MÜSİAD AKHI CULTURE AND NATIONAL PRODUCTION WORKSHOP SPEECH
Distinguished Guests,
Esteemed MÜSİAD Branch Presidents and MÜSİAD Members,
I respectfully greet all our distinguished guests who have taken part in the Akhi Culture and National Production Movement Workshop, which we have held in order to encourage the transmission to coming generations of the institution of the akhi tradition, which holds a very important place in our ancient culture, and the shaping of our domestic and national production vision in accordance with this culture; welcome…
Distinguished Guests;
The akhi vision, which assumes an important mission in the evolution of economic and commercial life towards a structure of far higher added value, prepares the ground for honest and principled trade while also developing the social system and morality.
The akhi tradition provides an important reconciliation both among tradespeople and between tradespeople and citizens. It guides trade and craftsmanship to advance in a just and sustainable manner.
When we look at the historical development of the akhi tradition, it is striking that it had such a mission as finding work easily for the many craftsmen among the Turkmens who migrated from Central Asia to Anatolia; enabling these people to compete with the local Byzantine craftsmen in Anatolia; preserving the quality of the goods produced in order to hold on in the market; and adjusting production according to need.
Instilling the ethics of craft in craftsmen, making the people economically independent and helping those in need in every field are among the most important components of akhi culture.
The institution of the akhi tradition builds an ecosystem that embraces all segments of the business world in both horizontal and vertical dimensions and that addresses gains and losses at the personal, corporate, social and universal levels on the same axis.
Nourished by the cultural and spiritual values that our society has carried from the past to the present, it opens the way to the creation of a common business ethic and business model.
Distinguished Guests;
Today MÜSİAD works like the Akhi Organizations, which exalted collective work and contributed to development; it acts with a team spirit and becomes a means for unity and solidarity to take root.
MÜSİAD, which guides the production and service cycle within the framework of the ancient akhi tradition, moves forward by instilling akhi culture in its more than 12 thousand members and nearly 60 thousand companies operating in different sectors at 83 contact points at home and at 164 contact points in 81 countries abroad.
While investing in the principle of ‘High Morality, High Technology’ in line with our mission of carrying Türkiye to brand-new horizons, we aim to leave behind a far more productive and prosperous Türkiye as a legacy to coming generations. We are carrying out work towards the creation of an honest commercial environment in keeping with our values, in which fair competition prevails.
Distinguished Guests;
By investing in this vision, on the commercial diplomacy front we have given a different momentum to the international trade process with our Anatolian Economic Diplomacy programme. By bringing together the ambassadors of foreign countries with our businesspeople in all four corners of Türkiye, we will announce to the whole world the production and investment performance that our country possesses.
The Anatolian Production and Investment Movement also holds an important place in terms of correctly defining needs, analysing opportunities and developing strategies that can carry Türkiye towards far brighter tomorrows.
We know that the road ahead of us is wide open on our journey of developing far more efficient, profitable, sustainable and competitive products and services by integrating our production and investment projections with advanced technologies. We possess the faith, the spirit, the determination, the diligence, the competence and the employment power that will bring this vision to life.
Distinguished Guests;
One of the most important elements of the akhi tradition is that it guides the functioning of economic life through the dissemination of vocational training and of master-apprentice relationships…
Vocational training centres hold an important place in terms of reducing youth unemployment, increasing the number of our citizens who have experience in different fields and achieving sustainable quality in the production process.
Strengthening the master-apprentice relationship within the scope of the akhi tradition will guide the development of different branches of craft and industry while also providing added value to our economy. It will become a means for the raising of individuals who are expert in their field, qualified and virtuous.
As MÜSİAD we are taking steps towards our citizens turning to different vocational and technical training programmes and improving themselves. In order to encourage this process, we are working on a comprehensive training report that will identify the need for vocational and technical training in various sectors. We believe that the need for qualified ‘intermediate staff’ can be met by accelerating and disseminating this type of training.
With the transfer of the Bağlarbaşı Retail Marketing Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School to MÜSİAD, the MÜSİAD Retail Sector Board has begun work towards the school becoming a ‘project school’ so that its curriculum system may be revised in accordance with the conditions of the future. In order to make the most efficient use of trained manpower, we will continue to enter into various forms of cooperation with private and public institutions as well as with the NGOs walking this path.
Distinguished Guests;
The most important need for SMEs is to be able to find apprentices… At this point we believe that the target of reaching 1 million apprentices in 2022, launched by the Ministry of National Education, will also forestall youth unemployment.
As a result of the changes made in vocational education, regulations in favour of employers and employees have been enacted. With the changes made, the state has taken on the employer’s burden. Thus our state has taken a burden of TRY 1-2 billion off the employer.
There are 256 organized industrial zones in Türkiye. Vocational training centres existed in 87 of these organized industrial zones. And by the end of 2021, vocational training centres had been established in all the organized industrial zones. If there is a master instructor in an enterprise, that enterprise will be able to take on 40 apprentices. In the coming years, a far greater added value will be built in the Turkish economy through investments that strengthen the master-apprentice relationship. It is projected that in May 2022 the number of students studying at vocational training centres will reach 500 thousand. Following these regulations, we will see the number of apprentices employed in different sectors multiply rapidly as well.
Distinguished Guests;
That MÜSİAD has signed the Akhi Culture and National Production Movement Cooperation Protocol with the İstanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education and the Support for Education Platform is another reflection of this outlook…
Within the scope of this protocol it is aimed to carry out educational, social and cultural activities that will support akhi culture, to provide support for work on this subject and to share experience and knowledge.
The protocol, prepared taking into account the needs of the labour market, will ensure that subjects focused on technology, equipment, human resources, R&D, production and the like relating to the creation of the qualified manpower that is needed, as well as work relating to akhi culture, are placed on the agenda in a multidimensional way and evaluated. The scope of the protocol has been determined as the renewal of the education and training programmes given in schools so as to encompass akhi culture, the preparation of a curriculum for presenting akhi culture as course content, and the preparation of the materials required for this training and their submission to the ministry.
Within the scope of the signed protocol, training programmes aimed at introducing akhi culture to teachers and students will be organized in schools. We wish to contribute to our young people being raised within akhi culture with a national understanding, and to support the raising of moral young people skilled in the professions that the business world seeks.
As I bring my words to an end, I respectfully greet our members who carry on their craft and their commercial life while observing the sensitivities of akhi culture, and all our participants who are with us today.
With this ancient culture that we have inherited from our forefathers, I hope that we may reduce youth unemployment by means of vocational training, make the master-apprentice relationship sustainable and advance in different fields on the path towards a far more productive and powerful Türkiye.
Mahmut Asmalı
President of MÜSİAD