Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Hisarcıklıoğlu reported that 1,400 women have participated in 18 trainings, having come to the end of a 6-month marathon to learn application software development. Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out that the trainees have developed 239 applications at the end of their software and business plan training, “48 of them were in the semifinals and 10 of them were entitled to compete in the finals. We will announce the top 3 entries. I’ll you up front; in my eyes all of the entrants have made the grade for me. I heartily congratulate everyone who participated in the trainings. Why do I celebrate all of you? Because everyone won.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the road to Turkey’s prosperity is through entrepreneurship. “We will carry our country to prosperous tomorrows. You will both prosper and be the driving force of our country's prosperity.”

- Youth and women are our future

TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that young people and women are not merely the present but the future, “Women and young people who are treasures more precious than oil and natural gas. We need more software entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs who understand software. In 2007, only 6% of the employers in Turkey were women. In 2016, this rate increased to 10%. We have been fighting for 10 years as TOBB. The increase of 4% points is due in large part to the TOBB Women and Young Entrepreneurial Councils. The TOBB Women Entrepreneurship Council, established in 2007, has become the world's largest network of women entrepreneurs. We are grateful to have had the opportunity see our efforts bear fruit.”

- Other speakers

TOBB Young Entrepreneurs Board Chairman Ali Sabancı emphasized that despite the fact that half of the population is women, the number of women participating in the workforce is insufficient. Sabancı pointed out that it is necessary to raise awareness to this issue, and said that he believes in the power of women.

TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Chairwoman Evrim Aras expressed that technology is a catalyst for the business world. Stating that women will make a big difference to practice and development, Aras expressed the importance the process which starting off with 1400 applications.

Turkcell General Manager Kaan Terzioğlu stated that it will become important to know not only foreigner languages but also software. Given that all technologies exist to add value to human beings, Terzioğlu said that the female labor force is the most important shortcoming of the economy.

- Otizmo awarded first prize

At the end of the 6-month journey, 10 projects were evaluated and awarded at the ceremony. Gökçe Demir and Hilal Şener had the first prize of the night with their projects called Otizmo. The software Otizmo offers the possibility to diagnose autism with the signals received via the wearable device.

Özden Çetin Near, winning the second prize, aims to help parents in keeping their children healthy. Ayşe Nur Zengin, Evin Keles and Mary Sena Kılıç developed Yubiva, which was awarded the third prize.

The Yubiva project offers sign language training for children with hearing impairment between the ages of 6-12 using playing cards and augmented reality.