Organized by the OSTİM Technical University Entrepreneurship and Leadership Center, with the support of the OSTİM Foundation, the Entrepreneurship Center, and the OSTİM Organized Industrial Zone Industrialists, Businessmen and Managers Association (ORSİAD), the "Women in Industry and Technology: Turning the Story Back" event brought together businesswomen who have successfully implemented ventures in industry and technology to share their success stories.
“What we need: to break the glass ceilings”
Dr. Begüm Şahin, Director of the OSTiMTECH Entrepreneurship and Leadership Center, explained that women's labor cannot be confined to a single day and that efforts are being made all over the world to increase women's contributions.
Highlighting the importance of increasing women's labor for social development and international competitiveness, Şahin said, “We must be more present in every field – technology, industry, entrepreneurship, art, agriculture – every day so that we can reach the point we want as a country. All we need is to have more self-confidence and break those glass ceilings. That's why today we will listen to the success stories of women who have broken their own glass ceilings, written their own success stories, and truly achieved great things through effort and perseverance.”
OSTiMTECH Rector Prof. Dr. Murat Yülek pointed out that society does not adequately utilize the knowledge, skills, intelligence, and energy of women. Rector Yülek stated, "Hopefully, with organizations like this, and beyond that, with the activities of our universities and other institutions, we will eliminate this gap over time."
“The number of female entrepreneurs in OSTİM is increasing every year”
Orhan Aydın, Chairman of the OSTiMTECH Board of Trustees and Chairman of the OSTİM Board of Directors, emphasized that there are far more female entrepreneurs and employees in OSTİM than anticipated.
Drawing attention to the increase in the number of female entrepreneurs in OSTİM, Aydın stated, “Compared to previous years, we have an increasing number of female entrepreneurs and employees every year. I believe that as women's hands get involved, the shape of our region and our production changes. The labor of our women is truly very respectable and sacred, therefore I congratulate them again. Many women's hands are involved in our clusters and organizations. In this sense, we always try to act in a way that cherishes them.”
“There are women who are passionate about production”
Gülnaz Karaosmanoğlu, Director of the OSTİM Foundation, emphasized that there are entrepreneurial women in the OSTİM ecosystem who have achieved significant things and continue their work quietly.
"The important thing is to be able to identify the unsung heroes," said Karaosmanoğlu, continuing: "There are entrepreneurial women in OSTİM. There are women who have chosen to continue their family businesses, who have made career choices to keep their family businesses going. There are women who love production and have chosen to shift their careers here, even though they could have worked in much more glamorous jobs elsewhere."
Gülnaz Karaosmanoğlu stated that women constitute 32 percent of the total workforce in Turkey, adding, "Only 3 percent of that 32 percent, or 30 out of every 1000 people, are employed in industry and technology. These women work in industry and technology both as entrepreneurs and managers, producing technology and working in scientific fields."
Karaosmanoğlu emphasized that women are at the bottom of the poverty pyramid in the world and that 70% of the poor are women, stating, "Women are the biggest risk group in terms of earning a living, so what we will discuss next is about how we can do it."
3 panels were organized
The first panel in the program, titled "Women Faces of Ankara Industry," was moderated by Dr. Begüm Şahin, Director of the OSTiMTECH Entrepreneurship and Leadership Center. In the panel, Müge Ertuğ Güzel from EMGE, Burcu Erdoğan Kaya from Er Makine, Halide Rasim, Chairperson of the Business and Construction Machinery Cluster Board, and Ece Arabul from Emek Elektrik Company shared their success stories in the industry as second-generation managers of family businesses.
The panel titled "Women's Voices in Technology and Globalization" was moderated by Dr. Derya Çağlar, General Manager of Ostim Technopark. Sibel Çetinkaya from Sistem Global Consulting, Ayşegül Ertan from Mohair&Angora, Zeynep Öktem from Nano Biz Technology, Özlem Sevilmiş from Tarmaş Makine, and Elif Baktır, Director of METU MEMS, shared their entrepreneurial experiences.
The final panel, titled "Women's Entrepreneurship and Women's Coordination in Strategic Sectors," was moderated by Yurdum Hasgül, Coordinator of the OSTiMTECH Project Office. Panelists; Çiğdem Dilek, President of the Global Energy Association; Züleyha Özcan from Derin Mekanik Mühendislik; Ferigül Güngören, R&D Engineer at HAVELSAN; and Göknur Atalay from GY Mühendislik, shared their entrepreneurial experiences.
Gizem Küçükköse, a student in the International Trade Department at OSTiMTECH, gave a presentation titled "My Entrepreneurship Story," in which she described Orenda Gallery, the web platform they founded.
Gizem Işıtman from the Entrepreneurship Training and Consulting Center gave a presentation titled "The Bigg+ Program and Mentoring Mechanism for SMEs".
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