The 7th International Young Businessmen Congress (UGİK) International Young Businessmen Congress, organized by Young MÜSİAD under the theme "Notice Tomorrow Today", was held at the Head Office building of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD). Sharing his assessments at the program, MÜSİAD President Abdurrahman Kaan stated that strategist chief executive officers (CEOs) would manage the changes in the world of the future and said, "We need young people who will be fully equipped management chiefs."
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 7th UGİK, President Kaan talked about the changes the global pandemic caused in business life and the new business models it introduced, and said that COVID-19 dictated the importance of being self-sufficient and new models of production, consumption and living. Stating that although it was difficult to adapt to these conditions at first, they have gradually become part of the routine flow of life today, Kaan explained that the remote working system has begun to take hold almost completely in the West. Referring to the threats likely to be experienced in the future and the possible negative effects of these threats on production, President Kaan said, "Without cutting or disrupting production; by making production a part of human nature, we must establish production and trade bases that are self-sufficient, from energy to investment capital."
"WE MUST IMPLEMENT SMART AGRICULTURE STRATEGIES"
Underlining that Türkiye must implement the smart agriculture strategies that will raise it to the status of a country self-sufficient in agriculture, Kaan talked about the MÜSİAD Smart Agriculture City Project implemented within this scope. President Kaan stated that in the world of the future the language, method, diplomacy, definition and jargon of investment have begun to change and that investors can now invest in any country where their money will appreciate, reporting that a direct investment basket in which risk is purchased by distributing investments across different countries has been formed.
Referring to the importance of bringing the resources of one country together with the financiers of another country and channelling the next leg of the investment towards the home country, Kaan continued his remarks as follows:
"In other words, Türkiye, which wants to determine the investment strategy of the future, can not only attract investment to its own country, but at the same time bring the financier and the resource together by matching country data, and can also trade in this business. This agency system is not a structure that can be controlled by the state; here voluntary attachés and capital organizations will come into play. Apart from this, Türkiye can carry out its industrialization policy on its own soil by shifting its basal production to countries rich in land and resources such as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Egypt, North Africa, Central Africa and even Syria. Thus, it can make more efficient use of high value-added products and the high technology production industry for its future."
"STRATEGIST CEOS WILL MANAGE THE CHANGES IN THE WORLD OF THE FUTURE"
Stating that strategist chief executive officers (CEOs) will manage the changes in the world of the future, President Kaan shared the following assessments:
"In other words, we need young people who will be their company's consultant who determines its strategy, who is aware of all production or working processes, who possesses the duties and responsibilities of every department and the work it does, who maintains supervision constantly, who can immediately adapt their institution to changes in the outside world, who can take initiative on behalf of the institution in connections with external stakeholders, who has passed through a multidisciplinary education, who will closely follow technical and technological changes as well as all kinds of managerial processes from legal procedures to financial statements and who will know the systematics of how these work and operate; in short, young people who will be fully equipped management chiefs."
President Kaan said that they also need young and vigorous minds who possess language skills, eloquence, persuasion techniques, meeting and stress management and knowledge of the functioning of the state and bureaucracy, who prioritize people, who are close to their employees, who empathize, in short who leave no work to the boss. Stating that their work on the strategist CEO continues, Kaan added that unless there are leaders who will manage the future, the dreams built in the world of the future will remain in limbo.
"WE BRING TO THE AGENDA NEW IDEAS THAT WILL CREATE ADDED VALUE FOR OUR ECONOMY"
Young MÜSİAD President Furkan Akbal said that they work with all their efforts for Turkish youth with the aim of raising the equipment and quality of Turkish youth and of being beneficial to the country's economy and to the socio-cultural structure of society. Stating that with the congress they held for the 7th time they aim to bring the world's important entrepreneurs and opinion leaders together with the vision of the new generation, Akbal said, "Our congress develops road maps for designing our future, our country and our entrepreneurship ecosystem in a much stronger way. It brings experienced names together with the ideas and perspectives of the new generation."
Referring to UGİK's theme "Notice Tomorrow Today", Akbal made the following statement: "At this important gathering where we will evaluate the future of production, finance, competition and business, we aim to bring to the agenda from different perspectives the human-oriented dynamics of change of the new era we are in, its innovative forms and its ideas that will add strength to our economy."
Stating that in the new world they must take steps of renewal by focusing on the resilience of economic, social and environmental systems, Akbal continued his remarks as follows:
"These steps of renewal cover all areas, from production to finance, from competition to business models. Digitalization, new working models, mobility, artificial intelligence and human-centeredness are only a few of the elements triggering the change we are experiencing today. We are moving towards an age in which working models become flexible, new business areas emerge, the entrepreneurial perspective gains more importance than ever and new professions are formed. In fact, we are sowing today the seeds of all the business areas that we foresee, or cannot foresee, will shape the future."
Akbal explained that at the congress they aim to bring to the agenda the human-oriented dynamics of change and new ideas that will create added value for the Turkish economy, primarily Türkiye's investment strategy, new generation working models, venture capital, the technology ecosystem and markets offering new investment and business opportunities such as Africa. Noting that in the coming period they must establish transparent and sustainable markets in which prosperity is shared, Akbal concluded his remarks by saying, "We must prepare from today for a Türkiye that is much stronger economically, developed and prosperous in the near future."
"THE NUMBER OF ENGINEERS AND PATENTS MUST BE INCREASED WITH A HIGH MORAL CONSCIOUSNESS"
In his speech at the event, MÜSİAD Founding President and International Business Forum (IBF) President Erol Yarar, stating that they founded MÜSİAD 31 years ago with the ideal of "high morality and high technology" and that one must set out with a consciousness of high morality while developing technology, pointed out that Türkiye's 25th place in the world patent league should be questioned.
Noting that developing technology today is directly proportional to the number of engineers and the number of patents Türkiye produces, Yarar made the following assessment: "Without constantly measuring these and without possessing sciences such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology and the electronic technologies in the world, it is not possible for us to develop a patent. Turning the technologies we develop into a commodity that can be sold in the market is at least as compulsory as producing the technology. With this consciousness, our young industrialists and entrepreneurs should focus on development within a fair system without chasing rent, and should contribute to MÜSİAD's goal with a system that will bring high technology to the market on the basis of high morality."
"WE ARE WORKING ON A DIGITAL INCENTIVE SYSTEM"
Deputy Minister of Treasury and Finance Nurettin Nebati, stating that while moving towards digitalization one should benefit from all kinds of planning and analysis and that refraining from these means failing to understand the age, underlined that Türkiye is the world's 13th largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity and that we must become competitive among ourselves by taking the necessary steps in many fields, primarily in agriculture, industry and tourism. Noting that the number of exporters, which was 30 thousand in 2002, reached 90 thousand in 2020, Nebati said, "We need to focus on the positive indicators. Our insurance premium incentive and tax exemption practices introduced for young entrepreneurs continue. We have another new initiative to be implemented by the end of the year. Türkiye will switch to a single window incentive system. Entrepreneurs will see through a single window where and in which field an incentive is supported, will make their application and will be able to conduct all transactions online."
Minister of Youth and Sports Muharrem Kasapoğlu, drawing attention to the importance of adapting to the speed of change, emphasized in his speech the place of young people in making enterprises dynamic and said, "It is essential that we concentrate on lifelong education with rapid decision-making mechanisms and road maps. Young people should be employed within organizations; we need their intelligence and foresight." Kasapoğlu added that with the youth camps, youth academies and clubs they organize in thematic fields such as entrepreneurship, media, science, art, culture and literature they support all educational activities, workshops and software projects, and that they contribute to the development of young people with loans, dormitories, sports facilities and youth offices.