ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Our agency aims to increase the entrepreneurial capacity in the region by developing the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Bursa, Eskişehir and Bilecik. Thus, investment and financing models in the region will be developed, technology-oriented innovative initiatives will be increased, entrepreneurship culture will be spread in the region and young entrepreneurship will be encouraged.”
It is important to develop an entrepreneurial culture, technology-based and innovative entrepreneurship capacity, to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem that improves access to finance, knowhow and market, and to enable companies to scale up.
Considering the industrial enterprises in the region and the R&D and innovation capacity of 6 universities, our region has a high potential in terms of entrepreneurship. There is a need to develop a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation in institutions/organizations, especially universities, in the region. For this reason, there is a need to increase the number of entrepreneurs in the region, to support technology-based entrepreneurs, to increase training and mentoring opportunities, and to establish platforms that will bring entrepreneurs-investors together. Along with new models to be created for entrepreneurs’ access to finance, centers that provide professional services to entreprises in the context of the management of these processes, will make a significant contribution to the entrepreneurship culture of the region. The low rate of starting and maintaining a business among entrepreneurs who have completed their entrepreneurship training has revealed the need to provide applied entrepreneurship courses with a different method. From this point of view, in cooperation with technology transfer offices our agency has designed accelerator programs that include applied entrepreneurship courses in an integrated manner with mentoring for innovative entrepreneurs. In addition, during the entrepreneurship accelerator programs run by our agency, it was determined that the mentor capacity in our region is insufficient and this need is met by mentors outside the region.
In addition, social entrepreneurship and child/youth entrepreneurship activities carried out by our agency in order to spread entrepreneurship throughout the society and create social benefits. This is also considered important for the development of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the region.
Entrepreneurshıp In Our Regıon At A Glance
There is a need to increase recognition and awareness about social entrepreneurship in order to find solutions to social problems in the region with an entrepreneurial approach and to increase the impact of social enterprises on regional development.
Since 2017; programs consisting of training, academic and sectoral mentoring and consultancy services for startups operating in the region are carried out by our agency and the technology tansfer offices in our region. Entrepreneur-investor meetings are also organized for entrepreneurs who have completed the program, allowing them to make presentations to angel investors.
TechUP – Technology Driven Accelerator Program
The purpose of the TechUP – Technology Oriented Accelerator Program is to support (under the supervision of mentors) the growth targets of entrepreneurs which have an innovative and technological product/service in the field in which they operate in our region, , and to make entrepreneurs investable. To date, we have provided a total of 80 hours of training and 486 hours of mentoring services to 29 entrepreneurs through 3 different programs. We brought the entrepreneurs together with the investors and two of the entrepreneurs participating in the program received investments.
SeedUP Innovative Entrepreneurship Program
The aim of the SeedUP Innovative Entrepreneurship Program, which is another program implemented by our agency to support entrepreneurship; to implement innovative business ideas, to mature entrepreneurs’ business ideas and to provide the necessary support to establish a company, to support entrepreneurs who set up their companies in our region with mentoring activities in the first one-year period, which is called the most risky period, and to ensure their sustainability. With the program organized in 2019, 4 companies were established in the program with 56 hours of training and 110 hours of mentoring to 14 entrepreneurs. These companies have achieved sales of over 1 million TL in a short period of one year, while 3 new trademarks have been registered, 1 company has started exporting. In 2021, we have started 2 new programs with a total of 30 entrepreneurs who want to commercialize their business ideas or establish a company.
We aim to act as a bridge between entrepreneurs, mentors and investors.
Within the scope of the program, we are planning many activities to develop the entrepreneurship ecosystem in our region. Considering the specific needs of the target audience, we carry out activities focused on the entrepreneurs in our region with the participation of all stakeholders. With all of these activities, in the future, we aim to contribute to the development of entrepreneurship and innovation culture by cooperating with the institutions and organizations in our region.
In order to increase the entrepreneurial capacity by developing the entrepreneurship ecosystem in our region, since 2018, our Agency has switched to a result-oriented program approach and started the implementation of the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development Result-Oriented Program.
With the program, we aim:
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- Analyzing the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the region, developing investment and financing models,
- Developing the capacities of the stakeholders in the entrepreneurship ecosystem,
- Supporting technology-oriented and innovative entrepreneurs with rapid growth potential through mentorship and training,
- To create awareness and awareness on social entrepreneurship and to support activities for the establishment of new social enterprises,
- To spread the entrepreneurship culture throughout the society and to develop child and youth entrepreneurship.
We spread the entrepreneurship culture at an early stage
We organize entrepreneurship trainings for students and teachers who will guide them; in order to include children and young people in the entrepreneurship ecosystem from an early age, and to develop their business start-up skills. We will enable students to make entrepreneurship simulations through virtual companies they will establish, and we will enable students to develop their entrepreneurship with the support of successful business people and mentors from the region. To date, we have provided entrepreneurship training for 180 teachers and we are running the Entrepreneurship Program for High School Students with the participation of 380 students.
We support young people who want to implement their initiatives in the field of software and coding
We organize trainings for young entrepreneurs to provide software, application development and coding knowledge necessary for the realization of technology-oriented initiatives. The target audience of the program consists of young people with high motivation and determination to pursue a career in software sector, who want to develop a software or who have the idea of establishing an enterprise. To date, we have carried out training programs for 90 young people in 3 different workshops.
We support the entrepreneurship ecosystem in our region with the financial support program
We carry out activities for the development and activation of financing models such as venture capital and angel investor network that will facilitate the access of entrepreneurs to finance in our region. We carry out studies to determine the financing needs of entrepreneurs in our region and to ensure that these entrepreneurs have access to financing mechanisms for entrepreneurs on a national scale.
We analyze the entrepreneurship ecosystem and identify the needs of entrepreneur
In order for the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development Result-Oriented Program to be carried out in the most effective way, we determine the current situation and needs of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in our region. We will carry out analysis studies with the active participation of our stakeholders in order to evaluate the entrepreneurial activities carried out by our agency and to shape our future activities.
We support innovative initiatives for the textile industry
We organize the “TechXtile Start-Up Challenge” event with international participation in order to include new technologies and methods in production, design innovative products, strengthen university-industry cooperation and increase the added value in exports in the textile industry, which has an important place in our region. We aim to come up with innovative ideas with commercialization capability and to commercialize these ideas with investments from the textile industry.
