"Strong Women of Exports" Awarded

Turkey's Exporters' Council (TİM), which has implemented numerous projects aimed at increasing the number of female exporters in Turkey and making women more active in the business world, held the "Strong Women in Exports" awards ceremony for the first time. Successful female exporters and export champion companies were presented with awards at the ceremony. Turkey's Exporters' Council (TİM), the umbrella organization of 61 exporter associations, 27 sectors and over 100,000 exporters, continues to work at full pace to increase the number of female exporters and entrepreneurs in Turkey and to develop women's employment in the business world. In this context, the "Strong Women in Exports" awards ceremony, organized by TİM for the first time, honored successful female exporters. Awards were presented to female exporters and companies achieving the highest exports on a sectoral basis. In his speech at the ceremony, TİM President İsmail Gülle stated that Turkish women, who obtained the right to vote and be elected in 1934, long before the world's leading countries, continue to achieve significant success in production and exports as the locomotive force and guarantee of Turkey's unity, national sovereignty and bright future, just as in the past.

"Our women are indispensable in the struggle for sustainable development"

Noting that the representation of Turkish women in parliament has increased from 4.5 percent to 17.4 percent over the past 20 years, and that reformist steps taken to strengthen women economically, culturally and socially, as well as the energy and motivation provided by women's effectiveness in the business world, constitute one of the most important pillars of the process that prioritizes Turkey in the world economy and politics, TİM President İsmail Gülle said: "A Turkey where our women are educated, professional, strong and conscious is a Turkey one step closer to achieving its goals. Therefore, the pioneering role our women take on in business life is an indispensable element of Turkey's 'sustainable' development struggle."

"The courage and extraordinary dedication of our women enabled the rise of a nation"

Expressing that thousands of women in Anatolia in the early years of the Republic, when the country had been freed from occupation, lost much of its population in wars, lost its youth in their most productive years, and was unable to export or even produce a needle, enabled the rise of a nation through their courage and extraordinary dedication, Gülle continued his speech as follows: "Sabiha Gökçen gave wings to Turkish women and lifted them to the skies, inspiring today's women. Fatma Aliye, Turkey's first female philosopher and novelist, illuminated the world of science. Turkish women, who obtained voting rights even before so-called civilized countries, increased their contribution to employment to 46 percent in a short time. They became mothers, raised new generations, and at the same time worked in fields and factories, and even under the difficult conditions of those days, Turkey, which provided foreign trade surpluses and budget surpluses, was built through such a noble struggle. Not only in industry, but in politics, commerce, banking, law, art, sports and many other fields, the efforts of women to take Turkey beyond the level of contemporary civilizations were applauded by the world."

"Over the past 20 years, we have made great strides in female employment and women's participation in the economy"

Emphasizing that over the past 20 years, through joint work and projects of the government, civil society organizations and the private sector, great progress has been made in female employment and women's participation in the economy, Gülle said: "During this period, the proportion of female professors increased from 24 percent to 32 percent, and women's labor force participation rate increased from 26 percent to 34 percent. Turkey is among the countries with the smallest wage gap between male and female workers. In our country, the share of venture capital firms with at least one female partner reached 22 percent, the ratio of startups founded by or partnered with women to all startups reached 14 percent, and the ratio of businesses with female employers to all businesses reached 10 percent. The proportion of women on Boards of Directors rose to 17 percent, and the number of female members increased by 5.3 percent. International research shows that women's labor force participation improves living standards for families, employees and communities," he said.

"The golden key to placing Turkey among the top 10 economies is in the hands of our women"

Noting that they see higher women's contribution to the economy in countries where international trade's share of national income is high and that capture a high share of global trade, Gülle said: "Therefore, the golden key to taking Turkey to a stronger and more prosperous future, to achieving a foreign trade surplus economy in Turkey, to placing Turkey among the top 10 economies is in the hands of our women."

"Exports increased by 17 percent in January and 25 percent in February compared to last year"

Stating that they shared the annual foreign trade figures with the public on 3 January with the presence of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Gülle said that they felt proud of a historic day for the Turkish economy, and that as a result of the superior efforts and labor of valuable representatives of the export family, they reached an annual export level of USD 225 billion. Gülle said: "Our strong export performance continues in 2022. In January, our exports increased by 17 percent compared to the same period last year, and in February by 25 percent. In the first two months, our exports exceeded USD 37 billion. Both towards the USD 250 billion target set by our esteemed President at the beginning of the year and towards the 'Turkey with Foreign Trade Surplus' target, we are advancing with confident steps as the export family. We believe that the role of our women is very important on the path to these goals. With this awareness and consciousness, as TİM, we established the TİM Women's Council with the slogan 'Strong Woman, Strong Exports, Stronger Turkey.' Our Council continues its work with the aims of increasing the number of female exporters and entrepreneurs, developing women's employment in the business world, and ensuring greater representation of women in civil society organizations. In December 2020, we presented our roadmap and projects to your excellency together with our council members. Since then, our TİM Women's Council has signed important projects in a short time," he said.

"The Foreign Trade Complex, the hub of our exports, received Zero Waste Certification"

Noting that the Zero Waste project started under the patronage of Emine Erdoğan and that the TİM Women's Council also launched the 'Zero Waste in Exports Project' with awareness of environmental problems, Gülle said: "As a result of our work, the Foreign Trade Complex, the hub of our exports, qualified for Zero Waste Certification. In addition to bringing waste into the economy, we also provided 'Zero Waste Awareness Training' to our personnel. We carefully prepared the TİM Sustainability Action Plan with the slogan 'Producing for the world without consuming it.' We established the TİM Industry Sustainability Science Committee, which is the first of our 12 main targets set in the action plan. We continued our work on sustainability on a sector-specific basis. We prepared the Textile Sustainability Action Plan to achieve lasting transformation in the Turkish textile sector and to provide high-level compliance with European Green Deal norms. We will also announce our Agriculture Sectors Sustainability Action Plan this month," he said.

"Our women will be the architects of a rising Turkey through exports"

Speaking about the work they have undertaken for female exporters in addition to their environmental projects, Gülle said: "We organized trade missions for our female exporters. We started this work with a mission we organized to the Netherlands in 2019 and did not stop even during the pandemic period. We took Turkey's first Female Exporter Virtual Trade Mission to Latin America and Africa. In this context, we organized Virtual Trade Missions to Chile, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania. At our Women Export Talks events, our female exporters who add value to our exports shared success stories that will inspire all women. Through our Female Entrepreneur Experience Programs, we provided mentoring to 170 female entrepreneurs in TİM-TEB Enterprise Houses. Our female entrepreneurs in our Enterprise Houses received investments exceeding TRY 60 million. Additionally, we conducted training programs for women and young entrepreneurs in Northern Cyprus. We also organized Turkey's first Women Techno-Entrepreneur program in cooperation with the US Embassy. Our supported female entrepreneurs today export products and services to dozens of countries. Among them are those producing next-generation electric bicycles, those producing bio-plastic by recycling olive waste, and those establishing Turkey's first and only domestic propolis facility. As Turkey's Exporters' Council, we are proud to support our female entrepreneurs. Because we believe that our women will be the architects of a rising Turkey through exports," he said.

"With our women exporters, Turkey is rising through exports"

Pointing out that today's ceremony is not only an award ceremony but also an encouragement for the future and a message to Turkey and the world, Gülle concluded his remarks as follows: "Being here under the patronage and presence of your excellency also increases the power of this message. I express my gratitude for being present among us today and honoring us. I also express my gratitude to our esteemed President and our government for their support to our export family. With our women exporters, Turkey is rising through exports! I firmly believe that we will achieve our goal of 'Turkey with Foreign Trade Surplus' with the determination and resolve of our women."   Source