A World Turkish Business Council (WTBC) was founded on April 11, 2009 in World Turkish Entrepreneurs Assembly, in which almost 2 thousand Turkish entrepreneurs from 80 countries around the world met. The Council will handle cooperation and lobbying activities. The President of the Council will be Mr. Rifat Hisarcıklıoglu, who also serves as the President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB). Mr. Muhtar Kent, Coca Cola’s Chairman and CEO will also be the Chairman of Higher Advisory Board (YIK). The Board of Directors consists of 15 members, including Rahmi Koç, Guler Sabancı, Ahmet Calık, Zeynel Abidin Erdem and Can Akın Caglar, the General Manager of Ziraat Bank, appointed by TOBB. Next to Mr. Muhtar Kent, other members of the Higher Advisory Board include Atilla Doğudan, Nihat Sorgeç, Kenan Sahin, Mübariz Mansimov, Atıl Kutoglu and Aslı Basgöz.

We asked Dr. Zeynel Abidin ERDEM, the Board Member of WTBC to comment on the World Turkish Entrepreneurs Assembly and the WTBC:

ErdemFuture: What is the most distinctive feature that differentiates Turkish business community from that of other countries? There are many highly successful Turkish entrepreneurs and firms abroad. What is the main theme underlying their success story?

Zeynel Abidin Erdem: The entrepreneurial spirit of Turkish businessmen goes beyond our country’s boundaries. Aware of the fact that Turkey is lacking energy resources and means and they need to look for them beyond Turkey, our businessmen and entrepreneurial community tried their chances and have come up with very successful results. This way, they have opened a gate to the world to exploit opportunities.

EF: Is the support to Turkish entrepreneurial community abroad satisfactory? What can be done further?

ZAE: Turkish entrepreneurial community receives satisfactory support abroad. Turkey’s own resources and means are only enough to support its entrepreneurial community at home; however, President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, strongly support those Turkish entrepreneurs abroad.

Our Prime Minister said that the Government was determined to pave the way for the success of Turkish businessmen in every area. Accordingly, he is escorted by Turkish businessmen committees in his international visits, and invites foreign businessmen to Turkey.

EF: What should be further done so that Turkish entrepreneurs will be more successful abroad?

ZAE: Before everything else, Turkish entrepreneur community must certainly feel the supportive hand of Turkish government behind it, and should never be robbed of this moral support. We witness that Mr. Rıfat Hisarcıklıoglu, the TOBB President, visits Trade Chambers in all cities around Turkey one-by-one around the whole year. Many entrepreneurs get support and courage from those visits by the dear president of TOBB.

On the other hand, Foreign Economic Relations Committee (DEIK) is Turkey’s door to the world and it shows the way to Turkish business community through the mazes of in an ever-shifting political and economic global landscape. Today DEIK maintains its operations with 82 Business Councils. It serves as a cornerstone where Turkish businessmen and foreign investors meet and channelize their investments to lucrative areas; it makes recommendations to them to undertake joint projects. We are pleased to see that whenever any trouble arises throughout this process. DEIK and TOBB support our businessmen, overcoming any problems on the way.

We further witness that Mr. Alparslan Korkmaz, the President of Prime Ministry Investment Support and Promotion Agency, and his team build bridges between foreign investors and Turkish business community thanks to their hugely successful efforts. They boost the morale businessmen, they show the way and give support as far as bureaucratic issues are concerned.