A NEW ERA HAS STARTED AT TECHXTILE
NEW ENTREPRENEURSHIP EXCITEMENT STARTED IN TEXTILE
UTİB made a significant change in TechXtile Start-Up Challenge and transformed the organization into an entrepreneurship platform. In the first TechXtile Mind-Idea Meetings, which developed and inspired the ecosystem, the experiences of successful Start-Ups were shared.
Within the scope of TechXtile Start-Up Challenge, the most important entrepreneurship program focused on the textile industry in Turkey, ‘TechXtile Mind-Idea Meetings’, which develops and inspires the Ecosystem, and ‘Do You Have an Idea?’ It started under the moderation of its producer, Fuat Sami.
‘OUR DREAMS, OUR GOALS ARE ENDLESS’
Underlining that the TechXtile Start-Up Challenge has become the most important entrepreneurship program focused on the textile industry in its second year, Uludağ Textile Exporters’ Association (UTIB) Chairman of the Board Pınar Taşdelen Engin said, “As a country, we are very strong in the textile industry. Our dreams and goals are endless. With the strategy and action plan developed as a result of consultations with our stakeholders, it was decided to gather our program under one roof under the name TechXtile Platform. Now we continue on our way with a much more ambitious vision with The TechXtile Platform. We aim for TechXtile Platform to become the hub where entrepreneurship and innovations in the textile industry vertical are developed between Turkey and the countries in the nearby geography.
‘174 APPLICATIONS LAST YEAR INCREASED OUR EXCITEMENT’
Reminding that the deadline for projects at the Techxtile Start-up Challenge is October 24, Engin said, “Our aim in this path is to contribute to the development of our entrepreneurs and our industry and to pioneer the realization of innovative ideas in increasing competition and constantly renewing market conditions. Despite the pandemic, 174 entrepreneurs and entrepreneur candidates applied to the program last year, which increased our excitement for the future of our industry. In the third year of our competition, we want our participants to apply innovative ideas.”
APPLICATIONS WILL BE TAKEN INTO 2 CATEGORIES
Emphasizing that there is a very important change in TechXtile Start-Up Challenge this year, Program Coordinator Ufuk Batum said, “This year, we will receive our entrepreneurial applications under 2 categories. One is LEVEL UP, to which entrepreneurs at the idea stage will apply; the other is the SCALE-UP category, in which entrepreneurs who have passed the idea stage and have developed a product or service with commercialization and scaling potential compete. Everyone benefits from the training. He may be eliminated from the first jury, but he should get his education and come back stronger next year. Because the ecosystem expands, TechXtile expands,” he said.
‘WE ESTABLISHED OVERSEAS CONNECTIONS’
Ayhan Prepol, the Founder of İLTEMA, who is one of the entrepreneurs who attracted attention with his success in the Techxtile Start-Up Challenge, of which he was a 2020 finalist, and whose venture received an investment of 3 million dollars, said, “Thanks to this program, we had the opportunity to meet companies that can cooperate with us. We have established connections abroad and these connections continue. Therefore, we were able to stay in this network permanently. It is very important for entrepreneurs that it is a long-term program.”
‘WE INCREASED OUR CUSTOMER NUMBER’
One of the TechXtile Start-Up Challenge 2020 finalists, BREN CEO Çınar Laloğlu, made a name for himself by increasing the company’s valuation 13 times in less than a year, with an investment of 7.5 million dollars from Keiretsu Forum Turkey The most important reason for us to apply is that we focus entirely on the textile sector as an enterprise. 60 percent of our customers are on the textile side. Everything will go digital, including the textile industry. The biggest benefit we received from this program was that we reached great references in textile, and thus, the number of our customers increased even more.”
