Turkcell named ‘Sustainable Development Goal’ pioneer by UN platform over app for refugees

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

The U.N. Global Compact platform has named leading Turkish mobile phone operator Turkcell’s CEO Kaan Terzioğlu as one of the 10 Sustainable Development Goal pioneers over the company’s Hello Hope mobile app for Syrian refugees, Turkcell announced on Sept. 22.      

Turkcell is the only Turkish company awarded by the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative for supporting refugees through mobile technology, a statement said.      

Terzioğlu said the Hello Hope mobile app “aims to break the communication barrier more than 3 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey are facing.”

Noting the “vital” importance of smartphones for “our Syrian guests,” Terzioğlu said Turkcell is seeking to “make the refugees’ lives easier” with their digital services.      

Launched on Sept. 20, 2016, the app aims to address the challenge of integration for Syrian refugees through developing language skills, providing instant speech translation, guidance on registration and other essential services.      

Since then, the app has reached more than 500,000 users, with 350 million Turkish-language card views and more than 8 million uses of the speech translation feature to date, demonstrating the need for and the potential of such solutions, according to Turkcell.      

Total’s CEO Patrick Pouyanne, Microsoft’s Managing Director Sonia Bashir Kabir and Schneider Electric South America’s President Tania Conte Cosentino are among the other business leaders recognized by the U.N. Global Compact for their “exceptional work” to advance 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the U.N.
   
The initiative supports companies to do business by aligning their strategies and operations with its principles on human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. It also supports companies to take strategic actions to advance broader societal goals, such as the SDGs.      

The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals were adopted in 2015 to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all.