Darüşşafaka High School – Erdem Genç

As part of the ‘Darüşşafaka Techno-Entrepreneurship Youth Centre’ project supported by the İstanbul Development Agency (İSTKA), 167 Year 9 and Year 10 students at Darüşşafaka High School, who have been receiving training since October in developing their own business ideas, have successfully completed the first part of an entrepreneurship programme developed with the support of Özyeğin University, the International Entrepreneurs Association and Intel. On Thursday 23 January, Darüşşafaka’s young entrepreneurs presented the business ideas they had worked on in pairs to a jury drawn from a range of sectors.

At the event, attended by Fırat Tekin, Acting Chair of the Darüşşafaka Society Board, board member Beşir Özmen, Darüşşafaka Middle School Head Ayşe Görey, and our teachers and administrators, Darüşşafaka High School Head and Campus Coordinator Nevzat Kulaberoğlu gave an opening speech.

Of the pairs who presented their business ideas on 21 and 22 January 2014 to a preliminary jury made up of the teachers who ran the entrepreneurship programme, 11 had the chance to present their work to people from different sectors on Thursday 23 January and have it assessed. Each pair tried, within the 10 minutes allotted to them, to explain their business idea to the jury as fully as possible and to answer questions. Of the 11 business ideas assessed by the jury, 3 received awards.

Melisa Çifci and İpek Eroğlu with “doğAĞAÇ”; İlknur Beken and Belçin Koçkar with “Clothing Design”; Aleyna İnanç and Hande Dayanış with ‘BujuMuju’ (awarded); Letisya Doğan and Ali Demir with “Talent Hunter”; Berkay Türkmenoğlu and Alihan Ögeer with “Cycling”; Tuğçe Açıkalın and Züleyha Çakır with “Möö Café”; Bengül Dağdagül and Nisanur Köşgen with “SıkıldıkçAL” (awarded); Seher Kurtulmuş and Rana Çelik with “Quick Soup” (awarded); Elif Karaatlı and Nuriye Varoğlu with “The Obedient Pen”; Zeynep Alemdağ and Şevval Kutlu with “Secret Diary”; and Müberra Ekici and Aleyna Büyükgüçlü with “Workshops”.

Members of the jury on 23 January: Erdem Genç, owner of M3 Works; Burçak Karakaya, Deputy Secretary General of the Darüşşafaka Society; Ömer Kaymakçalan, member of the Darüşşafaka Society High Advisory Board and Manager of Yosun Teknoloji Üretim Sanayi ve Dış Ticaret Ltd. Şti.; Engür Rutkay, Adviser to the International Entrepreneurs Association and General Manager of the Genç Başarı Foundation; Levent Sağıroğlu, Founding Director of LearnERA Education Consultancy, representing Intel; Murat Tortopoğlu, Coordinator of the Özyeğin University Entrepreneurship Factory; and Mehmet Yitmen, board member of the International Entrepreneurs Association.

We thank all our jury members, and our teachers who ran the entrepreneurship programme between October and January — Nilgün Binışık, Tolga Dikmenli, Emel Erdoğdu, Seçil Güvenç, Serap Sayim, Esra Sayman, Demir Sipahi, Derya Kurt Şakar, Erdem Yağız, Cansu Aydemir and Meltem Ceylan Alibeyoğlu — for their support.