Entrepreneurs selected for the 2021 edition of the program Garanti BBVA Partners
The initiative Garanti BBVA Partners continues making a difference with its contribution to Turkey’s ecosystem of entrepreneurs. The program supports the efforts of entrepreneurs in the field of sustainable development and new strategies, also in the year 2021.
For Garanti BBVA, entrepreneurship initiatives are a strategic priority that it has been promoting for years; initiatives that are reaping great success. Since the 2015 launch, over 60 entrepreneurs have benefited from the Garanti BBVA Partners program. It gives all participants the opportunity to expand their businesses and foster sustainable growth. The program helps entrepreneurs focused on innovation to put their ideas into practice, offering them mentoring and training services.
The entrepreneurs for the 2021 edition were selected by a jury comprised of: Reha Emekli, Executive Vice President of Technology at Garanti BBVA; Mustafa Saglik, Director of Banking for Large and Mid-sized Companies at Garanti BBVA; Hakan Oger, Director of Banking for Small Businesses at Garanti BBVA; Tunç Özgül, Head of Startups and the VC Ecosystem at Amazon Web Services Türkiye; Ahmet Tosun, founder of Poltio; Mehmet Onarcan, founder of Mentors Network Turkey; Gökhan Alpman, Managing Partner at Eurasia Invest; Altay Tınar, co-founder of Yuvako/Mentors Network Turkey; Mihriban Ersin Tekmen, founder of the magazine Fintech Time and co-founder of Colendi; Fatih Bektaşoğlu, Executive Vice President of Technology at Garanti BBVA; and Cem Ener, co-founder of BUBA.
In order to participate in the initiative, the entrepreneurs must have an interesting product or service, have been in business for at least three years and have a scalable work model. In this edition, Nesatilir.com, Missafir, Phishup, Massive Energy, UnoMoi and AbilityPool were selected. These six entrepreneurs who were accepted into the program will benefit from different types of assistance.
In the words of Sibel Kaya, Executive Vice President of Garanti BBVA: “Garanti BBVA continues its efforts to contribute to a sustainable future in today’s society.” Furthermore, the Vice President pointed to the strategic prioritization of entrepreneurship and of addressing it with comprehensive approaches, as the bank has been doing for years now. She explained that Garanti BBVA works on different platforms that go from female entrepreneurship to social entrepreneurship, with products and services that address specific needs.
So far, over 20 million lira have been invested in this program. The Vice President concluded by congratulating the entrepreneurs selected for 2021, and stressing that Garanti BBVA will continue contributing to the growth of this ecosystem.