Turkey's Best of the Best Entrepreneurs Announced

June 18, 2012

Tom Coleman, of the U.S. Embassy Ankara’s Economic Section, visited and congratulated second-prize winners Kerem Çalışkan and Salih Eren Parlakgümüş.

The Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP) - Turkey selected the best among top entrepreneurs of Turkey. The Global Entrepreneurship Program/GEP chose the best from amongst Turkey’s most successful entrepreneurs. Ankara-based high-tech company InfoDif, Ltd., founded by Kerem Çalışkan and Salih Eren Parlakgümüş, won the prize for second-place in Turkey’s Best Enterprises Business Plan Competition for developing new technology and software in the area of image processing. Tom Coleman, of the U.S. Embassy Ankara’s Economic Section, visited and congratulated Çalışkan and Parlakgümüş. They explained to Coleman the plans for their award-winning project and noted that winning the prize has bolstered their desire to do better work in the future.

Entrepreneurs were evaluated by a jury of American and Turkish entrepreneurs in parallel tracks for early and growth stage enterprises. The top three teams in two tracks were announced by Vice Prime Minister Ali Babacan during the Award Ceremony held on Wednesday, 30 May 2012. A delegation of American entrepreneurs and investors were brought to Turkey by the U.S. State Department’s Global Entrepreneurship Program and formed the jury for the Business Plan Competition.

GEP - Turkey was launched with a Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Francis Ricciardone and TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu, following the Partners For a New Beginning (PNB) initiative TOBB and TEPAV started in collaboration with the U.S. Department of State. 

The Program was officially launched on 3 December 2011 in Istanbul by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. U.S. President Obama had announced both programs during the Entrepreneurship Summit held in Washington in 2010. GEP is managed by the State Department's Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.

For more info: http://www.gep-turkey.org/