TOBB&TEPAV Sessions Received Great Attention at the Second Global Entrepreneurship Summit TOBB sessions organized with the contributions of TEPAV at the second Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Istanbul, first of which was held in Washington, received great attention.
ISTANBUL – At the 2nd Global Entrepreneurship Summit held at the Istanbul Congress Center on 3-6 December 2011, the sessions organized by TOBB brought together important names. The sessions that were contributed by TEPAV received great attention by entrepreneurs and entrepreneur candidates.
Within the scope of the Summit, the panels “Global Entrepreneurship Revolution” and “From Silicon Valley to Istanbul: A New Hub for Venture Capital” were organized on Monday, 5th December 2011 by TOBB. Before the panels, keynote speeches were made by the TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, the U.S. State Department Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs Lorraine Hariton and the CEO of Endeavor, Linda Rottenberg.
“We have waited to be discovered until today, now we are discovering”
Talking about the transformation process of Turkish economy, “To make this transformation an opportunity for our people, partnerships and coalitions are needed” Hisarcıklıoğlu said. In line with this statement, Hisarcıklıoğlu denoted that he undertook the presidency of “Partners for a New Beginning” (PNB) program’s Turkey office. This program has been launched after the speech of the U.S. president Obama during his visit to Cairo. Hisarcıklıoğlu added, “Secondly, we are coordinating the activities of Global Entrepreneurship Program, which is administered by the U.S. State Department, in Turkey as TOBB and TEPAV. Within this context, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Embassy, and started our activities.” Stating that they managed to build a wide common network with these two programs, Hisarcıklıoğlu said “We got to the local level, included opinion leaders from all around the country to this process. We have waited to be discovered until today. Now we are discovering both America, and our surrounding region.”
The Endeavor CEO Linda Rottenberg mentioned during her speech themed “10 Myths About Entrepreneurship” that every entrepreneur has been called “crazy” at the beginning of his or her journey, but now the word “crazy” has become a complement in the world, with the success stories of entrepreneurs. Saying that their adventure started in Latin America, where there was no interest for entrepreneurship, Rottenberg added that she was called “crazy” for this “adventure” she set out on after leaving her career in law.
“There are myths about entrepreneurship”
Some of the ten myths about entrepreneurship Rottenberg mentioned in her speech are: “Everyone can be an entrepreneur”, “Entrepreneurship always creates employment”, “Entrepreneurs don’t need our help”, “Exiting is giving up”, and “Entrepreneurship is a solo sport”.
Rottenberg also gave the story of two Turks that founded “Peak Games”, the largest and fastest growing social gaming platform of Turkey and MENA, as an example. Stressing the importance of creating a favorable ecosystem for the entrepreneur, Rottenberg in conclusion cited Steve Jobs, Founder of the Apple, as an example, saying “If Jobs were born in Syria instead of America, there would be no Apple today”.
“We start visiting entrepreneurs in this spring”
The U.S. State Department Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs, Lorraine Hariton indicated that, as the Department, they identified entrepreneurship as one of the main elements of foreign policy. Denoting that they will start visiting entrepreneurs in Turkey this spring as a part of Global Entrepreneurship Program, Hariton told that with this program angel investor networks will be built, trainings will to be organized, incubators will to be evaluated and activities to get the media support entrepreneurship will be carried out.
After the keynote speeches, “Global Entrepreneurship Revolution” and “From Silicon Valley to Istanbul: a New Hub For Venture Capital” panels were held. Moderated by the founder of Oasis500, Usama Fayyad, the first panel included the Chairman of TOBB Young Entrepreneurs Board Ali Sabancı, the creator of semantic search engine Kngine, the Egyptian young CEO Hayhtam Elfadeel, the founder of social media company Yonja Media Group, Dilawar Syed and Nigerian woman entrepreneur Ayo Megbope.
“Entrepreneurship is a source of motivation…”
Dilawar Syed attributed the high social media usage of Turkey to large population and the extensiveness of internet and broadband usage. Hayhtam Elfadeel pointed out that the world came to a breakthrough point, due to having a much better understanding of information and communication technologies, and the increased amount of computing power we have today. Ayo Megbope stated that the expansion of entrepreneurship brings more visibility to the people, becomes a source of motivation and gives people the power to demand their rights from their governments.
The second panel was moderated by the CEO of Health Central, Christopher M. Schroeder, and was contributed by the Chairman of TOBB Venture Capital Industry Board, Göktekin Dinçerler, the CEO of DFJ Global Network, Elizabeth “Beezer” Clarkson, the Turkey Director of Abraaj Capital, Selçuk Yorgancıoğlu and the founder of Sawari Ventures, Ahmed El Alfi as panelists.
“Don’t forget the lands you come from”
The panelists emphasized the importance of opening to new markets. Ahmed El Alfi advised entrepreneurs to not forget their roots and invest in the lands they come from. Selçuk Yorgancıoğlu stated that nowadays change is happening much faster, and the continuity of development is necessary in order to adapt to such changes.
“Minister Yılmaz attended the session moderated by Prof. Sak”
The session titled “Global Era in Entrepreneurship: Transformation of Entrepreneurship, its Contribution to Development and the Effects of Global Cooperation on Cross-Cultural Approximation” was moderated by the TEPAV Director Güven Sak. Delivering the keynote speech in the panel, Minister of Development Dr. Cevdet Yılmaz stated that the R&D activities carried out by the private sector comprises 40% of the total R&D activities in Turkey, and that this number continues to increase. Moreover, government targets for 2023 to increase R&D activities to 3% of the GDP, and %2 of this number is to be provided by the private sector. After Yılmaz, Güven Sak referred to the entrepreneurship ecosystem and the problems of this ecosystem today.
The session panelist included the CEO of Abraaj Capital, Arif Naqvi, the president of Babson College, Leonard A. Schlesinger, and the chairman of the executive board of Doğuş Group, Ferit Şahenk. Schlesinger clarified what works and what does not in this ecosystem, while Şahenk pointed out to the importance and necessity for the government to create an environment of trust and stability. At the panel, the speakers emphasized the important of the environment of trust in general, and the importance of connectivity between firms in order to adapt to the changes in the global era.
