TÜRKONFED and Türkiye İş Bankası held a series of high-level meetings in New York, coinciding with the United Nations General Assembly. Within the scope of the WeLead project carried out in partnership by the two institutions, the delegation met with representatives from organizations including the Permanent Mission of Türkiye to the United Nations, the Consulate General of Türkiye in New York, and the UN Women office. The delegation also organized the event “Sustainable Development with Gender-Sensitive Supply Chains” at the Turkish House and attended the panel “Transatlantic Opportunities For Entrepreneurial Women” hosted by NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) at the Oppenheimer Hall.
TÜRKONFED and İş Bank Brought Entrepreneurial Women to the Agenda in the U.S.
Launched in 2021, the WeLead project by the Turkish Business Confederation (TÜRKONFED) and Türkiye İş Bankası continues to support women entrepreneurs by organizing events across Türkiye while also expanding the project internationally. During the U.S. visit, representatives of the two institutions met with Ambassador Ahmet Yıldız, Türkiye’s Permanent Representative to the UN; Ambassador Muhittin Ahmet Yazal, Consul General of Türkiye in New York; Shoko Ishikava, Deputy Director of Programs and Policy at UN Women; and Sue Allchurch, Chief of Outreach and Engagement at the UN Global Compact.
Events at the Turkish House and NAWBO
In cooperation with UN Women ECARO (Europe and Central Asia Regional Office), the delegation organized the “Sustainable Development with Gender-Sensitive Supply Chains” event at the Turkish House. The widely attended event featured a panel discussion on the potential impact of private sector purchasing power on gender equality.
At the panel “Transatlantic Opportunities For Entrepreneurial Women” organized by NAWBO, one of America’s leading women’s business organizations, NAWBO President Neena Dutta moderated the session. Speakers included Prof. Dr. Yasemin Açık representing TÜRKONFED, Özge Küllah Kurtuluş representing İş Bank, and Jessica Rivera, Founder of JR Coaching & Consulting, Strategy Consultant to Fortune 500 Companies, Senior Management Consultant & Leadership Expert.
Prof. Dr. Yasemin Açık: “With our WeLead project, we have reached thousands of women entrepreneurs”
Prof. Dr. Yasemin Açık, Vice President of TÜRKONFED and Chair of the Women in Business Commission (İDK), commented on the visit: “Women’s empowerment in entrepreneurship and achieving gender equality in all areas of life are among the primary conditions for sustainable development. Through our WeLead project, we have reached thousands of women and helped them strengthen their positions in business life with various support mechanisms. Furthermore, as we did last year, our meetings in New York this year increased the international visibility of our project while also offering Turkish women entrepreneurs a broader perspective, enriched with global best practices. In the coming period, we will resolutely continue working with our partners to ensure that women take a stronger role in economic life.”
Özge Küllah Kurtuluş: “Supporting women entrepreneurs is also the key to economic development”
Özge Küllah Kurtuluş, Head of SME and Business Banking Marketing at İş Bank, said: “While providing financial services to women entrepreneurs, we also embrace the responsibility of being a stakeholder that contributes to the transformation of the ecosystem. We are working in many areas to facilitate women entrepreneurs’ access to finance and enable their stronger participation in supply chains. One of these efforts is the Gender-Sensitive Procurement Guidebook—a key outcome of our WeLead project, published in 2023. With this guidebook, we aimed to make it easier for women-owned enterprises in Türkiye to participate in public and private sector procurement processes. Subsequently, we also took our first steps to carry this goal into the international arena. Together with TÜRKONFED and UN Women, we are preparing the Gender-Sensitive Procurement Guidebook, which we believe will become a critical resource for integrating equality-sensitive approaches into procurement processes. During our U.S. visit, we reached a principle agreement to launch pilot programs in three countries. Our goal is not only to support the individual success of women entrepreneurs but also to place economic growth on a more inclusive and resilient foundation. We are convinced that supporting women entrepreneurs is the key to economic development.”
Belen Sanz Luque: “We are creating equal conditions for women entrepreneurs”
Belen Sanz Luque, UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, stated: “Partnerships between private sector institutions like İş Bank and business associations like TÜRKONFED represent a strong alliance of expertise, networks, and commitment to women’s empowerment. By joining forces around gender-sensitive procurement approaches, we are not only opening new markets for women entrepreneurs but also creating equal conditions for their businesses to grow and compete fairly.”
Broad Institutional Participation
The TÜRKONFED delegation for the WeLead project’s New York visit included Vice President and İDK Chair Prof. Dr. Yasemin Açık; Secretary General and Board Member Arda Batu; Deputy Secretary General Erhan Arslan; Program Director Nazan Butuner; and Ufuk Tandoğan, President of the Turkish Businessmen’s Association in Romania (TİAD). The Türkiye İş Bank team included Özge Küllah Kurtuluş, Head of SME and Business Banking Marketing; Nazlı Coşkun, Unit Manager, SME and Business Banking Marketing; Pınar Geben Yalçın, Deputy Manager, SME and Business Banking Marketing; and Pınar Yılmaz, Deputy Manager.