Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Balkan Union of Chambers (ABC) Entrepreneurs Council 1st Meeting was held in The Marmara Hotel in Istanbul. Attending the meeting in addition to TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu were; the Minister of Family and Social Affairs, Fatma Şahin; ABC President Tsvetan Simeonov and TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Board President Aynur Bektaş.

TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, speaking at the start of the council meeting expressed his gratification for the first meeting organized by ABC being held in Turkey. Providing information on the Women Entrepreneurs Council established in 2007 under TOBB, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that for the first time in Turkey women were being elected to offices of chambers and exchange presidents and raising awareness. Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that he requested from the Women Entrepreneurs Council to raise the number of women entrepreneurs from 1,500 to 10,500.

- Women’s entrepreneurship is not a fad

Stating that women’s entrepreneurship is not a fad but rather, an imperative, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “I want to be rich. The way to achieve that is by increasing the number of women entrepreneurs in the country. How did the Soviets fail? They were the world’s largest military super power. They were ahead of the USA technologically. What happened that the Soviets fell without a single shot fired? They were missing the nerve center. Soviets did not have entrepreneurs.”

Stating that where there are no entrepreneurs, there can be no quality and prices, Hisarcıklıoğlu gave examples of growth from Germany and Japan. “How did it come to be that Germany and Japan, even though they lost,” asked Hisarcıklıoğlu, “have advanced to their present states in 30 years? The entrepreneurs of those wrecked countries picked up the pieces and made them economic powers. We want to make you into role models and have girls say ‘I want to be an entrepreneur after I graduate.’”

- Violence against women

Talking about violence against women, TOBB President said, “These issues may stem from economic, sociological and psychological reasons. I have two suggestions to deal with this; support women’s entrepreneurship and address the imbalance in deeds and land registries. I think these could eliminate violence against women.”

- Minister of Family and Social Policies Fatma Şahin

Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin underlined the importance of women entrepreneurs. Stating that social peace is connected to development, Minister Şahin said that in the changing world order, solidarity between generations is just as important as economic growth for sustainable advancement.

Pointing out the importance of the organized women’s movement started by Hisarcıklıoğlu in 2007, Minister Şahin said, “I would like to thank Mr. President for his vision and Mrs. Aynur for her efforts.”

Stating that woman’s enterprising spirit is very strong, Şahin spoke: “Because their ability to communicate is so strong. When women are given the chance, we see very significant success stories. We know the difficulties of reaching finances. We will solve women’s difficulty in attaining finance together. Success smells of effort. We will make use of the legacy of science and mind that Atatürk left to us. We will take our place in the economic growth of Turkey. This will not happen without including women in the decision making process. The bird with a single wing cannot fly the athlete with a single leg cannot run. We will embrace each other. We will trust in the resources of ourselves and our country.”

- TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council President Aynur Bektaş

TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council President Aynur Bektaş started her speech by emphasizing the importance of the meeting. Stating that women are an important factor of sustainable growth throughout the world, Bektaş said, “Among the 52 million employed in our country only 5.9 million are women whereas we have 26 million who could be working in our country. The employment rate of women which was 26.7% in 2010 has increased to 30.5%. This rate is too low for the strongly entrepreneur-spirited Turkey.”

Aynur Bektaş, drawing attention to the fact that rate of employment is directly affected by level of education said, “The way to prosper in the business world and create new fields of employment is through increasing women entrepreneurship.” Providing information on the TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council, Bektaş said, “The number of women taking part in chambers and exchanges has increased by 92% since we have started activities.”

- There should be a special fund for women

Requesting the formation of a fund only for women, Aynur Bektaş related how this was necessary for women to expand their businesses. Bektaş said, “Many companies want to see more women CEOs. Turkey is in 2nd place in this regard, after Finland.” Urging women to be confident, Aynur Bektaş provided information on women business council presidents.

- Balkan Union of Chambers (ABC) President Tsvetan Simeonov

In her speech, Balkan Union of Chambers (ABC) President Tsvetan Simeonov said, “I present my thanks for this flawless organization. Women are half the world. The better half, according to most people. Today, we have taken a historical step. We are holding our first meeting thanks to the support of the Turkish industry and commerce chambers and the ABC.”

Expressing her gratification that women entrepreneurship garners such interest in Turkey, Simeonov said, “The next step is to support the efforts of women entrepreneurs. If gender equality is achieved, serious steps towards advancement can be taken.”
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