Women Entrepreneurs Academy Successfully Completed

Women Entrepreneurs Academy Successfully Completed 38 Turkish women entrepreneurs targeting global growth have successfully completed the Academy for Women Entrepreneurship (AWE), held for the first time in Turkey through a collaboration between TİM-TEB Enterprise House and the US Embassy. The Turkish women entrepreneurs who successfully completed their training were awarded by US Istanbul Consul General Daria Darnell, TİM Chairman İsmail Gülle and TEB General Manager Ümit Leblebici. TİM Chairman İsmail Gülle said: "Within TİM-TEB Enterprise House, we have supported over 1,600 entrepreneurs so far, 212 of whom are women entrepreneurs. Our women entrepreneurs have provided employment to over 1,700 people. We are spreading this support across the country and serving Turkey's overall development." TEB General Manager Ümit Leblebici stated: "Women entrepreneurs in Turkey are much better, much more dynamic and much more resilient than their competitors worldwide, and they also have better analytical skills." The Women Entrepreneurs Academy (AWE - Academy for Women Entrepreneurship) program, which is conducted by the US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in 80 countries and has supported 16,000 women since 2019 in expanding their businesses and increasing economic impact, was implemented for the first time in Turkey this year within TİM-TEB Enterprise Houses. 38 women entrepreneurs from TİM-TEB Enterprise Houses operating in 7 different provinces of Turkey, who qualified to participate in the program, received mentoring, training, consulting and promotional support for eight months. At the awards ceremony held at the US Istanbul Consulate on 10 May 2022, with the participation of Istanbul Consul General Daria Darnell, TİM Chairman İsmail Gülle and TEB General Manager Ümit Leblebici, successful women entrepreneurs offering technological solutions in various fields such as software, artificial intelligence, health technologies, IoT, food and logistics were announced as winners of free participation to the Vivatech Paris event to be held in June 2022.   The 38 women entrepreneurs from TİM-TEB Enterprise House who participated in the AWE Women Entrepreneurs Academy attended Speed Mentoring events, and had the opportunity to gain experience from valuable businesspeople at MentorTalks. At the same time, the 38 women entrepreneurs received specialized training on entering the US market and exporting, while benefiting from advantages such as promotional support at both national and international levels.

"The Tech Women Entrepreneurs Academy Program has accelerated the productivity of the entrepreneurship ecosystem we have built"

  In his speech at the AWE Women Tech Entrepreneurs awards ceremony, TİM Chairman İsmail Gülle said they have supported over 1,600 entrepreneurs so far, 212 of whom are women entrepreneurs, within TİM-TEB Enterprise House. TİM Chairman İsmail Gülle stated: "Our women entrepreneurs have provided employment to over 1,700 people. We are spreading this support across the country and serving Turkey's overall development.   The Tech Women Entrepreneurs Academy Program, which we launched within TİM-TEB Enterprise House in collaboration with the US Embassy, marking a first in Turkey, has accelerated the productivity of the entrepreneurship ecosystem we have built. We wholeheartedly believe that joint projects between the two countries will serve this acceleration and the goal of a USD 100 billion trade volume with the US. We will continue to increase the support we have provided to our entrepreneurs so far and continue to support more technology entrepreneurs," he said.  

TEB General Manager Ümit Leblebici: We will continue to contribute to strengthening the entrepreneurship ecosystem by increasing our support to our women entrepreneurs

In his speech at the awards ceremony, TEB General Manager Ümit Leblebici said: "Since 2013, we have been working to reach entrepreneurs across Turkey through TEB Enterprise Banking and develop the entrepreneurship ecosystem. As a bank, the work we do with the most pride is supporting our entrepreneurs. We work actively with women entrepreneurs; today we actively work with more than 70,000 customers with women partners, 30,000 of whom we actively work with. This is important for us because inclusivity is quite important for an economy to develop and compete in the world. We want to support women entrepreneurs more to spread inclusivity to the entire society. Women entrepreneurs in Turkey are much better, much more dynamic and much more resilient than their competitors worldwide, and they also have better analytical skills. With the AWE Tech Women Entrepreneurs Academy Program we have implemented at TİM-TEB Enterprise Houses, we aimed to reach women-led enterprises at both the early stage and advanced levels of commercialization and support their growth. Through this program, we provided 38 women entrepreneurs with mentoring, consulting and networking support, and enabled them to meet with corporate companies. We will continue to contribute to strengthening the entrepreneurship ecosystem by increasing our support to our women entrepreneurs," he said.  

TİM-TEB Enterprise House's Global Award-Winning Women Entrepreneurs

• VAHAA, a venture co-founded by Nehir Boyacıoğlu, one of the awarded women entrepreneurs at Istanbul TİM-TEB Enterprise House, designs smart gardens with IoT-based and mobile app-based monitoring that allow users to grow their own fruits and vegetables soil-free whenever and wherever they want.
• 12-Myth AI, founded by Özgecan Üstgül, one of the awarded women entrepreneurs at Izmir TİM-TEB Enterprise House, is a design technology that develops design and texture design technology with the latest advances in artificial intelligence, developing designs for fashion, textiles, home textiles, packaging, metaverse and gaming.
• CONECTOHUB, founded by Banu Akgül, one of the awarded women entrepreneurs at Istanbul TİM-TEB Enterprise House, is an artificial intelligence-based business and objective management platform that allows companies to integrate their strategic goals with daily operations and manage strategy and implementation efficiently through a single application, used by over 100 companies from 14 countries.
• VİVOO, where Gözde Büyükaçaroğlu serves as COO, a venture at Istanbul TİM-TEB Enterprise House, developed the world's first home urine test that reads with an app. The application allows users to monitor 11 health parameters from their urine and also provides personalized recommendations based on results. The company, with 60,000 users and exporting to more than 60 countries, makes health data accessible to people and enables them to observe and take action to improve their health status from their homes.
• ADVOARD ROBOTICS, founded by Pınar Oğuz Ekim, one of the awarded women entrepreneurs at Izmir TİM-TEB Enterprise House, is a company that develops fully autonomous mobile robots and software for use in industrial and academic fields and also offers control solutions. Robots moving in fleet formation work at maximum efficiency with minimum route length thanks to artificial intelligence-based algorithms.

 

What Did the Women Entrepreneurs Who Participated in the AWE Tech Women Entrepreneurship Academy Benefit From?

• Within the scope of the academy, a Start Up program was applied for 23 women entrepreneurs at the early stage, and a Scale Up program was applied for 15 advanced women entrepreneurs with global growth targets.
• In October 2021, Strategy Training was given to entrepreneurs in the AWE Start Up Program, and Growth Training was given to entrepreneurs in the Scale Up Program, and the program began. Business model consulting, presentation training and effective presentation preparation consulting meetings were held with entrepreneurs in the Start Up program, and strategy and financial management consulting meetings were held with entrepreneurs in the Scale Up programs. Export training open to the participation of both groups was organized within the scope of the program.
• In December, webinars on "US Commerce Department Entrepreneurship Support and Business Formation in the US" and "Considerations in International Contracts and Legal Perspective on the Investment Process" were held.
• In December and January, at the Speed Mentoring event where corporate company executives and investment network representatives met with entrepreneurs, AWE Program entrepreneurs had the opportunity to introduce their companies and receive mentoring services.
• Our women entrepreneurs were promoted in TİM social media accounts and in the TİM Report magazine. Reports where 5 women entrepreneurs introduced their products were published in the Tekno Hayat program. Women entrepreneurs participating in the AWE program were given booth opportunities at the Design Week event.
• In February, a webinar with the theme "The potential and future of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Turkey" was held.
• In April, a webinar was held with Aishe Bowe, a former NASA rocket expert, serial entrepreneur and founder of Lingo.
• A Pitching Day was held to identify 5 entrepreneurs to be selected to attend the Vivatech event to be held in Paris in June 2022, where women entrepreneurs' presentations were heard.