Young KAGIDER Days’ third event took place on May 2^nd at Salon 2009 of the Eskişehir Anadolu University; 169 students participated in the event.

After a warm welcome from the Vice Chancellor of the Young KAGIDER Days event Dr. Meryem Akdoğlan Kozak, we then heard from Dr. Meryem Akdoğan Kozak in her speech on entrepreneurship. She said that “the concept of a ‘woman entrepreneur’ is misunderstood in our country. A woman entrepreneur is a woman who works on her own terms.”

After Dr. Meryem Akdoğlan Kozak’s speech, KAGIDER Board of Directors member, Münteha Adalı, presented information about the Young KAGIDER project. She emphasized their goal of encouraging young men and women in university to gain knowledge and spread awareness about the country’s gender inequalities.

Following Adalı,Rıza Büyükuğur, associate of Istanbul Doors Group shared his entrepreneurial experiences with the participants. He told the youth that if they set appropriate goals for themselves that failure is impossible- adding that his own interest in entrepreneurship was due to his father’s work. Büyükuğur identified the lack of support from husbands as one of the main obstacles facing female entrepreneurs, stating that “a male partner that fails to help his spouse is also preventing her from moving forward.”

Hakan Baş, a young entrepreneur, and founder/CEO of Lidyana.com, suggested differentiating oneself in the workplace by being proactive.

Panel speaker Ülkem Kırımlı pointed out that due to Turkey’s very young and active population, that no one should be unemployed at this point of time. She also said that in order to differentiate oneself from the rest of the population, learning a foreign language is crucial.

The founder of ANGIKAD and Member of the Board of Directors, Devrim Erol, also shared his exciting entrepreneurial experiences, ending his speech with the following: “Do not forget the two things that motivate people- what they feel they have missed out on, and what they still have a desire to achieve.”