Sustainability Blog

Garanti BBVA and the Turkey Women Entrepreneurs Association (KAGİDER) organized the Centennial of the Republic Women Entrepreneurs Summit, focusing on the topics that will shape the next decade in collaboration with women entrepreneurs, whom they believe play a significant role in the economic development, progress, and social welfare as the new century of the Republic begins. The Summit, which started with speeches by Garanti BBVA CEO Recep Baştuğ and KAGİDER Board Chair Esra Bezircioğlu, featured Ümit Boyner, Board Member of Boyner Group, as a guest speaker on the topic of "Women Entrepreneurs as the Driving Force of Social Development."

 During the summit, in a panel titled "What's Next?" moderated by Akan Abdula, Founder of FutureBright, Prof. Dr. Levent Kurnaz, Director of the Boğaziçi University Center for Climate Change and Policy Application, discussed the green future, Tülin Akın, Co-founder of Tabit Smart Agriculture Technologies, talked about smart agriculture for the future, and Dr. Çağla Gül Şenkardeş, Faculty Member at Istanbul Bilgi University, shared her experiences in tomorrow's technologies. Yekta Kopan led a discussion in the panel "Women Entrepreneurs Shaping the Future" with Hande Çilingir, CEO and Co-founder of Insider, about the inspiring story of a successful venture. The summit concluded with a speech by Gamze Cizreli, Co-founder of BigChefs, themed "You Are the Future."

Speaking at the summit, Garanti BBVA CEO Recep Baştuğ stated, "It is vitally important for women to be highlighted for their achievements from both an economic and social perspective. We believe that the key factor here is empowering women through entrepreneurship. Despite significant efforts in our country, the percentage of women entrepreneurs has only increased from around 5% to just 14% over 17 years. Our hope is to live in a world where 100% equality is achieved for women. At Garanti BBVA, in 2006, we initiated the Women Entrepreneur Program with the aim of supporting women entrepreneurs who create economic value, take risks, and stand on their own feet. Looking at the figures of the last five years, the financial support we have provided to women entrepreneurs has exceeded 150 billion Turkish Liras. We consider this figure as a starting point. From now on, our financial support to women entrepreneurs will continue to increase exponentially."

Recep Baştuğ continued his speech, saying: "Today, the fact that women entrepreneurship is talked about so loudly and that awareness is created is, we believe, influenced by the pioneering role we took on as a Bank about 20 years ago. In the new century, at the Centennial of the Republic Women Entrepreneurs Summit, we presented valuable information about the importance of women in the entrepreneurship ecosystem and the opportunities awaiting them. Opportunities for women entrepreneurs in important areas such as agriculture, sustainability, and technology were examined. Women entrepreneurs who have stepped out of their comfort zones are now pursuing innovative ventures that will have a positive impact on the world, rather than traditional business models. Inspired by women, today at the Summit, we examined the future of these three areas."

Esra Bezircioğlu, Chair of the Board of KAGİDER, stated in her speech that the hundredth year of the Republic of Turkey offered an opportunity to take stock of the progress made over the past century, identify the problems, and think about how to accelerate this progress in the second century. Bezircioğlu continued her speech as follows: "Unfortunately, today we cannot say that women in our country have taken their deserved place in economic, political, and social life. We know that not only in women entrepreneurship, but also in every aspect of life, women do not have equal conditions and equal representation alongside men. Women entrepreneurship is not an area where progress can be made alone; it is an area where progress can be achieved in parallel with the empowerment of women in every field. As KAGİDER, we have been working for 21 years to promote women entrepreneurship. For this purpose, we carry out many projects and studies in collaboration with all our stakeholders, public administration, and valuable representatives of our business world like Garanti BBVA. I believe that if the percentage of women entrepreneurs, which was around 4% when KAGİDER was founded, is now 14%, we also have a share in this. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded the Republic of Turkey and gave us the goal of reaching the level of contemporary civilization, was a great leader who knew that this goal could not be achieved without women. This reality was evident a hundred years ago, and it is still evident today: Without realizing the energy, potential, and dynamism of the half of our population, it is not possible for Turkey to reach the level of contemporary civilization and become a prosperous country with sustainable development. Our duty is to progress on the path shown by Atatürk. As KAGİDER, we will continue to work decisively to promote women entrepreneurship in the second century of our Republic, to empower women in every field, and to amplify their power and voice.