The 7th International Young Businessmen Congress (UGİK), organized by Young MÜSİAD under the theme "Take Notice of 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, saying, "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 outbreak has caused in business life and the new business models it has offered, saying that Covid-19 has dictated the importance of self-sufficiency and new models of production, consumption and living. Expressing that although it was difficult to adapt to these conditions at first, they have gradually become a part of the routine flow of life today, Kaan explained that the remote working system has begun to settle 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 self-sufficient production and trade bases covering everything from energy to investment capital."

"WE ARE OBLIGED TO IMPLEMENT SMART AGRICULTURE STRATEGIES"

Underlining that they are obliged to implement smart agriculture strategies that will raise Türkiye to the status of a country self-sufficient in agriculture, Kaan spoke about the MÜSİAD Smart Agricultural Town 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 has been created in which risk is purchased by distributing investments across different countries.

Touching on the importance of bringing together the resources of one country with the financiers of another 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 do the trade of this business. This agency system is not a structure that can be controlled by the hand of 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 high technology production industry for the sake of 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 both the strategy-setting adviser of their company and aware of all production or working processes, conversant with the duties and responsibilities of every department and the work it does, who maintain constant supervision, who can immediately adapt their institution to changes in the outside world, who can take the initiative on behalf of their institution in connections with external stakeholders, who have gone through a multidisciplinary education, who will closely follow technical and technological changes alongside all kinds of managerial processes from legal procedures to financial statements and 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 the skills of language ability, eloquence, persuasion techniques, meeting and stress management and the functioning of the state and bureaucracy, who prioritize people, who are close to their employees, who empathize and, in short, who leave no work to the boss. Stating that their work on the Strategist CEO continues, Kaan added that this is because, unless there are leaders who will manage the future, the dreams established in the world of the future will remain in suspense.

"WE ARE BRINGING 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 young people with the aim of raising the equipment and quality of Turkish youth and being beneficial to the country’s economy and to the socio-cultural structure of society. Expressing that with the congress they have held for the 7th time for the sake of this purpose they aim to bring together the world’s leading entrepreneurs and opinion leaders with the vision of the new generation, Akbal said, "Our congress is developing the road maps for designing our future, our country and our entrepreneurship ecosystem in a much stronger way. It brings together experienced names with the ideas and perspectives of the new generation."

Touching on UGİK’s theme of "Take Notice of Tomorrow Today", Akbal stated, "At this important meeting where we will assess the future of production, finance, competition and work, we aim to bring to the agenda from different perspectives the human-centred dynamics of change of the new period we are in, its innovative forms and the 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-centredness are just a few of the elements triggering the change we are living through today. We are advancing towards an age in which working models are becoming flexible, new fields of business are emerging, the entrepreneurial perspective is gaining more importance than ever and new professions are being formed. We are in fact sowing today the seeds of all the fields of business 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-centred dynamics of change and new ideas that will create added value for the Turkish economy, above all 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 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 CONSCIOUSNESS OF HIGH MORALITY"

In his speech at the event, MÜSİAD Founding President and International Business Forum (IBF) President Erol Yarar, who stated 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 being in 25th place in the world patent league must be questioned.

Noting that developing technology today is directly proportional to the number of engineers and the number of patents Türkiye produces, Yarar assessed: "Without constantly measuring these and without mastering 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 industrialist and entrepreneur young people must focus on development within a fair system without chasing after rent, and must 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, who expressed that in moving towards digitalization one must benefit from every kind of planning and analysis and that holding back 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 within ourselves by taking the necessary steps in many fields, above all in agriculture, industry and tourism. Noting that the number of exporters, which was 30,000 in 2002, reached 90,000 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 project to be implemented by the end of the year. Türkiye will move 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 carry out all procedures online".

Minister of Youth and Sports Muharrem Kasapoğlu, who drew 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 must 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.