Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu gave entrepreneurship and innovation lessons to the students after the presentation of the honorary doctorate by Samsun University Rector Prof. Dr. Musa Aydın.

Hisarcıklıoğlu said that Samsun University is a new and innovative university.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that he saw that they were leading important projects on the way to making Samsun a technology production center, “Within the scope of this contemporary vision, you were entitled to receive a zero-waste certificate last year. You have ensured that an important national event such as Teknofest, which carries our young people to the future, is brought to Samsun. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you, our esteemed professors, who are the architects of all these achievements.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu said that they bestowed a great honor on him with the honorary doctorate title given to him in the field of innovation and technology.

“We, as a country, first missed the agricultural revolution and then the industrial revolution,” the TOBB President said, adding, “We are now in the period of digital revolution. Business processes in many sectors were mobilized. The new needs that emerged with digital transformation gave life to new business ideas. The traditional company structure is changing all over the world, and companies prefer to work together with individual entrepreneurs instead of doing everything themselves. This increases the efficiency in the economy by focusing on the activities that both large firms and individual entrepreneurs do best. The economy of individual entrepreneurship, which has become widespread in many countries, is emerging as a new access to the economy for individuals who do not want to work within the molds of a company. With the development of mobile internet and video-conferencing software, it eliminates the need for continuous physical togetherness in working environments. Thanks to the development of social media, the need for physical access to reach customers in any field and anywhere in the world is decreasing. As a result of advances in payment technologies, the need to make transactions through cash or bank to trade is eliminated. With the proliferation of co-working spaces and virtual offices, office costs, one of the most important costs of entrepreneurship, are decreasing. All these developments reveal the new needs that arise with digital transformation and new business ideas with it.”

Stating that a different world has now emerged, Hisarcıklıoğlu said: “7 billion people, a market of 20 trillion dollars, in one button. It's all at your fingertips through e-commerce. Customer, market, supplier, it is possible to reach all of them with a computer. When it comes to exporting, you should not think of selling just clothes or cars. The business models born in Turkey are also holding up in the world. For example, if you use Banabi and take something home, you may have noticed that the fact of this is that our grocery stores used to send goods with their children. Amazon had previously tried this business in the US under the name of Fresh, but it did not grow much because the cost structure there did not hold. Banabi opened our invention, an old business model in Turkey, to the world by modernizing it with digital application and distribution with motor couriers from its own warehouses. Now it is doing the same job in different countries of Europe.

Mutlubiev was founded in 2014 to modernize the day laborer women's business. Both finding reliable women and cleaning the house made the job more effective by breaking it down into pieces such as wiping glass, ironing, etc. Then it began to do the same work in England, Italy and Spain. Turkey's invention of the “dayworker woman” business model, which was made by itself with rapid urbanization, was adapted to the geography of those countries. Currently, most of the company's earnings come from foreign countries. You can say what good is it for our country to sell British yoghurt to the Englishman, or for cleaning the day laborer woman in Italy to take her home in Italy?

It has the following benefit: Many high value-added parts of these works from software to marketing within the value chains are done in Turkey. For example, Banabi has just announced that it will establish a software center for 4,000 people in Turkey. So, for example, it will make software here in Samsun and solve a problem of the distribution business in Europe.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu, stating that there are business models that they cannot invent and export in these lands, said, “For example, one of them is “sales in installments for the cash price”. Another business model is “minibusses”. Rumor has it that the first minibus trip was made by a taxi driver in 1934. At that time, when he made the road from Eminönü to Taksim for 60 centimes a minibus by selling each of the six seats in his vehicle for 10 kurus, the other taxi drivers rebelled first. Nevertheless, it has become one of the indispensable transportation methods of our country, which has become full of time. In 2018, Uber opened its minibus business to the world under the name of UberPool. In summary, it is no longer enough to sell shirts and cars to become rich. Today, the young people who caught up with the age and invented for us are the new riches of the world. It flies that find new ideas and use technology. We are one of the countries with the highest Internet usage. But we still use this technology to make up words and insults.”

Noting that the world's largest companies used to come out of energy, banks and industry, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Today's big businesses are coming out of technology. 10-year, 20-year-old companies. The old is being replaced by newcomers. Young entrepreneurs and companies are replacing the old rich. Zuckerberg founded Facebook at the age of 23. Today, its market capitalization is $1 trillion. Whatsapp has reached a brand value of $ 24 billion with 55 employees. Our postal service, PTT, is 180 years old; it has 40,000 employees, but its value is not a tenth of that. Alibaba.com does not keep a single product in stock. Its market capitalization is $500 billion. Turkey's largest company is Tüpraş. Its annual turnover is 9 billion dollars. Now a question for you: Which automotive company do you think is the most valuable automotive company in the world? The 20-year-old company, Tesla. The owner is an entrepreneur named Elon Musk. As of now, Tesla is worth more than all the other automotive companies combined. All this tells us that with a computer, a good idea and perseverance, it is possible to start our own business. Now you might think that only happens in other countries, but not here. Last year, 129 Turkish startups received and invested $1.3 billion from abroad. Most of them were formed by young people like you, who are university students or have just finished school. Now, for these, people say that they need to know how to code. A graduate from Ankara ETU, Hediye Sönmez, returned to their hometown and started to sell citrus fruits from their father's field to the whole country on the internet. So what I'm saying is, the opportunities are many.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the main capital in this period was not money, but good ideas and perseverance, and for this reason, it was necessary to act to bring new customs to the old village.

Stating that it is necessary to invent, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Only 10 years ago, there was no such thing as social media. Now there are thousands of social media experts. On the other hand, thanks to e-commerce, there is no longer a need for stores made with brick and cement. That's how development happens. So, it is necessary to leave what is left of yesterday to yesterday and look forward. In the past, a window of opportunity has emerged to enter the automotive sector, which was parceled out by centuries-old brands: electric and autonomous vehicles. While transforming the car, both an opportunity to enter a market for Turkey and the necessity of taking precautions so that our automotive supplier industry is not left out of this transformation has emerged. We started Turkey's Automobile TOGG with this vision. We are realizing the 60-year-old dream of our country. For the first time in our history, we are producing an electric car from birth, all of whose intellectual property rights belong to our country. We contribute to the green transformation process and mobility ecosystem of our country. At the same time, we are establishing a brand new and young supply chain and production system in our country. We work with start-up companies in different fields, founded by our youth like you. Some do the camera of the car, some do driving analysis, some do another part. Our production facilities in Bursa Gemlik will hopefully be operational at the end of this year. Next year, we will start to see TOGG on the roads.”

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu continued:

“Before every great success, there are failures. Do not give up on the path you believe in, do not give up. The life story of Abraham Lincoln, considered one of the most successful presidents of the United States, is a good example of this. Abraham Lincoln, at the age of 21, failed his first job. He lost his first election at the age of 22. At the age of 24, he started a business again but failed. At the age of 26, his wife passed away. At the age of 27, he went into a depression. He lost the congressional election at the age of 34. At the age of 36, he lost the congressional elections again. He lost the senate election at the age of 45. He lost the election for vice president at the age of 47. He lost the senate elections again at the age of 49. But he did not give up, worked patiently, strived, and succeeded. He was elected president of the United States at the age of 52. So I will say in summary; “Never give up on your confidence and dreams”. Remember, not every attempt is successful. But only those who try, succeed.

Remember, how far we’ve come in 100 years. Imagine a country: defeated and devastated by war. There is no capital, no machine to produce, no trained workforce. It has no tractor to process the land, no people who speak the language. There are not even many people who can read and write. It has already missed the Industrial Revolution. But what did you have? Great determination. Faith. On this occasion, I commemorate with mercy and gratitude Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of our Republic, and his comrades in arms, who started the War of Independence on May 19^th and gave us this country. We win every time we come together. But when we are divided, we all lose. Therefore, my advice to you is to strengthen the alliances among you, not the conflicts, not the hostilities, but the dialogue. Do not allow anyone to come between you and divide you on ethnic, sectarian or cultural differences. Don't marginalize anyone. If we alienate others, we lose. This country needs every single mind. We will be one, we will be together. We will walk into the future together. And we will win. We will become one of the largest economies in the world. I believe in you, I trust you. I will carry the Honorary Doctorate of Samsun University with honor for a lifetime.”