NEWSROOM

While the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Turkey is growing daily, the lack of inclusiveness of programs in this field makes the adventure of establishing a startup challenging, especially for women and students. TED University, which has taken action to reverse this situation on a local scale, is preparing to provide training and mentoring to female university students in Ankara with the SHE Leads platform. Registrations for the first term of the platform will continue until 29 September.

TURKEY - With the increasing awareness of gender equality in Turkey, the acceleration of women in the business world is also strengthening. Data announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) shows that women's labour force participation rate has reached its highest level since 2020 at 36.1%. While these developments prove our country’s progress in gender equality, in parallel with the trend in the world, they also trigger the production of special projects for women entrepreneurs, and many institutions create special programs for women entrepreneurs. Finally, TED University (TEDU), the Ankara Development Agency and Arçelik launched SHE Leads, an entrepreneurship-focused networking platform for female university students in Ankara. Students who want to explore the world of entrepreneurship and establish key connections in the ecosystem can apply until 29 September to participate in the platform’s first-term programs.

Participants will receive training and mentoring for 1 month

Research Technology and Innovation Director Salem YALÇINTAŞ made the following statement on the subject: “Although the number of women entrepreneurs in Turkey increases daily, we noticed that the programs supporting enterprises always target entrepreneurs above a certain level. In other words, the entrepreneurship ecosystem remains a closed box for people interested in this subject but do not know where to start.”

Of course, this situation makes the adventure of establishing a startup challenging for female candidates and even more difficult for students. “We took action to reverse this situation and launched the SHE Leads program together with Arçelik and Ankara Development Agency to support female university students in Ankara or the team formed under their leadership.”

It will start on 14 October

According to the information obtained from Research Technology and Innovation Director Sanem YALÇINTAŞ, who said they set out to ensure that women have a greater say in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship, SHE Leads, supported by EIT (European Institute of Innovation and Technology) HIVE project, provided first-term training and mentoring services. Applications for the programs will continue until 29 September. At the end of the application process, those who are eligible to participate in the programs that will start on 14 October will be able to meet field experts in 2 physical boot camps, participate in training and panels, and receive one-on-one mentoring. Those who complete the program will graduate on 15 November. In this way, more women entrepreneurs will be brought to Turkey.

According to the statement of Şevket Özer Kürkçüoğlu, manager of TEDU Entrepreneurship Office, the SHE Leads program is of great importance in terms of increasing the impact of women entrepreneurs in Technology-Based Commercial Entrepreneurship and increasing the number of participation of women entrepreneurs in the TEDU-GO incubation program opened by the entrepreneurship office established within ATID.

The platform differs form its peers with the social and environmental impact perspective it offers by incorporating the experience gained from the support provided in the fields of social entrepreneurship and social innovation under the umbrella of İstayonTEDÜ since 2016.

TEDU Projects and Intellectual Property Rights Office is also involved in the economic and social benefit creation processes of technology-based products and services to be developed by women entrepreneurs; Access to national and international grant programs will play an important role in supporting women entrepreneurs in carrying gout activities to protect the outputs obtained with intellectual property rights.