The entrepreneurial journey has begun in the Western Black Sea.

The program “Entrepreneurship Journey in the Western Black Sea: First Steps to Success” conducted by the Western Black Sea Development Agency (BAKKA) in collaboration with the Arya Investment Platform and Karabük Technopark included a program introduction and the “Startup 101 & Lean Entrepreneurship Seminar”.

The event, hosted by Karabük University, was attended by regional stakeholders, as well as Ahu Büyükkuşoğlu Serter, the founder of the Arya Investment Platform and Farklabs, an investor, serial entrepreneur, and one of the 50 most powerful women in Fortune Turkey, along with her team. The event started with opening speeches by BAKKA Deputy Secretary General Mehmet Çetinkaya, Karabük University Rector and Chairman of the Board of Karabük Technopark Prof. Dr. Fatih Kırışık, and Karabük Governor and BAKKA Board Chairman Mustafa Yavuz.

In his speech, BAKKA Deputy Secretary General Mehmet Çetinkaya emphasized the importance of ensuring sectoral diversity and developing an entrepreneurial culture in the region, which is economically dependent on the coal and iron-steel sectors, for socio-economic development. Providing information about the efforts made by BAKKA to develop entrepreneurship, Çetinkaya stated that the aim of the program “Entrepreneurship Journey in the Western Black Sea: First Steps to Success” to be carried out this year is to meet the training and mentoring needs of entrepreneurs and at least idea-phase entrepreneurs in the region. He stated:

“Our region has an economic structure dependent on the coal and iron-steel sector. For example, 22% of insured employees in our province work in Karabük, while 9.5% in Zonguldak still work in the primary metal industry sector. Developing an entrepreneurial culture is critical for the socio-economic development of the region. For this reason, in addition to seminars, training, and mentoring activities aimed at strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem in our region, we are also carrying out many activities that facilitate access to infrastructure and finance together. We have organized various events to raise awareness of angel investing in our region. With the mentoring career training series, we have created a mentor pool by increasing the human resource capacity of the region. Our efforts to spread the Cyber Homeland Program, initiated under the leadership of our agency, across the country continue. The Black Sea Cyber Security Summit we held in the region, the Western Black Sea startup Bilkent Entrepreneurship Camps, and programs to prepare entrepreneurs for investors are among the important activities we have carried out. Additionally, the professional entrepreneurship competitions we have conducted with other agencies and the events we have undertaken at Teknofest are concrete indicators of our agency’s commitment to strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In the competition where the activities of the agencies on the theme of youth employment were compared under the coordination of the General Directorate of Development Agencies, our agency ranked first among 26 development agencies this year. This is a sign that the right steps are being taken by our agency. With the program that will be carried out this year in cooperation with the Arya Investment Platform, the awareness of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs who have completed the idea phase in our region will be increased, and contributions will be made to their training and mentoring needs. Thus, it will also contribute to strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem and creating new job opportunities, accelerating regional development.”

“BAKKA plays a significant role in organizing developments in the region”

Karabük University Rector and Chairman of the Board of Karabük Technopark Prof. Dr. Fatih Kırışık stated, “I believe that this event is very important in terms of increasing entrepreneurship, spreading entrepreneurship at the grassroots level, finding answers to the question of how to become an entrepreneur, and highlighting significant and successful examples in entrepreneurship. On the other hand, BAKKA plays a very important role in organizing and coordinating developments in the Western Black Sea region in terms of entrepreneurship. Our development agency plays a crucial role in developing the entrepreneurship ecosystem of the Western Black Sea. I hope that it will achieve even more effective successes in its future works. Today is also an extremely important day for our Karabük University. We are on the first opening day of the 2024-2025 academic year. I hope that this academic year will be a year that leads to significant successes, outstanding achievements, and good developments for us.”

“We aim to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region”

Governor Yavuz stated in his speech that the program is a strong step taken not only for the region but also for increasing the entrepreneurial potential across Turkey. He emphasized that today, entrepreneurship has become one of the most important elements of development and economic growth, and this potential must be evaluated in the best way in the Western Black Sea region. He expressed that the seminars, training, and investor presentations to be conducted within the framework of the program will illuminate the paths of young entrepreneurs and serve as an important guide to lead them to success. Yavuz said:

“The Western Black Sea has a strong economic and social development potential for the future of the region, thanks to its natural beauties, agricultural richness, industry, strengths, and tourism opportunities. To evaluate this potential in the best way, entrepreneurship, innovation, and strategic investments are of great importance. By bringing these dynamics together in the Western Black Sea, we aim to show that not only crops but also great ideas, innovative projects, and moments for them to flourish can be achieved in our region’s fertile lands. As the Western Black Sea Development Agency, we aim to provide entrepreneurs with the support and resources they need in this process, where mentoring and innovation collaboration will come together, and strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region. With the seminars, training, and investor presentations to be held within the scope of the program, we aim to enable our young entrepreneurs to set sail for new horizons. I wholeheartedly believe that each participant in this platform will create a new value, and each idea will constitute an important milestone in the development process of the Western Black Sea.”

“If you invest in the right person, they can take you much further than you think”

The event continued with Ahu Büyükkuşoğlu Serter providing information about entrepreneurship, investment, the Arya Investment Platform, and Farklabs, as well as sharing her thoughts on women entrepreneurship in the ecosystem. Serter stated, “I set out to find the opportunities that no one sees in Turkey, invest in talents that no one sees, and turn them into success stories worldwide. I am here today for that purpose. If I find any company or person that fits this description, it doesn’t have to be today, but if we meet through your efforts and help them with our team, a significant part of what we are doing will be accomplished. I am the daughter of a family from Kayseri. The eldest daughter. I started in the automotive industry with spare parts, then took over from my father when it was a smaller business, and now we manufacture all the dashboards in Togg’s cars, which are among the top 500 companies in Turkey. This upper lighting exists. There is a camera inside. The camera company is a company we invested in. We invested in it two years ago. They are two friends from METU. It is the first factory-class company in Turkey that produces autonomous driving cameras with them in the Silicon Valley. We entered at a valuation of 7 million dollars. Now we are exiting the firm again. A year ago, they received a valuation of 28 million dollars. Our target is 60 million, hopefully. So maybe the company will become more valuable than our main family company in a much shorter time. There are over 70 such companies. The question we hear in the Western Black Sea is, ‘How do we transform?’ We actually transform by finding the right people and the right jobs and helping them. We don’t have to discover every job ourselves from scratch. It’s not about saying, ‘I’ll do everything myself.’ But it’s about finding people we will do things together with. Working in a family business as someone from Kayseri is very nice. But it’s not an easy job. What about my interest in women? As a woman, it is even harder to stand behind the truth of what you say, to convince others. But I also wanted to show this when I founded Arya. If you invest in the right women, they can take you much further than you think, and there is this female potential in Turkey. Arya started as a development 12 years ago. God has blessed me with three daughters. The youngest one’s name is Arya. The most important thing I want to do here is to prove how much we can advance Turkey if we invest in our women and give them a chance. Today, we also have a fund that invests over 20 million dollars. We invest in ventures with at least one female founder. We see all of them as a portfolio, looking for teams that will take Turkey to the Champions League. We invest in them both at an early stage and in a later stage.”

During the program, Arya Investment Platform Operations Director Deniz Öztürk gave a presentation for the program introduction. Subsequently, Farklabs Entrepreneurship and Innovation Specialist Günseli Öneş shared her experiences in the Startup 101 & Lean Entrepreneurship field. Later, Arya and Farklabs Entrepreneur E-DISON AI Co-founder Reyhan Eren shared her experiences on her entrepreneurial journey with the participants. KOSGEB Karabük Director Serhat Saygın provided information about KOSGEB’s entrepreneurship support. The event ended with B2B meetings. Ahu Serter and Deniz Öztürk were presented with certificates and gifts during the program.