Barriers beware: Women gather at gates of Istanbul

Bringing some 300 women entrepreneurs and leaders to Istanbul from Turkey and around the world, a group of female business leaders in Turkey is organizing the inaugural "Women Entrepreneurship and Leadership Summit" June 4-5 at The Marmara Hotel.

Global, regional and political leaders, entrepreneurs, businesswomen, academics and media members are hoping to use the summit as a springboard for relationships across dozens of countries. During the conference, the first of its kind, organizers and panels will help participants engage each other’s strengths and stories and build a platform for partnerships.

With sponsorship from Garanti Bank, the summit is being organized by the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey (KAGIDER), in partnership with the American Turkish Friendship Council (ATFC) based in Atlanta, where the idea for the summit originated with its chairwoman.

Mona Tekin Diamond, who is also Turkey’s honorary consul general in Atlanta, came up with the idea of the summit a couple of years ago to demonstrate how active women are in Turkey’s civic and business life and to help expand their global networks. "We would like to see women in Turkey have even more presence in decision-making roles," she told the Hürriyet Daily News in Atlanta Wednesday. Diamond said she was impressed with KAGIDER's success in promoting women and entrepreneurs.

High-caliber attendees
Stating that she was "really proud" of the caliber of the speakers at the summit, Diamond announced that Melanne Verveer, newly appointed by President Obama as the ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, will join the summit as a guest speaker.

Other notable attendees include Nimet Çubukçu, state minister responsible for women and families and Egemen Bağis, Turkey’s chief EU negotiator. In an interesting convergence, also in attendance will be Ursula Plassnik, Austria’s foreign minister, who inflamed Ankara and citizens of Turkey with her statements a few years ago rebuffing Turkey’s EU membership bid. Among the wide-ranging group of 25 panelists are Linda T. Alepin, founding director of the Global Women’s Leadership Network; Sevgin Eroğlu, associate professor at Georgia State University; and Sarosh Sattar, senior economist at the World Bank.

Alepin said she will be listening intently to the perspectives at the summit of Turkish, European, Middle Eastern and African women on the subject of women as leaders. Building networks is a necessity for women, she said. Two years ago she met a woman from Armenia at a conference in Tunis who subsequently attended her leadership program, Women Leaders for the World, last summer at Santa Clara University. "Now we are jointly pursuing financing to bring leadership training to women politicians in Armenia to increase their representation in government," she told the Daily News in a phone interview.

Recent studies from McKinsey and Ernst & Young found that women are willing to take more risks in order to pursue their passions and want the time flexibility that independent business allows, Alepin noted. With U.S. women starting businesses at twice the rate of men, she said the trend is interesting since small business is a key sector in any economy.

Helping with the summit coordination is another of Alepin’s contacts, Sema Başol, founder of The Turkish Women's Initiative (TWI), an intercultural, collaborative effort to enhance the status of Turkish women. TWI is bringing a group of women from Silicon Valley, California, all associated with the Global Women’s Leadership Network program (www.gwln.org) that Alepin founded and runs. "Linda is the one who has encouraged me to develop TWI and continues to be one of my advisors," Başol told the Daily News by email.

As planners of a first-time conference, they are on a learning curve, said Başol, who has worked with multi-billion dollar corporations like Mattel Inc. and Koç Holding as well as non-profit educational and cultural institutions. In planning future events’ sessions and speakers, she said she hopes they will gain from this summit a better understanding of what women entrepreneurs in Turkey need. Following the summit, Kagider plans to create platforms for interdisciplinary working groups and international partnerships.

President of KAGIDER Gülseren Onanç said the summit will be unique Ğ regionally and internationally Ğ and will be an annual event held each year. "The WEL Summit is to become a useful platform for further lobbying, as well as further policy-making discussions and academic studies related to women entrepreneurship and leadership," Onanç said.

The cost of the summit is $350-$500 depending on time of registration. The deadline for early registration is May 15. A 25 percent discount is offered to students, university members and groups of 10 or more.

Speakers from around the world

Melanne Verveer, newly appointed by President Obama as the ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues was assistant to the president and chief of staff to the first lady during the Clinton administration. Melanne Verveer later co-founded Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international nonprofit that invests in emerging women leaders.

Sheikha Mozah is a social activist and the driving force behind a host of innovative and groundbreaking programs in Qatar, the region and the world. In 2007, Forbes magazine named Sheikha Mozah one of the 100 most powerful women in the world, and The Times of London named her one of the 25 most influential business leaders in the Middle East.

Isabella Lenarduzzi founded and directs JUMP Active for Woman with more than 130,000 women in its network and is actively engaged in gender equity issues and organizing conferences and workshops around the world.

Zouera Youssoufou is the program manager of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Gender at World Bank Group promoting economic development worldwide. Her work focuses on women. She joined IFC in 2005 from Citigroup's Smith Barney unit in New York and Atlanta.

Visit www.welsummit.org for detailed information including registration, sessions, speakers, one-on-one business meeting opportunities, pre and post Summit tours, and more. Contact info@theatfc.org with questions.