EGİAD Holds Its First Meeting of 2023

EGİAD Held Its First Meeting of 2023 The Advisory Board of the Aegean Young Businessmen's Association (EGİAD) held the year's first meeting with wide participation at the İZQ Entrepreneurship and Innovation Centre. The main agenda items of the EGİAD Advisory Board, which ranks among the region's most active councils where the city's and country's issues are discussed, were: EGİAD's period activities and projects, discussion of new report topics within the scope of the EGİAD Think Tank, and evaluation of Turkey's and İzmir's economic agenda. The meeting, held at the İZQ Innovation Centre's Grand Event Hall, was attended by representatives of İzmir's business community. The event, hosted by Uğur Yüce, Former Chairman of the EGİAD Advisory Board, and EGİAD Board Chairman Alp Avni Yelkenbiçer, began with presentations on the association's commission work and activities in strategic working areas. The event was attended by Uğur Yüce, Former Chairman of the EGİAD Advisory Board; Former Chairmen Cüneyt Karagülle, Uğur Barkan, Temel Aycan Şen, Aydın Buğra İlter, Emre Kızılgüneşler – Vice Chairman of the İZTO Board, Faruk Güler – CEO of Esbaş, Mehmet Ali Kasalı – Chairman of the BASİFED Board, Fatma Olten – Chairman of the TAİDER Board, Hasan Denizkurdu – Chairman of Denizkurdu Consulting Board, Önder Türkkanı – CEO of Arkas Holding, Prof. Dr. Yusuf Hakan Abacıoğlu – Rector of İzmir University of Economics, Levent Kuşgöz – Chairman of the EGİAD Angels Executive Board, Frederic Pagy – Former Chairman of the EGİAD Angels Executive Board, Yaşar Kuş – Aegean Region Representative of Ekonomi Newspaper, Özlem Sarsın – İzmir Representative of Dünya Newspaper, and many other prominent industry figures who serve on the EGİAD Advisory and Management Boards.

121 Events in Six Months

EGİAD Chairman Alp Avni Yelkenbiçer delivered an opening speech with an update on recent activities. Noting that they implemented 121 activities in six months, Yelkenbiçer listed the period's planned activities as the 100th Anniversary Concert accompanied by the Olten Harmony Orchestra, construction of the EGİAD Middle School Indoor Sports Hall, the Gaziantep Businessmen's Association (GAGİAD) and EGİAD Summit scheduled for November, and the ESİAD and EGİAD Digital Transformation Summit. Yelkenbiçer summarized the realized activities numerically as follows: "Seven international activities, seven sustainability and future meetings, five business development activities and collaborations, five seminars and lectures, five social activities, sixteen EGİAD Angels activities, thirty-three angel investor-entrepreneur meetings, four entrepreneurship report activities, twenty-five official visits and collaborations, five seminars and lectures, and nine political party meetings – a further six active and full months. With twenty-five investments, evaluations of over three thousand entrepreneurs, and four million dollars in investment, we made our mark in the entrepreneurship sector. In the last six months, our events received three thousand views, and all our events were covered in the press four thousand four hundred forty-two times."

Gratitude to the Advisory Board

EGİAD Chairman Alp Avni Yelkenbiçer, conveying the association's projects and objectives, stated: "As EGİAD, we are an organization representing young businesspeople in our city. Our mission is to increase the competitiveness of the region's business world, promote economic growth and development in our region, and provide a platform for social and economic development throughout the region. As the EGİAD Advisory Board, with your experience and accumulated knowledge, you play a very valuable role in fulfilling this mission. Your ideas, views, and advice shape EGİAD's strategic direction and provide important guidance in understanding and solving the challenges faced by all our members. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss which paths EGİAD will take in the coming months and how we will move forward on this path. I thank you in advance for the attention and contributions you have shown to our association."

Successful Projects Increased New Membership

At the event, where it was noted that entry into another successful period had been made, emphasis was placed on projects created regarding entrepreneurship, sustainability, digitalization, and the future. EGİAD Chairman Yelkenbiçer, expressing satisfaction with producing projects that touch members, stated: "At the beginning of our term, we identified integration and growth as our themes. We continue to work dynamically with the dynamism of approximately one hundred thirty new colleagues who have joined our association, and with the theme of expanding the impact we leave and the collaborations we make through every work we undertake. I would like to note that we will spend the next year and a half producing with the same dynamism and first-day enthusiasm. With these ideas, we have both implemented projects that touch our members and signed off on events that resonated in our region. By taking on one hundred thirty new members this period, we have become even younger with the new generation. We achieved a great synergy. The fact that people holding active positions in such effective institutions are also members of our association created added value to the synergy. It is gratifying that EGİAD is viewed as the most effective human and workforce with this dynamism," he said. Noting that the association's dynamics have increased with new members, Yelkenbiçer emphasized that EGİAD, which continues its work and services for the development of İzmir and the country's economy at an intense pace, ranks among the Aegean's most established civil society organizations, saying: "EGİAD has been serving the young business world successfully for thirty-three years. The fact that we conduct our work with a particularly member and solution-oriented approach is the most important factor in the path we have covered. Beyond the services we provide as an NGO, we continue our work with the aim of creating added value for İzmir through the projects we have planned and are implementing."