This is the exact question of today. This is where the key to turn the 2008 global crisis into an opportunity lies. There are more than a hundred Israeli firms quoted in NASDAQ. The sum of the firms from Europe, India, and China is also around a hundred. India is one of the countries that have recently sprinted while Turkey lags far behind in the competition. So, the question is: "How can Turkey have technology firms quoted in NASDAQ of the United States of America?" The answer is quite simple: When Turkish entrepreneurs get to enjoy an entrepreneurial government. Studies on this subject associate the progress made by Israel and India with the entrepreneurial government issue. But why is today the right time? Where does the opportunity lie? We will see. Let us first address the NASDAQ issue today.

Turkey does not have a chance to come to the fore in the new global competition environment with a competitiveness strategy based on cheap labor. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people are an evidence for this. So this point should be regarded when designing a growth strategy for Turkey. And NASDAQ is important in this regard. Let us first give the definition: NASDAQ (National Association of Security Dealers, Automated Quotation) is an equity securities trading system where newly established and less traded securities are traded. Security dealers who are also free lancers announce the trading quotations or prices for the securities they trade. Everyone knows the intervals in which the other dealers want to engage in trading. Then, they call each other and decide the trading price upon negotiations. NASDAQ, as per the structure of the trading system, provides a proper secondary market for newly established technology firms. In this context, the "dot-com bubble" of the period between 1995 and 2000 stemmed mainly from NASDAQ. NASDAQ is still the first name that comes to mind when you talk about technology firm introducing new technologies. If we are talking about developing technology firms that walk at the edges of the sector and develop new technologies in Turkey, we definitely have to talk about the NASDAQ trading system. Therefore the question stated above is highly meaningful.

Then, why is it the right time to upgrade the technical infrastructure of Turkey's industry? Let this be the first question. The crisis affecting many sectors in the USA adversely, also affected negatively the financing of technology firms through entrepreneurial capital. However, there are many firms established or being established by Turkish entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley in California or in other regions of the USA. It is exactly this type of finance opportunities weakened by the crisis. And one of the main factors that secure the technologic leadership of the USA is the fact that the USA is the country where this type of finance mechanisms are developed the most. 2008 global crisis gives countries like Turkey the opportunity to attract from the USA the enterprises that push the technologic limits. Unfortunately, Turkey does not have the nerves to utilize this opportunity.

What deeply hurts me is that I have been coming across these entrepreneurs more and more frequently in this period. The entrepreneur is a young person with a new idea. He/she grew in the USA and has been working there for a long while. Now, he/she wants to return Turkey with knowledge set which pushes the edges of the technology in the field of competence. He/she wants to return, because "her/his mother is in Turkey." He/she wants to return to her and her dishes. This was also the case for Israel years ago. But the sad part is that here in Turkey there is no tailored system to support the qualified entrepreneurs. Instead, there is a system which will absorb the energy of the entrepreneurs willing to return. What Turkey does not have is an entrepreneurial government.

Entrepreneurial government is a government that has established venture capital funds to support entrepreneurs. It has the courage to prefer between projects and the ability to explain why that preference was made. It not only pioneers the establishment of the entrepreneurial capital system but also supplements these funds with public resources. But if you try to establish such a system in Turkey, you will be facing nothing but trouble. The judicial system will ask you "What is the public interest here?" You will answer "See, the entrepreneur is making profits. The firm is quoted in NASDAQ." But they will respond "It is the personal profit. Where is the public interest here?" So, work it out if you can. Indeed, for politicians, public interest nowadays stands at a point between Mass Housing Administration (TOKİ) and municipal expenditures. No one acknowledges how the crisis can be turned into an opportunity.

Turkey cannot have firms quoted in NASDAQ unless the government itself turns into an entrepreneur. This is what Israeli and Indian experiences tell us.

This commentary was published in Referans daily on 13.03.2010