the digital infrastructure of our entrepreneurs with the world's largest global companies. We produce projects to improve digital literacy. Our women and young entrepreneur councils are also developing many projects to keep up with this rapid technological development. They provide trainings in 81 provinces to improve the competencies of our entrepreneurs.”

Yavuz said that they want to develop not only e-commerce from company to consumer, but also e-commerce from company to company, and that they are guiding them together with the sector council representing the whole sector.

Yavuz reminded that with the authorization of the Ministry of Commerce, in order to establish a sense of trust in consumers, as TOBB, they started to give a seal of trust to e-commerce sites, and that consumers could shop from these sites with peace of mind.

Faik Yavuz stated that the sector councils will continue to take an active part in all sector-oriented studies such as software, e-commerce and financial technologies, and that they will reflect the information coming from the field to the policy design processes in the most effective way, and that TOBB Technology Meetings are the best example of this.

Speaking at the opening session moderated by Saba Tümer, TOBB Turkey Creative Industries Council President Ata Kavame stated that technology is not a linear line and said, “It has dimensions, it is not a straight line, you will determine the direction. You think you're following technology, but you can't. If you think that we are following closely, you are only the market of that technology, you are a good customer. That's all. Technology can only be led.”

Explaining that the biggest companies in the world today are Apple, Amazon, Google, Space X and Verizon, Kavame said, “Look, these companies are not technology companies as it is thought, they have creative ideas, they have dreams and they use technology to achieve these dreams, creative ideas. The real secret of their success is not only technologies, but also the wonderful harmony in combining creative business ideas with technology. Remember, technology is a tool, you will have a creative idea first, it is not enough to produce only knowing technology.”

TOBB Software Council President Ertan Barut stated that as TOBB Turkey Software Assembly, their primary goal is to increase the employment of software workers in Turkey, to support software production, to increase the development and exports of the software industry.

Barut said that they have taken all the necessary steps to become a sector that prefers common sense and common voice to achieve these goals.

Explaining that they continue to work on issues such as preventing labor losses, new employment opportunities and software developer training programs, which is one of the important problems of the sector in the recent period, Barut stated that they plan to start trainings for up to a few months within the scope of the software developer workforce training project.

Zehra Öney, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Women in Technology Association, said that with the Technology Meetings, SMEs will be of great benefit in digitalization, moving their business, trade and exports to digital and mobile channels and even to the Metaverse.

Öney stated that as the Women in Technology Association, they aim to create competent, expert human resources that Turkey needs in its digitalization journey and to create human diversity in technology and production by providing entry and training of women who are low in motivation, few in number and have not participated in employment and production in this field.

Explaining that they have specialized in the field of technology for 2000 young people in 3 years with the two academies they have established in this context, Öney said, “We have strengthened both EQ and IQ with the 6-month and completely free softskills and technical trainings we provide. We have ensured that they receive globally valid certifications.”