01 August 2007 - ECORYS and its partners UNIDO (Austria), the CUAO Foundation (Italy) and COTECNO S.r.l. (Italy) have launched the execution of the project Technical Assistance for Provision of Entrepreneurship and Management Training and Consultancy to Support Women Entrepreneurship through Training Centres and Relays in Turkey. The project has an ambitious aim to establish 9 training centres and 16 training relays in different parts of Turkey and to train and consult more than 5 000 women.

“Everything we see in the world is the creative work of women”
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

The contribution of women entrepreneurs to economic activity and employment has increased over time. Women entrepreneurs are a rapidly growing segment of the business population. This is important for the growth of any economy. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report there is a strong correlation between economic growth and female entrepreneurship. The economic and social problem of women involvement in business in Turkey is identified as an important issue to be tackled by the government. Education deficiency, lack of role models in entrepreneurship, gender issues that lead to weak social status, competing demands on time and access to finance can be defined as barriers to entrepreneurship for women in Turkey. The policy documents and actions are directed in areas where effect can be achieved in relation to women. While the policy framework is there, there is a need of unified efforts to design and implement concrete sustainable measures to realise the policy. We see this project as reflecting this need and its success can be an example for the country as well as allow for duplications in a larger scale.

The present project addresses the low participation of women in Turkey’s economic life. It is intended to contribute to the efforts of Turkey to promote entrepreneurship among Turkish women playing an active part in setting up and/or running small family businesses. The project will support the formal economy of Turkey as well as provide development opportunities for Turkish women and enhance their role in society.

The main Beneficiary for this project is the Turkish Confederation of Tradesmen and Craftsmen (TESK; http://www.tesk.org.tr/). TESK is the biggest NGO in Turkey, having more than four million members through 3 169 Chambers, 82 Unions and 13 Federations. TESK’s coordination and representative role of tradesmen and craftsmen, chambers and federations and also its contribution to national and global economic development makes the organisation a very competent beneficiary to partner with for the successful execution of this project. 

While the overall objective of the project is to support women entrepreneurship and to get them to play a more active role in business, the purpose is to provide entrepreneurship and management training and consultancy for women entrepreneurs. The overall objective and the purpose will be achieved by means of a significant and focused intervention to bring the following results:

• Improved institutional capacity of TESK and its regional offices regarding the sustainability of training centres and the replication of supporting women entrepreneurs’ model in other regions.
• Technical assistance provided on the establishment of nine (9) Training Centres in Ankara, Antalya, Istanbul, Konya, Adana, Malatya, Manisa, Nevsehir, Samsun and sixteen (16) Training Relays in Duzce, Eskisehir, Kastamonu, Mugla, Tekirdag, Kirklareli, Hatay, Tunceli, Sivas, Erzurum, Balikesir, Usak, Yozgat, Amasya, Ordu, Tokat.
• Minimum 4 500 women trained and 1 500 women received consultancy on entrepreneurship related issues through training centres and relays.
• Increased awareness among women on starting their own business.

One of the most important achievements of the project should be the introduction of a sustainable Women Entrepreneur Support Model. Many good practices in the EU can serve as a leading example in the elaboration of this model. At the same time, the specifics of Turkey will define the features of the support measures that will reflect the nature of women in Turkey, their needs and the barriers they face to start up their own business.

We see the success in responding to the challenges of this project in combining the good practices from the EU member states with the local needs and specifics. Therefore the project team will very much consist of top EU and Turkish experts. The close cooperation between ECORYS as the Contractor for this project and TESK as the Beneficiary is another essential factor of success.

Note: The project is supported by the European Commission under the National Pre-Accession Financial Assistance Programme for Turkey 2005.

     
For more information please contact:

ECORYS Netherlands
Dr. Julia Djarova
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ECORYS Turkey
Mr. Berk Babila
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