Mapping the Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship Support in Turkey

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GLOBAL EXCHANGE AND TRAINING FOR YOUTH EMPLOYMENT SERVICES 2

National Report - Turkey 25.12.2020 Project number: 618649-EPP-1-2020-1-MK-EPPKA2-CBY-ACPALA This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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Preface The main motivation behind this project is to foster the cooperation, exchange and upgrade of good practices between project countries with a final vision – new quality jobs through creation of entrepreneurship mindset and culture among economic actors in the societies.

This report will help us to see what entrepreneurial and employment ecosystems look like around the country. This report can be used to discover insights and learn more about the entrepreneurial ecosystem, as well as to find recommendations on how to strengthen and network the ecosystem in the country.

The authors of this report are Ömer Faruk KOÇHAN, Eray KIŞKAN, Ömer TEMİZKAN trainers, and analyzers from Turkey. The authors conducted desktop research, to understand the current state of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Turkey. The desktop research included: identifying and analyzing relevant projects or programs that are helping people to get employed, open, or improve their businesses, identification of the training programs that are offered on the market, collecting data on entrepreneurship and employment ecosystem supporters, and identification of beneficiaries from the projects, programs, and training.

Please find the desk research here.

Date: December 25, 2020 Signature DeM Turkey : Mustafa Erdoğan

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Report The survey of the environment of the entrepreneurial and employment ecosystem in Turkey, as part of the GET YES2 project, lays the foundations in the country for further focusing on the expert and wider public knowledge regarding mapping the projects best practices and employment programs and training. At the same time, this research provides a database on the key entrepreneurship and employment supporters.

1.1. Project best practices This research was made according to several indicators, such as: • high success rate for getting employment to people.

• Innovative program or methodology • focus on niche target groups.

• became self-sustainable after donor’s money ended.

• the impact that is made on creation of proactive and entrepreneurial children.

Desk research shows us that there are quite a good number of successful projects completed in Turkey and some goes on in the online platforms during the pandemic. While many of these projects include activities aimed at gaining the basic knowledge and skills that young people will need in the field of entrepreneurship, almost all of them are built on dynamics where they can work with successful mentors to help them find a place in the entrepreneurship ecosystem by creating a network. Participants continued to be supported with the help of advanced training in line with the main purpose and objectives of the projects. When we look at the contents of the projects, we observe that while the emphasis is on technology-based projects in general, activities aimed at spreading entrepreneurship and developing innovative methods are not less. Turkey in recent years, together with local NGOs also be included in the ecosystem and the results also support youth-oriented projects in the field of Social Entrepreneurship possible to say that increasing. It is promising to see that the public sector, private sector, universities and NGOs carry out joint projects in the field of entrepreneurship, but an increase in the number of qualified and comprehensive projects is also expected. With the contributions of European Union Programs, universities, angel investor networks, banks and state institutions, projects that could provide financial support to competitive start-up ideas were carried out. There are also projects that we see that these supports are reserved for educational materials, trainers, and resources to reach more young people and improve their entrepreneurship skills.

1.2. Training programs on the market Regarding the training programs that can be found on the market the results are showing that the supply on the market is growing alongside with the demand. The research was based on the following indicators: • high success rate for employment

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percent of employed clients after the training

When we look at the training courses, it is possible to say that there is a lot of knowledge and skill-oriented training in this area which are completely free of charge organized by universities, NGOs, and institutions. And We see that there are paid courses focused on employment and certificates, which are organized by universities and public institutions, with the emphasis on the private sector. It is possible to find the fees in these courses range from 20â‚Ź to 1000 â‚Ź.

We observe the course programs aimed at gaining a profession or establishing a company in the following areas: entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, technology-based design, software, coding, crafts, skilled professions, and sports. Training programs are carried out to reach various target groups, including both academic career-oriented youth, employment-oriented youth, and people over 30 years old. However, it is an important detail that these free and vocational training programs should be more widespread to increase their contribution to youth employment.

1.3. Database of entrepreneurship and employment ecosystem supporters It is gratifying that various institutions are open to sharing information to support the ecosystem in this section. Governmental organizations, private sector, CSR and Philanthropic Organizations, Intermediary Organizations, Accelerators, angel investor networks, banks and many other organizations are contributing to the environment.

Organizations such as Social Entrepreneurship Network and Finance Club, which emerged because of previous projects, continue to support the ecosystem in the fields of knowledge, know-how and experience. This shows us that the projects are supported in the right areas and achieve successful results. Our survey includes more than 50 different dominant supporters while there are many others.

1.4. Beneficiaries and good practices In this research, we see that young people, who create successful start-up ideas, receive valuable investments because of the competition and realize their business ideas. However, the loss of motivation of those who did not receive financial support because of the competition is among the results. In this context, different programs suitable for business ideas seeking financial support in various ways are also possible. Apart from the competitions, we see that the beneficiaries establish their businesses with the support of the state institutions without any quotas and receive free training during the process. It is possible to say that the number of programs suitable for various business ideas such as innovative, production-oriented, technology-based is not at a satisfactory level for potential beneficiaries. While the number of successful beneficiaries is increasing day-byday, there is still big need of more work on promotion of these kind of implementation on this environment.