GEW 17 Nov - 23 Nov 2014
T
Large cities vibrate with noise but, if
you listen carefully, you can hear a
new buzz of excitement rising across
Turkey
Over the past decade, throughout Turkey,
discussions about entrepreneurship have
taken place. These conversations have
spread out from Turkey’s commercial
center of Istanbul to its policy center in
Ankara and, more recently, to the fertile
heartlands and beautiful coastlines. The
country has fully embraced high impact
entrepreneurship as the most critical
driver for innovation, job creation and
economic development.
Perhaps the most compelling stimulus for
enterprise is the high level commitment
to dialogue amongst both public and
private entrepreneurship support
organisations and stakeholders. Initiatives
like the annual GEW play an instrumental
role in this.
Turkey
A new generation is helping to revitalise
Istanbul’s retailing heritage.
Turkey’s new
entrepreneurial
buzz
Impact of GEW 2013
Country
Turkey
Activities
185
Partners 200
Participants 80,000
Details http://tr.gew.co/tr
In a true spirit of entrepreneurship,
this talk is being converted into
action through initiatives like ‘START
ISTANBUL’ which promotes the city
as a tech hub, ‘ISTANRUE’ highlights
its potential as a retail and services
mecca, ‘SPRINGBOARD’ emphasises
Turkey’s role as a platform for investors
and multinationals and ‘INNOVATION
RING’ features the launch of technology
parks, innovation centers and technology
transfer offices across Turkey.
50 local VCs, 250 certified angel investors,
5 angel networks, more than 20
incubators, 50 technoparks and 10
technology transfer offices supported
by both government and private sector
funding.
START ISTANBUL:
the engine behind a new
tech hub
It all starts with a handful of
successful entrepreneurs who
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GEW Magazine
Even before this angel incentive was
announced, Hasan Aslanoba, former
CEO of Erikli Su and Nestle Water,
doubled the amount of angel capital
investments in Istanbul between 2013
and 2014 with his $38 million angel
investments in 39 startups. Now he is
leading the charge to challenge other
prominent family business owners
to establish formal family investment
offices, including an angel investment
strategy, across the country.
understand that their legacy lies
not only in the performance of their
companies, but also in how they
exercise their influence.
Endeavor recently conducted a series of
studies to explore relationships across
tech startups over time and tracked
five fundamental behaviors: inspiration,
mentorship, investment, startup work
experience and serial entrepreneurship
trends.
Other globally competitive government
incentive programs include important
tax breaks for R&D staff and expenses,
eligibility for major grants and
soft loans to support startup office
expenses, R&D, branding, consulting,
tradeshows and exports.
The study showed a very robust level
of interaction in Turkey: first generation
technology entrepreneurs are involved
in 63% of the next generation of startup
investments, 46% of these first generation
investors serve as mentors while another
45% of them serve as board members
for new companies in their investment
portfolios.
ISTANRUE is reviving
Istanbul’s reputation as
a retail giant
Of the 220 startups who participated in
the survey, the founders of three
companies - MyNet, Pozitron (now
Monitise) and Yemeksepeti - interacted
with over 105 startups as role models,
former employers, mentors and investors.
Istanbul is poised to revitalise its
ancient reputation as retail and
services mecca. The Istanbul Shopping
Fest was initiated in 2011 and is hosted
every June to stimulate business and
entrepreneurship in retail, tourism,
food, transport and accommodation.
The 2014 festival attracted 1.1 million
tourists and generated over