DEMODAY HELD IN OUR INNOVATION WITH WOMEN PROJECT

Ideas, projects, presentations, and future plans…

We have completed our special program within the scope of Innovation with Women 2022, where women entrepreneurs who dream, work, and bring their projects to life presented their projects to investors.

Within the scope of the Innovation with Women project, where we support women entrepreneurs, this time we brought women entrepreneurs together with investors. The Entrepreneur & Investor Meeting (Demoday), which we organized on June 6 at the Sheraton Hotel Ataşehir in Istanbul, took place with the participation of KADEM Board Member Dr. Saliha Okur Gümrükçüoğlu and Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır.

Saliha Okur Gümrükçüoğlu, who gave the opening speech of the program, said, “Innovation with Women is one of KADEM’s branded projects. We eagerly await different innovative ideas every year. We follow with excitement the processes of these ideas turning into ventures and commercialization. With these projects produced and implemented by women, their participation in working life is increasing. Thanks to our state’s incentives for women’s entrepreneurship, investor support, and projects implemented by non-governmental organizations, women’s awareness has also increased. Women are now more knowledgeable, courageous, and willing… In today’s Turkey, women entrepreneurs are important actors of growth and development with the new economic values they create.”

Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology, guest of the Entrepreneur & Investor Meeting, began his speech by congratulating KADEM for developing and carrying out the Innovation with Women Project step by step in its 7th year. In his speech, Kacır emphasized the importance of technology. He said, “National Technology Move means Turkey making a leap and breakthrough in high technology. We have achieved this leap in many areas, especially in the defense industry, and we will continue to achieve it.”

The Demoday event continued throughout the day with presentations where more than ten entrepreneurs explained their interesting and innovative projects. Following the presentations, the demoday program, enriched by questions from investors to entrepreneurs, concluded with one-on-one B2B meetings between investors and the entrepreneurs they selected.

Since 2015, KADEM has been implementing the Innovation with Women project to enhance the skills of women entrepreneurs who say “I have an idea” and to enable them to transform their ideas into ventures with high potential for qualified employment. To date, 1900 women entrepreneurs have applied to the project. Of these entrepreneurs, 174 were eligible to participate in training camps. While 30 entrepreneurs made it to the final, 13 entrepreneurs also received awards by bringing their projects to life.

In its 7th term, the Innovation with Women Project continues its activities within the scope of the Istanbul Development Agency’s Entrepreneurship Financial Support Program, with project partnerships from Üsküdar Municipality, Yıldız Technopark, Istanbul TTO, the Turkish Exporters Assembly, affiliates of TÜBİTAK Marmara Technocity, Bilişim Vadisi, and KOSGEB support.