The startups selected for the 2024 period of the TÜSİAD "Bu Gençlikte İŞ Var!" entrepreneurship program gathered at Yeditepe University. The camp, which will take place over the first five days at Yeditepe University and on the final day at TÜSİAD Headquarters, will offer entrepreneurs training and mentorship on entrepreneurship from representatives of the private sector, NGOs, and TÜSİAD members.
Hosted by Yeditepe University, the Entrepreneurship Camp is part of the acceleration program initiated under the TÜSİAD "Bu Gençlikte İŞ Var!" entrepreneurship program, which TÜSİAD has organized for 13 years to strengthen Turkey's entrepreneurship ecosystem. The camp, designed for early-stage ventures with scalability, sustainability, and globalization potential, started yesterday, bringing together 14 teams that successfully passed a five-stage evaluation process.
The event's opening was attended by Yeditepe University's Founder and Honorary President, Bedrettin Dalan, Rector Prof. Dr. Canan Aykut Bingöl, TÜSİAD Board Member Dr. İzel Levi Coşkun, TÜSİAD "Bu Gençlikte İŞ Var!" Working Group Chair Zeynep Köksal Yaykıran, Director of Yeditepe University's Technology Transfer Office Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Turan, TÜSİAD Deputy Secretary-General Tamer Şen, and numerous young entrepreneurs.
DALAN: EVERYTHING STARTS WITH A DREAM
During the opening speech at Yeditepe University, Founder and Honorary President Bedrettin Dalan said, "Everything starts with a dream. A person without dreams lacks reality," and continued as follows:
"Dreams are made when you're young, and they are wonderful, delightful dreams. But dreaming is not enough. You must create a project towards your dream and stubbornly follow through with it. That's when dreams become reality. Everyone should have a dream. A person cannot live without dreams. Dream so big that even you doubt your ability to achieve it. Don't just dream short-term; dream for a lifetime and chase after your dream. Those are the people called entrepreneurs. People who want to realize their dreams become entrepreneurs; otherwise, it remains just a dream. I dreamed of this university when I was 15 and persisted stubbornly. No one believed I would establish this university, but I did."
COŞKUN: WE DESIRE A BIG TRANSFORMATION
Dr. İzel Levi Coşkun, a member of the TÜSİAD Board of Directors, also commented on the purpose of the camp, highlighting its aim to show young people that they can choose entrepreneurship as a career path. Coşkun continued his words as follows:
“Bu Gençlikte İŞ Var!” is divided into three parts. We are currently in the second part. The first part, 'Start the Transformation!', aims to guide students aged 18-30 to bring their ideas to life. Those present in this camp, which constitutes the second part, have moved beyond just having an idea to having a tangible project. They have started implementing their project and may or may not have formed a company. Our primary goal for this week is to help our entrepreneurs develop themselves in various areas. We provide them with networking opportunities as well as mentorship support.
We are very grateful to Yeditepe University for hosting us here. We desire a significant transformation in the students from the moment they enter the camp to when they leave. We receive project applications from all over Turkey. Our jury evaluates these projects based on criteria such as the innovativeness of the idea, its feasibility, and whether technology plays a key role. As a result of this evaluation, we currently have 14 groups and 33 entrepreneurs here. Our main task is to facilitate sharing experiences from numerous company representatives with the incoming entrepreneurs. Additionally, we bring these ventures together with potential investors through networking events. Therefore, while we do not directly invest, we create networking opportunities that unite people."
TURAN: WE AIM TO DEVELOP ENTREPRENEURS TO MAKE A SOCIAL CONTRIBUTION
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Turan, Director of Yeditepe University's Technology Transfer Office, noted the following:"Entrepreneurship and Yeditepe University are very much intertwined concepts. Entrepreneurship is a multifaceted concept that should be wider than just starting a business. It includes being open to continuous professional and technical development and innovative thinking, and it's a lifelong process. That's why we strive to instill entrepreneurship in our students and entrepreneurs within our ecosystem as much as possible, enabling them to be innovative entrepreneurs throughout their lives. One important aspect for us is social contribution. We aim to develop entrepreneurs who can contribute socially. This summarizes the point entrepreneurship has reached in our country in recent years."
The program, supported by Türkiye İş Bankası as the primary sponsor, Yeditepe University as the platinum sponsor, and Anadolu Efes, BASF Türk, Destek Patent, and Mazars as silver sponsors, with Paribu Hub as the bronze sponsor, aims for the selected ten ventures to work one-on-one with TÜSİAD members for 2.5 months and accelerate their initiatives.
