Within the scope of My Sister Project, the winners of the My Sister Grant Program, which was implemented for the second time to support entrepreneurial women operating in the food sector, were announced. While Hülya Elibol, owner of Zuzu Cafe operating in Marmaris district, received the special jury award, Cafe Bi Yer business owner Tuğçe Arca from Akyaka district, who was entitled to receive grant support, became the pride of Muğla.

My Sister Project, implemented in cooperation with Coca-Cola Turkey’s support, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and The Habitat Association, continues to support women. The project aims to strengthen the social and economic position of women by armed with the necessary knowledge and skills and to take an active role in economic development.

The second “Grant Program” implemented within the scope of My Sister Project aims to support entrepreneurial women working in the producer, food and catering sector.

With the “My Sister Grant Programme”, 30 women entrepreneurs operating in the food industry from 81 provinces were selected by the jury. Within the scope of the Grant Program, a total of 765 thousand TL of business development grant support was offered, of which 25 thousand TL was given to 29 entrepreneur women and 40 thousand TL was given to 1 entrepreneur woman as a jury special award. In the first grant program held in 2019, grant support was provided to 11 entrepreneur women.

The applications of entrepreneurial women were evaluated by a jury consisting of managers of TOBB, Habitat Association, Coca-Cola Turkey, Turkish Women Entrepreneurs Association (KAGIDER) and Arya women.

Grant Support Winners Are As Follows:

“Aslı Kaya, Ayşe Çakır Yazgel, Derya Kübra Er, Ece Çiftçi, Elmas Taşpınar, Emine Çap, Esra Çakır, Hatice Dikyol, Hatice Kudal, Hatun Demiray, Hüsniye Pekmez, Leman Ceyhan, Melike Çaça, Meryem Koçoğlu, Mevlude Tülek, Miray Yerliyurt, Naime Yiğit, Nefise Değirmenci, Nermin Özcan, Nilüfer Kart, Nuray Polat, Nuray Üstünel, Öznur Şahin, Saniye Gümüşçıbık, Seher Önel, Sennur Çetin, Suzan Soygür, Yıldız Gündüz.”

Coca-Cola Turkey General Manager Başak Karaca, entrepreneurial women to continue their support and reduce the burden of the epidemic to a little bit in order to implement the second grant program this year, he said.

Karaca, said: “Our project, which we started with small steps in 2015, today has become more touching the lives of women with running steps. With this power we received from our sisters and the support of our project stakeholders, we started the year 2021 very quickly. With new collaborations, we are trying to develop my sister project and strengthen its reach. We are happy to reach about 100 thousand women so far with our project. With the project, we aim to reach 250 thousand entrepreneurial women by the end of 2021. We will continue to support entrepreneurial women through new business associations and grant programs.”

Habitat Association Chairman Sezai Hazır noted that they have been paying attention to digitalization for many years as an association and wished the entrepreneurial women who are eligible to benefit from the grant program success in their entrepreneurial adventures.

Nurten Öztürk, Chairman of TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Board and Founding Member of the Opet Board of Directors, “I sincerely congratulate all participants who have the courage to participate in the program within the scope of the My Sister Grant Program and are entitled to receive an award.” made statements.

Speaking at the award ceremony, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu explained that they have reached 20 thousand women entrepreneurs with the My Sister Project, and that they have provided grant support to 10 thousand women entrepreneurs in addition to training and mentoring support, branding, financial literacy training programs.

Hisarciklioglu pointed out that this year’s ‘local flavor Grant Program ‘ has a separate importance, saying: “As you know, the food and drink sector is perhaps among the sectors most affected by the pandemic period. On this occasion, we have increased the amount of grant support and the number of beneficiaries this year by 2 times. According to the results announced today, I also congratulate 30 women entrepreneurs who will be eligible for grants.” said.

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