Akfen Holding Chairman Hamdi Akın Meets with TİKAV Scholarship Recipients

TİKAV, founded by Akfen Holding in 1999, reached 350 students through its Individual Development Program (IDP), which aims to provide equal opportunities for university students who face difficulties in accessing education, culture and personal development opportunities due to social and economic reasons.

Through the program, scholarship students participate in various personal development, foreign language and computer training from their first year through the end of their fourth year at university, as well as culture-arts and community service programs, national and international projects, seminars, and professional programs.

During the summer program of the IDP, Hamdi Akın, Chairman of the Board of Akfen Holding, met with young people and answered their questions. He advised the youth: "Life is not as easy as you think. When you enter business life, you must take that step knowing you are inexperienced. The real important matter here is to question what the rules of business life are and take your steps accordingly."

Turkey Human Resources Training and Health Foundation (TİKAV), founded by Akfen Holding in 1999, reached 350 students in its Individual Development Program (IDP), which aims to provide equal opportunities for university students who face difficulties in accessing education, culture and personal development opportunities due to social and economic reasons.

Every two years, 30 students studying at universities in the Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia Region and selected through interviews are admitted to the programs. At the end of four years, regardless of which department they study in, most graduate with nearly 30 personal development certificates with international validity.

Within the scope of TİKAV's Individual Development Program, 22 TİKAV scholarship students, first-year students at Elazığ Fırat University, met with Hamdi Akın, Chairman of the Board of Akfen Holding, in Ankara.

"Spend Time with More Experienced People Than Yourself, Buy Their Experience for Free"
Akın, who stated that young people should work alongside people more experienced than themselves and that benefiting from their experience would take them one step further in business life, said: "It is very valuable to be friends with people more experienced and knowledgeable than yourselves, and it will take you several steps forward. There is not much you can learn from each other, because your experience and energy are almost equal to one another. You need people at a better level than yourselves. You need to talk with them, share your concerns, and thereby benefit from their experience.

If you spend time with people older and more experienced than yourselves, you will both buy their experience for free and acquire the greatest capital in your life. My next advice is: try to enter business life with your most trusted friends. You can cover each other's shortcomings; if your friend has something you don't have, then by completing your shortcomings together with them, you will have a successful and meaningful business life experience." He offered these tips to the young people.

"If We Can Broaden Your Horizons Through TİKAV, How Happy We Are!"
Akın emphasized the importance of social responsibility projects and stated that opening paths for scholarship students who have come together with TİKAV through the BGP project since its establishment is very valuable.
Akın said: "Since the day we founded TİKAV, if we can help our scholarship students take a step in life, and broaden your horizons for the future, even a little, how happy we are. Through the Individual Development Program we created with TİKAV, which we founded 25 years ago, our scholarship graduates whom we supported are still in contact with us. We will continue our efforts to broaden your horizons."
Emphasizing the importance of knowing a foreign language, he noted that learning a foreign language will always give young people an advantage in being one step ahead depending on their living environment. Akın stated: "Your ultimate goal is to be a world citizen, so you need to learn English like your native language. Even if you stay in the region where you live, you must learn a foreign language to be a privileged person in your region."

Aims to Provide Equal Opportunities for University Students
TİKAV, within the scope of its Individual Development Program, particularly aims to provide equal opportunities for university students who face difficulties in accessing education, culture and personal development opportunities due to social and economic reasons. In this context, scholarship students from their first year through the end of their fourth year participate in various personal development, foreign language and computer training, culture-arts and volunteer service programs, national and international projects, seminars, and professional programs, enriching their knowledge and skills.

Through the IDP, which lasts three and a half years throughout university life, students participate in 40 different programs, and 95% of IDP students enter business life in a short time.

Program Implemented Since 1999
The Individual Development Program was first opened to the participation of Elazığ Fırat University students in 1999. In 2003, it began at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University; in 2006, at Middle East Technical University, Hacettepe University, Ankara University, and Eskişehir Osmangazi University.

In 2009, TİKAV, which adopted the goal of creating equal opportunities in accessing educational resources, focused on universities that had completed ten years in the Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia Region and began implementing the project at Elazığ Fırat University, Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, Şanlıurfa Harran University, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, and Erzurum Atatürk University. The Individual Development Program has been implemented for Fırat University students since 1999.

Individual Development Program by Numbers
Number of programs students participated in during the IDP: 40
Number of students who participated in the IDP: 350
Number of students who participated in interviews: 150
Number of students admitted: 30
Annual number of applications: 750
Duration of IDP (years): 3.5