IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu attended the opening and signing ceremony of the Istanbul Regional Office of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Entrepreneurship Center on 24 February 2020. The ceremony was also attended by TOBB President and ICC Turkey National Committee Chairman M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Deputy Trade Minister Reza Tuna Turagay, ICC Secretary General John Denton, Habitat Founder and President Sezai Hazır, and Facebook, Middle East, Africa and Turkey Regional Vice President Derya Matraş.

ICC Entrepreneurship Center has established a Regional Office in Istanbul and became a partner to the “Facebook Station” created in cooperation with TOBB, Facebook and Habitat. This cooperation aims to provide businesses in Turkey with access to cross-border markets and to organise a variety of trainings and programs focused on exports.

Speaking at the ceremony, TOBB President and ICC Turkey National Committee Chairman M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasised that entrepreneurs have taken an important step that will make it easier for them to become active players in global trade. While referring to the need to contribute more to the expansion of entrepreneurship and diversifying entrepreneurship models, TOBB President  Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the way to become an entrepreneur at the global level could be achieved primarily by becoming a regional entrepreneurship center with entrepreneurs from the Balkans, Caucasus, Central Asia, North Africa and the Gulf countries.

Mentioning that the entire network of ICC has come to Istanbul with the regional office of ICC Entrepreneurship Center Istanbul, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out that the network consisted of Chambers of Commerce and Associations and international companies from over 100 countries. TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu underscored that the center would work to improve the skills of young people, to help local entrepreneurs and start-ups to establish connections and increase their relationships globally. TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that with the ICC Turkey National Committee and the Istanbul office of the ICC Entrepreneurship Center, their global network was now closer to the entrepreneurs.

Emphasising that they see the future of the business world and the country in entrepreneurship, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu noted that technology has a big impact on young people's view of entrepreneurship as a career option. TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu highlighted that when designing the future, the concept of technology should be understood. Indicating that many technologies that are at the center of our lives today were not invented 10 years ago, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out that technology initiatives with not more than 10-15 years history have taken center place in the list of the world's largest companies, which used to be dominated by finance and energy companies.

In his speech, Deputy Trade Minister Rıza Tuna Turagay pointed out that this cooperation was a very important step for Turkey and underlined the importance they attach to entrepreneurial offices. Expressing that their main task was to increase exports, Turagay indicated that Turkey increased exports by 2.2 percent last year, becoming one of the 8 countries in the world that increased value-based exports most. He said: "In this developing world, we need to increase the number of entrepreneurs by taking advantage of the digital environment. For this, these centers are very important. We have a long way to go.”

Turagay underscored the importance of raising awareness in these centres and added: “We have an entrepreneurial spirit in our people, but we cannot turn this into action. We should transfer social media to business life more.” Deputy Minister of Trade Turagay gave information about the projects initiated by the Ministry of Trade to increase entrepreneurship and trade and emphasised that they would always support entrepreneurs.

ICC Secretary General John Denton stated that they have established quality partnerships all over the world and highlighted that one of the most important of these was the partnership established with TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu, TOBB and Turkish companies. ICC Secretary General Denton stated that they wanted to make Istanbul an entrepreneurial hub for the Caucasus and Central Asia.

ICC Secretary General Denton said that their goal was to make business opportunities available all over the world, let technology work for everyone and improve global quality. He stated that ICC was trying to create opportunities for others in partnership with TOBB. Denton stressed the need to establish mechanisms to allow the benefits of the market economy reach everyone. Denton continued as follows: “We're going to get people in Istanbul to find a place to hold on to. We're going to put our strengths in place. We'll build bridges. To support the entrepreneur, we need to create an ecosystem. The ICC will achieve what governments are lacking in.”