The Story That Makes Us Who We Are: Anatolia
Social Entrepreneurship, Empowerment and Cohesion Project Notes || June, 2024
Part of the Great Story
When we write the story of our existence in life, we are part of a larger story that makes us who we are, even if we only seem to make our own choices. Our family, our relatives and our ancestors who were born into the Anatolian culture inherited our current behavioral patterns.
It is not known whether geography is destiny, but it is a fact that it shapes us. Just as the minerals of soil, water and the amount of oxygen in the air shape the dominant vegetation in different geographies, we develop by feeding on the values in the cultural environment in which we grow up.
This deep cultural context, from which our personality is shaped, includes values and teachings. So how might Anatolian culture have laid the groundwork for the development of social entrepreneurship?
Not to Sleep When Your Neighbor is Hungry
Our family rules, traditions, and what has been passed down from our elders always emphasize the importance of sharing and cooperation.
They say, 'do not sleep when your neighbor is hungry'. Kinship ties, social solidarity and cooperation are of great importance. There are things that are difficult to do alone, but can be done easily when we act together. For example, when it is time to harvest, there are products that should not wait on the branch. When the race against time begins, the products are collected by collective labor, saying 'there is no wall made of one stone'. It is thanks to the strong bonds of friendship, our preference to be on the giving side rather than the receiving side, the hospitality we see in the homes of our elders and many other cultural customs and traditions.
It is easy to see that the cultural values taught by society and the basic human values learned in the family, such as a sense of responsibility, empathy and justice, are key characteristics of those who want to create change and impact.
At the root of our desire to benefit and support society is an Anatolian story that makes us who we are. Today's adaptation of the story that our ancestors started to write is, in our opinion, about establishing social enterprises to help and be useful people.
Carrying Anatolian Values to Today
With the SEECO project, we continue to promote social development and social cohesion by combining the Anatolian culture of solidarity and cooperation with modern social entrepreneurship.
What Happened in the Field in June?
In Adana and Mersin, the beneficiaries of the Grant Scheme were announced and trainings were provided.
In Gaziantep, Adıyaman, Kilis, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır and Mardin, trainings were provided within the scope of the second cycle of the Grant Scheme. The business plans of the potential beneficiaries who completed the trainings will be evaluated in the Beneficiary Selection Committees that will take place in 3 regions throughout July and the beneficiaries who are entitled to receive grants will be announced in stages.
In addition to our heroes continuing their journey in the second cycle, grant contracts were signed with 328 beneficiaries who were entitled to receive grants in the first cycle. According to the plan they presented in their business plans, procurement processes are continuing.
We held the Steering Committee Meeting of our project. We evaluated the success of SEECO so far with the participation of representatives from the EU Delegation, the World Bank, the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Interior Directorate of Migration Management and Ahmet Şimşek, Director General of Development Agencies.
We attended the Anadoludakiler Exhibition and Launch Program, which is being supported under the auspices of Mrs. Emine Erdoğan. Anadoludakiler, an initiative that aims to enable our artisans and producers to write brand new entrepreneurship stories in Anatolia, is run by the Ministry of Industry and Technology, General Directorate of Development Agencies. The support details for the Anatolian Entrepreneurs project, which is included in the Social Development Support Program, can be found on the website of each provincial Development Agency.
We attended the İbrahim Bodur Social Entrepreneurship Program award ceremony organized by Kale Group. Organized with the support of Impact Hub Istanbul, as a result of the evaluation made by the Selection Committee among 316 applications, prominent initiatives in 4 different categories were found worthy of awards.
"Zero Waste Workshop" was organized at Tarsus Gastronomy Center within the scope of World Environment Day Activities.
Artuklu University organized a kick-off meeting within the scope of "One More Step to a Healthy Life: Gluten-Free Products Project".
Our textile workshop established in Hatay Kırıkhan aims to empower women living in container cities socially and economically by inviting them to produce together. Women living in this earthquake-affected region produce products such as cloth bags, book and laptop covers in the workshop. The workshop aims to meet the promotional needs of brands in the field of textiles through social purchasing.
By choosing these products for your organization's needs, you can join the social purchasing movement and support social change. You can contact sosyalgirisim@sanayi.gov.tr for buying social.
Through grant programs and trainings, we provide economic support to empower local entrepreneurs who aim to find solutions to social and environmental problems.
We revive the spirit of solidarity by organizing social and cultural events. We aim to pass on our common values and cultural heritage to future generations by remembering them over and over again through activities in unity and solidarity.
With our facilities established in different regions of Anatolia, we mediate the education of a new child or the employment of a new woman every day.
While doing all these activities, we work with the motivation of being useful individuals for the world by feeding on the values of the culture we belong to.