Pınar Taşdelen Engin Calls for the Women Who Wants to Export “Be Brave’’
Uludağ Exporters Association (UTIB) Chairman of the Board and Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) Vice President of the Women Council Pınar Taşdelen Engin along with TABIT Smart Farming Technology Founding Partner Tülin Akın, shared their experiences in the field of export on the online program they participated as a speaker.
In the program moderated by Vahap Munyar, the General Coordinator of Dünya Newspaper, explained that this pandemic process stimulate entrepreneurs, Engin said the following: “Crises are great opportunities for entrepreneurs. The pandemic process we are in has also been an important opportunity for entrepreneurs who want to make their voices heard with projects that can solve the problems. We closely followed the innovations together. We gave great importance to product development from day one. We are currently exporting 30 percent of our production in our own company. We are a very lucky country in textile and apparel. I do not accept that Turkey is a country that exports raw materials. However I prefer export as a finished curtain, as a finished jean pants or a finished mask, not a yarn.”
“There is No Reason for Women Not to be Successful in Export”
Stating that Turkey is very important country that in the field of textile industry, UTIB President Engin said: “Turkey is a very successful country in the field of textile. Textile industry will always be exist and popular in our country. We have to work hard for the next generation to continue this work.”
Pınar Taşdelen Engin, gave some advices for the women exporters at the end of the program: “Our women must be brave to become successful in export. To know the product you sell very well, to do your market research severely; these are the most important advice I can give. With the development of technology, people’s needs are constantly changing. Demands and expectations are always changing. Being a exporter, being a successful in this job is not a short process. It really requires a lot of patience, effort and accumulation. How lucky we are; These are the topics dominated by our women. There is no reason for women not to be successful in export.”
“We Brought Together The Agriculture and Technology”
In the program, providing information about the innovations made by her and by bringing agriculture and technology together, TABİT Smart Farming Technologies Co-Founder Tülin Akın said the following. “As a company, we started to work on projects that combine agriculture and technology in 2004. We developed projects about strengthening rural life with technology and preparing for the future. Our aim was to make a platform where the farmers sell their own product and get information about it. We managed it in 2004. In the first periods, we informed the farmers about the sales of their products via SMS. With the widespread use of smart phones, we worked on the transfer of information by agricultural engineers and veterinarians with video and audio response systems. We had education organization village by village. Right now, we serve for 1 million 600 thousand farmers in Turkey through the text messages, website and with the mobile application.”
Sharing the difficulties of their services, Akın made the following important recommendations to women exporters: “In some areas literacy rate was low and the internet prevalence was few. This forced us a little. Young people are the most interested in our digital platform. Currently, our farmers use digital platforms actively. Especially in pandemic period, usage of this platforms has increased. All I can say to women who export or willing to export is; don’t hesitate to ask for help. My motto is always; dream it, take action and be patient. If action is taken and enough patience is shown, all dreams come true. Knowledge is not as far away as it used to be, roads are not closed. These are important improvement in this process. Sometimes, we need to be brave and take a step without any fear.”
