Karakaş: The rules of the game are changing, TOGG is the new player of the new world

Necla DALAN
Organized for the second time this year by the 23 Talent Association, Summit 23 brought together successful leaders and entrepreneurs with young people who aspire to manage Turkey’s future. Ernst & Young Turkey Country President Metin Canoğlulları “Uncertainty”, Trendyol Group President Çağlayan Çetin “Passion”, TOGG CEO Gürcan Karakaş “Courage” in the event, which was attended by 2500 university students from all over Turkey and was held with the slogan “Don’t Watch, Leave Your Trace”. , Baltaş Group Founder and Psychologist Acar Baltaş “Doubt”, Vakko CEO Jaklin Güner “Curiosity” and historian İlber Ortaylı “Peace”, Cisco Turkey CEO Didem Duru “Conscience”, Antalyaspor Football Manager Nuri Şahin and player Demet Akbağ He shared his success stories with university students under the headings of “Balance”. Emphasizing the importance of embracing and shaping change, TOGG CEO Gürcan Karakaş gave the following advice to young people in the “Courage” session: “You should be able to move forward with agility in uncertain environments. Asli should not be afraid to share new ideas. Intellectual capacity is very important, it should be developed. Be unifying in interpersonal interaction, be empathetic. The brave individual has 4 common characteristics. Enthusiasm for learning, emotional strength, intellectual capacity and interpersonal communication. To increase your courage, be flexible, embrace change. Don’t look at ‘what people say’. Turn motivation into action. Try 3 times instead of thinking for 20 hours. Understand the big picture. What we call courage in business life always takes us to the next step. We’re all afraid, it’s a very human thing. But we also have courage, so we overcome fear. Is TOGG a show of courage against 100-year-old automotive companies? If we look at the world TOGG is in, the rules of the game change. TOGG is the new player of the new world. And change gives opportunity to brave players. The fact that you have been making cars for 100 years does not change this fact.” Karakaş explained the process of taking part in the TOGG project as follows: “When they came to me for such a project, my heart was restless. 1200 people work on our project. We are targeting more than 1400 employees by the end of 2022. We gained 27 people with reverse brain drain. The result of courage is the smart tool you see here. Just focus on getting the job done. What we call impossible is because someone hasn’t done it before.”
Çağlayan Çetin: We will buy a company in Europe, we will double the number of customers
Trendyol Group President Çağlayan Çetin also drew attention to the importance of passion, determination and dream in his speech. Stating that they have 44 thousand employees, more than 2 thousand software developers and that they aim to increase this number to 4 thousand soon, Çetin emphasized that Trendyol is Turkey’s largest technology company with a value of 16.5 billion dollars. Çetin continued his words as follows: “We are opening offices all over Europe. We also get friends from universities there, we conduct interviews. Believe me, friends from Turkish universities are so far ahead with their determination, knowledge and ambition to work… This makes us very happy. Trendyol will be the largest e-commerce company not only in Turkey but also in Europe, the Middle East and the region we call EMEA. This is our dream. I believe we will make it happen. I see how strong we are compared to our competitors in the region in terms of technology and infrastructure, and how advantageous we are in terms of human resources. We will have some good news until the New Year soon. We will incorporate other large e-commerce companies both in Europe and the Middle East. We will increase the number of our customers exponentially. I believe that we will offer opportunities to young people like you both in Turkey and in Europe. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. I believe. If you do not dream and do not stand behind us with determination, we cannot be number one in Europe and the Middle East. Find your passion, imagine it. Let’s create great values ​​for all of us.”
Metin Canoğulları: Make a note to yourself every day
Ernst & Young Turkey Country President Metin Canoğulları, who pointed out that life is full of uncertainties and that his own life is also shaped by uncertainties, drew attention to the need for young people to question. Sharing examples from his own life and stating that he has been in business life since the age of 8, Canoğulları said, “You are where you should be with your competencies, talents, skills and relationships. ‘Can I do better?’, ‘Which responsibilities did I take, which ones did I avoid?’, ‘I wish’ It’s not. Let me take two steps back. I wish we could take this time two steps back, if I could. ‘What would we have done differently?’, ‘What was wrong with me?’ We need to make a note to yourself every day, every day. Let the decision be yours and stand behind you. The secret of success is you. The important thing is to trust yourself. If you work, you can easily eat the fruits of it. If you are “you”, your essence will be one, your hardworking becomes, ‘Banana!’ If you don’t say… Who if not me, if not now when? Don’t forget that,” he said.
Jaklin Güner: Wondering enriches life
Stating that curiosity enriches people’s lives, Vakko CEO Jaklin Güler described soft competencies, which he expressed as curiosity and continuous learning, leadership, embrace of change, awareness of cultural intelligence and diversity, emotional intelligence and empathy and creativity, as focus topics in order to be successful in the business world. . Guner said:
“Children whose questions we don’t answer grow up one day. When they start going to high school and university, they say, ‘Ask a lot of questions, ask well.’ are subject to pressure. However, perhaps children whose questions we could not answer knowingly or unknowingly when they were children, may not be able to ask questions today. When it comes to business, we repeat: ‘Please don’t get hung up on glass ceilings, try to think outside the box’. I think curiosity enriches people’s lives and is at the beginning of many joys.”
İlber Ortaylı: Listen to music, read, make good friends and travel
prof. İlber Ortaylı; He gave advice to the young people in the peace themed session. Ortaylı said, “Peace is a very important way in human life. And unfortunately, most people realize this after they reach a certain age. However, it is too late. “It has to be planned for when you’re young, for human survival,” he said. Emphasizing that the way to peace is through music, literature, good friends and traveling, Ortaylı said, “Do not close any of your years without seeing a new place and learning something new. New places, new people introduce you to the eternal realm. Thus, you will see the world more peaceful and more colorful. I wish you a patient, joyful and serene life… We need to make a life that we cannot determine productively. The way to this is literature, music, wise words and good friends.”
2500 students were selected from nearly 13 thousand applications.
Nearly 13 thousand applications were made to the Summit 23 from 201 universities in 80 provinces of Turkey. 2,500 university students were selected to participate in the event. These young people will enter an evaluation process after the Summit 23. 50 young people who have successfully passed the entire evaluation phase will participate in the 2-year program as “23 people”. During the program; Young people who will be involved in processes such as Academy 23, Workshop 23 and social responsibility projects are in their 20s, which is considered a ‘key time’ of human development; It combines 23 activities with experience and turns it into an adventure. Young people participate in field trips with 23, try different sports activities, solve problems with their teammates, create their own initiatives and meet in sharing circles where they openly express their thoughts. It takes it from the age of 23 and from athletes such as Michael Jordan, Lebron James. It marks the period when we took action, when we graduated from university and took the field. For us, 23 means taking action, not just spectating what is happening around you. It means leaving your mark. What you all have in common is that you have a problem. We want to start the new year by bringing together valuable names from the world of ideas, thoughts and sports, keeping energy and motivation high. We bring all university students who want to realize their dreams and want to take a step on this path together at Summit 23 and then with this excitement and hope. new and beautiful We are together to motivate them to build a community.”