Turkish gov't should offer incentives for women entrepreneurs in public spending: TOBB head

Erdinç Çelikkan ISTANBUL

The government should impose incentives for women entrepreneurs in public spending just as it does for domestic producers, according to the head of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu.

“A sum of 1.5 million entrepreneurs for a 77 million population is too low in Turkey, comparing the developing economy with Japan. We need 2 million new entrepreneurs to reach the levels in Japan. We have two problems in our entrepreneurship structure: Some 50 percent of our population is comprised of women, but only 8 percent of our entrepreneurs are women… Our system also causes young people to remain unproductive as well. We need to change this and enable more women and young people to launch their businesses,” he said at the presidential elections of TOBB’s women and young entrepreneurs’ boards.

The results of the elections saw Aras Cargo Chairperson and CEO Evrim Aras elected as head of the women entrepreneurs’ board, and Pegasus Airlines Chairman Ali Sabancı elected as head of the young entrepreneurs’ board.

In several states in the U.S., there a system through which women entrepreneurs are offered price advantages in public spending, he said.

“We can adapt this system to support women entrepreneurs,” he said.