Aimed at implementing trade chamber transactions and work permit applications for refugee entrepreneurs, in a blockchain-based platform, the digital identity pilot project has been successfully completed with the cooperation of Dutch technology company Tykn, UNDP and INGEV.
INGEV marked the 2nd year of the “Business Development Mentorship” project in cooperation with the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development). With the kick-off meeting held on September 10, mentors met beneficiaries with whom they will work during 4 months, while the latter were introduced to the services, they will receive throughout the project duration.
Bringing together Syrian SMEs from different sectors and leading mentors who are sectorial experts, the project aims to orient 28 Syrian companies to new business networks. The project also supports Syrian SMEs in developing their marketing, business development and sales capacities. The most important advancement in the second year is that INGEV included female Syrian business owners in the project as mentees.
Another essential step is to feature SMEs’ potential in their respective fields and expand their operations through innovative ideas. INGEV innovative approach within mentorship concentrate on boosting turnover and sales, paving the way for branding, an empowered market positioning, enhancing distribution systems and broadening the ecosystem through new-sales goals.
INGEV designed and carried out a research to gauge the level of social cohesion in Mardin. Mardin has hosted communities from different religions, languages, and cultures throughout history. As such, the fabric and multi-culturalism of the city contributes to higher social cohesion between local people and refugees. Social cohesion between the host and refugee communities was investigated with respect to various aspects of cohesion such as personal distress variables, and intergroup contact variables. The data collection involved face-to-face interviews with the host community and refugees and in-depth interviews with key informants such as representatives from NGOs and public institutions in Mardin. The research provided recommendations on strategies to further strengthen social integration and cohesion in the city. The findings can also serve as a model for social cohesion activities to be held in other regions around Turkey and world in general.
Entrepreneurship support gained momentum despite the Pandemic in the last quarter thanks to the support of UNDP and other program partners.
INGEV has witnessed a particular increase in work permit issuance, reaching 600 applications. INGEV has also managed to facilitate establishment of 14 new companies.
Within the scope of the project, 76 entrepreneurs have opened their companies so far, 28 of which registered Limited Liability Companies with a total capital of TRY 3.065.000.
INGEV consultants supported more than 100 entrepreneurs by focusing especially on digitalization as remote work, online sales and marketing became essential for Syrian SMEs during the pandemic. Additionally, a new Project in cooperation with UNDP has been launched in September 20’ that will aim to provide comprehensive support to Syrian SMEs in Turkey including digital infrastructure and cash grants, digitalization trainings and hands-on digital marketing support.
INGEV CHATS has recently held its 18th episode since March when the Covid-19 outbreak started in Turkey. INGEV CHATS Episodes in June were devoted to Entrepreneurship and Cooperatives. As INGEV CHATS episodes exceeded 1 million total views on Facebook, our guests in June were; İbrahim Elbaşı, Duygu Eren, Ozan Sönmez, Emine Erdem, Arda Sacred, Murat Şahin, Ezgi Arslan, Ayşe Sabuncu Saraçlar, Prof. Dr. Fikret Adaman, Melis Batıkan and Levent Kahraman.
INGEV CHATS will continue in July by focusing on the topics at the center of our lives. You can access the episodes (only in Turkish language) that attracted great interest and offered a new vision on their chosen topics at http://ingev.org/ingev-chats/
Refugee entrepreneurs are more affected by the COVID-19 pandemic than their Turkish counterparts and are more pessimistic about the future.
INGEV TAM’s “Understanding Local and Refugee Entrepreneurs and Their Needs in the COVID-19 Outbreak and Normalization Process” research study indicates that revenues of refugee entrepreneurs are more negatively affected by the pandemic than local entrepreneurs and they are more pessimistic about the future. Another important finding is that during this period, as the distancing measures inevitably brought digitalization to the center stage of our lives, Syrian entrepreneurs needed consultancy and financial support in order to adapt and keep up in an environment where online transactions and communications became vital. In addition, half of the Syrian entrepreneurs are unaware of the support and aid mechanisms provided to SMEs by the government.
Click for Press Release. (Only in Turkish)
Summary of the Research Click for “One-Pager”.
Turkish people are so misinformed about Syrians living in Turkey that the biggest obstacle to social harmony among the two communities can be said to be disinformation.
The Human Development Monitor Survey conducted by INGEV TAM in collaboration with Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Communication revealed that local community members possess quite a bit of misinformation about the humanitarian aid provided to Syrians in Turkey.
The research revealed that local community members are better informed when it comes to issues related to daily life such as health care and payments of bills. A majority of the population, however, is under the impression that refugees get special treatment on topics such cash transfers by the Turkish government, reduced taxes, easier access to education and fast-tracked citizenship rights.
Half of the local community thinks that the most tense social relationship in Turkey today is the one between Turkish people and Syrians. Nearly half of the local community members say they do not want their children to be friends with refugees. This tension felt by the members of society seems to stem from pieces of disinformation prevalent in the society in relation to humanitarian aid provided to Syrians.
Click to access the press release. (Only in Turkish)
Click for the detailed research report.
Click for the summary findings of the research.
INGEV added a new service to its entrepreneurial support mechanisms. “Checklist with Renan” sketches out the critical aspects and topics that entrepreneurs should pay attention to in order to effectively deal with the ups and downs in the life of an entrepreneur. Prepared by Renan Burduroğlu, the training is in Turkish and presented with Arabic subtitles. You can access the 8-video series free of charge at http://ingev.org/renanla-checklist/
The topics of “Checklist with Renan” include:
Ideation, creating a business plan, pricing strategies, market-target audience analysis, sales-distribution, creating a marketing plan, brand positioning and marketing communication.
We came to the end of the first year in our business mentoring project funded by EBRD. The aim of the project was to enhance business development capacity of Syrian entrepreneurs. In this process, entrepreneurs had the opportunity to strengthen their networking capabilities as they interacted with new network connections from public- private sectors, sectoral associations, private enterprises.
The first year’s closing meeting in June was held with a very strong participation. In the meeting attended by an international team of 40 executives from the EBRD, the project mentors and mentees shared their experiences gathered throughout the mentorship process. All mentees have remained in the project from kick-off in July 2019 to the end of implementation period in December 2019 and very high percentages of satisfaction have been achieved in relation to the target KPIs in the project.
