TEPAV Director Güven Sak: “Turkey Lacks More Than Capital Considering Entrepreneurship” Delivering a speech at a panel meeting organized by Turkcell, Sak stressed that early period venture capital was not the only missing item in Turkey's entrepreneurial ecosystem and that there were steps to be taken in the context of university reform.

ISTANBUL- Turkcell organized a conference on Monday, June 27, 2011 with the theme "The Role of Technology and Human Capital in Economic Development" to bring together entrepreneurs, venture capital fund representatives and angel investors, with the participation of Professor Josh Lerner of Harvard Business School, the author of the Global Venture Capital Report, which the World Economic Forum announces each year at Davos. After Lerner's speech, a panel session was held. During this session, TEPAV Director Güven Sak presented his assessments of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Turkey.

"Practices similar to the Israel model are needed"

Speaking in the panel session of the meeting opened by Turkcell CEO Süreyya Ciliv, Sak stressed that the lack of venture capital was not the only problem in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Turkey and that the dialogue between academia and the business world as well as the access to global networks and know-how were also missing. "One of the chief areas of focus in university reform should be to establish systems in which scientists can commercialize their inventions," he said. Referring to Israel's YOZMA program, Sak added, "In Israel, before the YOZMA fund of funds buoyed the venture capital sector, a company named BIRD used to bring together Israeli and American companies via joint technology development projects. We should pursue a similar policy."

During the panel meeting moderated by Turkcell Chief Product and Services Management Officer and Vice Director Cenk Bayrakdar, Cem Sertoğlu, the founder of Young Turk Ventures, and Göktekin Dinçerler, the President of the TOBB Turkish Venture Capital Assembly, delivered speeches.

Prof. Lerner advised public-private capital

Keynote speaker Lerner emphasized the importance of generating employment via entrepreneurship and focused on the role of the public sector in developing the venture capital industry. Touching upon the history of venture capital, angel investor and private capital in global terms, he stated that models in which public investments are matched with private investments such as mechanisms like "the fund of funds" were generally more successful than models in which the public sector directly invested in companies. He added that the underlying element was the market mechanism.

Lerner is the author of the bestselling Boulevard of Broken Dreams. In addition to his works at the World Economic Forum, Lerner works as a consultant to the governments of New Zealand and Mexico on how to develop venture capital.