The 15th Ordinary General Assembly of Young MÜSİAD was held at the MÜSİAD Head Office. As a result of the General Assembly, Cahit Ertemel was elected the 10th Term President of Young MÜSİAD. Making assessments at the programme, MÜSİAD President Mahmut Asmalı pointed out that Young MÜSİAD is the guarantee and the future of both MÜSİAD and a strong Türkiye.
The 15th Ordinary General Assembly of Young MÜSİAD, one of the most comprehensive leading youth structures of the Turkish business world, was held at the Head Office of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD) with the participation of Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, MÜSİAD President Mahmut Asmalı, President of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) Nail Olpak, President of the İstanbul Chamber of Commerce Şekib Avdagiç, MÜSİAD Former Presidents, MÜSİAD and Young MÜSİAD members and business world representatives from all four corners of Türkiye.
As a result of the 15th Ordinary General Assembly of Young MÜSİAD, Cahit Ertemel was elected to the Presidency of Young MÜSİAD. Making assessments within the scope of the programme, MÜSİAD President Mahmut Asmalı stated that Young MÜSİAD is the guarantee and the future of both MÜSİAD and a strong Türkiye. Referring also to the work carried out after the severe earthquakes centred on Kahramanmaraş on 6 February, President Asmalı said, "Alongside our short-term activities, we are continuing our long-term work for the region. With all our members and volunteers, we are at the service of our nation, one and together."
"We are working to revive trade in the earthquake region through capital support"
In his statement, in which he said that Türkiye, with the state and the nation joining hands, will emerge from the trauma caused by the earthquake disaster stronger, healing its wounds and increasing its resilience and faith, MÜSİAD President Mahmut Asmalı expressed that MÜSİAD has taken steps that will contribute to the revival of trade through capital support within the scope of its work for the earthquake region.
President Asmalı continued as follows:
"From the very first moment of the earthquake, we took action with our domestic and international branches and all our units and mobilized for the disaster region. By matching the provinces affected by the disaster with our branches in other regions, we created a corridor for our cities in the disaster region through the logistics network we set up. Within a short time we began delivering aid by trucks to many points. Again within the scope of this work, by cooperating with the Architects and Engineers Group, we organized the engineers who wanted to take part voluntarily in damage assessment work and for this purpose we sent nearly 150 volunteer civil engineers to the region. In the 750 square metre event tent we set up in Kahramanmaraş, the MÜSİAD Soup Kitchen provides 3 hot meals a day to 5,000 people. In addition, the soup kitchens and mobile kitchens set up with the contributions of our members continue to serve in the provinces affected by the disaster. Under the coordination of the Ministry of Health, with the infrastructure support of the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality and the contributions of our MÜSİAD Paris and Karlsruhe members, we set up a field hospital in the Defne district of Hatay. At the same time, in Kahramanmaraş Elbistan, with the support of our members, the work on a container living city consisting of 2,000 units with a capacity of 8,000 people has come to the completion stage. We have also begun work to set up another container city in Adıyaman. The MÜSİAD Qard al-Hasan Fund has launched a capital support mobilization for our members affected by the earthquake. With the donations collected, we aim to revive the commercial lives of our businesspeople in the region. In the coming weeks, and especially during the holy month of Ramadan, we will be together with our disaster-stricken brothers and sisters. On the occasion of this disaster, we have once again witnessed how strong our nation’s spirit of solidarity and resilience is. We have seen how important the activities of our civil society organizations are and what a rich civil society and social capital we possess."
"We trust our young people, the guarantee of our bright tomorrows"
MÜSİAD President Mahmut Asmalı said that Young MÜSİAD, where the business world of tomorrow is raised, is the guarantee and the future of both MÜSİAD and a strong Türkiye. Saying, "We trust our young people, the guarantee of our bright tomorrows," President Asmalı stated that MÜSİAD’s doors are open to all young people.
President Asmalı continued his remarks with the following words:
"Young MÜSİAD, which consists of the representatives of the most enterprising segment of our youth, our greatest strength and wealth, works through the projects it carries out almost like a huge and dynamic incubation centre and a fertile and distinguished school of entrepreneurship. We have full confidence that the members of Young MÜSİAD, who know their origins and are aware of their age, will continue to work with the same determination and sincerity in the coming period and will serve our country and our nation. I thank the esteemed Yunus Furkan Akbal, who has successfully carried the flag of Young MÜSİAD, which grows without compromising on quality and merit and continues to expand while its star also shines with visionary projects, and my brothers who have served on the board of directors and in the other units. I also say congratulations to Cahit Ertemel and his colleagues, who have taken over the flag of Young MÜSİAD with the same enthusiasm, and wish them success."
"Young MÜSİAD led irreplaceable activities"
Young MÜSİAD 9th Term President Yunus Furkan Akbal, for his part, drew attention to the fact that Young MÜSİAD has a member profile spanning a wide spectrum from students to professionals and from entrepreneurs to the young executives of family companies, and recalled that Young MÜSİAD, which also performs the function of a major academy under the MÜSİAD umbrella, has to date provided infrastructure support to young people who are being raised.
In his statement, Akbal said the following:
"We led irreplaceable activities in opening up space for a well-trained workforce. When we took office, we too aimed for qualified and multidisciplinary young entrepreneurs to be raised under this roof and for each of them to become sought-after, in-demand young leaders through the experience they would gain. Throughout our term, we raised many people in the Young MÜSİAD academy who are taken as examples and whose thoughts and ideas are valued. We proudly observed that some of our Young MÜSİAD brothers at our head office, and especially our branch presidents, have turned into opinion leaders in their regions. In addition to offering our members new connections, we also took steps that would make it possible for existing connections to work more efficiently. We put into practice our ‘3T’ project, which brings a new perspective to the economy. ‘Get to know, introduce, do trade’. We transformed 3T into a sectoral, regional, global and online form. We established new spaces where different trade circles can come together. Thanks to our organization, which has spread to the capillaries of Anatolia, we carried our members from the local to the regional and our collaborations from the local to the national. We even went one step further and tried to develop a vision expanding from the regional to the global. With our work we also opened the doors of a vast geography stretching from America to China. We witnessed our entrepreneurs, who stand at the zero point of trade, step out of their own vessels to discover new markets, increase their commercial capacity by meeting new people, and along with this turn into leaders with the ability to represent."
The Cahit Ertemel era at Young MÜSİAD
Cahit Ertemel, who has assumed the 10th Term Presidency of Young MÜSİAD, stated that they have declared a new youth and entrepreneurship movement, which they have named the Collective Entrepreneurship Movement. Saying that in the new term they will work with a problem-solution focus and will identify and analyse young people’s needs and demands regarding the business world in the regions within their sphere of influence, Ertemel said, "We will develop projects addressing these findings and contribute to our young brothers and sisters."
"Young MÜSİAD, which includes within its body students, working professionals, new-generation representatives of family companies and individuals who own their own businesses, will, through the Collective Entrepreneurship Movement, be a means for each individual to work with an entrepreneurial spirit in his or her own field. In this direction, the student will develop himself better, the professional will become more competent in his job, the family representative will bring innovation to his company with innovative ideas, and individual entrepreneurs will grow their ventures. With this movement we have launched, by equipping our entrepreneurial spirit with the determination to work, we will step out of our comfort zone, take reasonable risks and strive to make the impossible possible. We will develop projects addressing these findings and contribute to our young brothers and sisters. While carrying out these activities we will of course take care to work in an applicable and effective manner. In this term, Young MÜSİAD will use digital tools more effectively and create new channels to increase our members’ business volume. With the acceleration infrastructure we will create, we will provide the necessary opportunities to young entrepreneurs who want to commercialize and grow their businesses."
