Tüpraş collaborates with Batman University for the “Women Power in Technology and Innovation Program”

Tüpraş aims to increase awareness of university students, particularly girls, for entrepreneurship and encourage them to take a more active role in the entrepreneurship ecosystem with the program.

Tüpraş initiated ‘Innovation in Young Minds and the Women Power Program’ with the ‘Fundamentals of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Seminar,’ organized for all students on March 18, in the Rectorate Conference Hall of West Raman Campus of Batman University. The company aims to popularize the entrepreneurship culture in universities and facilitate access for students, particularly female students, to the technology and innovation ecosystem. They also plan to expand the program by collaborating with universities in Kocaeli, Kırıkkale, Istanbul, and Izmir, where the company operates, in the coming years.

60 percent of the participants in the ‘Innovation in Young Minds and the Women Power Program’ are composed of female students.

Tüpraş organizes ‘Fundamentals of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Seminars’ for all students each academic year in the first phase of the program. These seminars update students about the latest developments in creative thinking, innovation, and entrepreneurship tools, entrepreneurship at Tüpraş, and the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The second phase will include intensive entrepreneurship training provided to a group of 40 junior and senior undergraduates, who will be selected according to evaluation criteria. 60 percent of the participants in the entrepreneurship program, the content of which will be prepared exclusively for the university by Tüpraş, will be composed of female students.

The program consists of various modules, such as developing an innovative idea, starting a new initiative, understanding the problem, designing the solution, market research, business model components, entrepreneurship tools, and presentation techniques. These trainings will enable students to understand problems and requirements, develop products accordingly, adopt an approach to improve their solutions based on trial feedback from potential users, and develop an entrepreneurial mindset to address challenges.

In addition to online training, Tüpraş mentors will be assigned to participants to contribute to the development and implementation of ideas. Students will also receive support through personal development trainings. Participants will work in 8 groups, each consisting of 5 members, to create innovative projects with the support of internal mentors who have experience in entrepreneurship from Tüpraş's internal entrepreneurship program. The program will last for 12 weeks, and eligible projects can be directed to suitable entrepreneurship channels, mainly K-Works and the Entrepreneurship Research Center of Koç University, during the commercialization phase of project ideas.

İbrahim Yelmenoğlu, General Manager of Tüpraş, said, “We are proud to take the first step of our ‘Innovation in Young Minds and the Women Power’ Program from Batman, the city where the foundations of Tüpraş were laid. We have initiated this program to contribute to the technology and innovation commitments announced by Koç Holding, one of the global leaders in the Equality for Generations Forum of UN Women. I would like to thank all our academicians, particularly the esteemed rector of Batman University. The experience we will gain here will guide us in all our future projects in other cities where our refineries are located. I believe wholeheartedly that each of our students participating in this program will be a good entrepreneurial candidate thanks to the trainings they will receive. We would like to touch the lives of our young students by reflecting their creative thinking methods and entrepreneurial experience to their whole life and careers. Our objective is to reach 10,000 female students in five years by collaborating with universities.”

Yelmenoğlu added: “We believe that it is possible to create strong and inspiring ecosystems in which women are more visible in every area of life. We are very proud of being a part of a program that will guide in growing the girls, who have been equipped with the qualifications of the future, and strengthening women in innovation and technology. But of course, these objectives are only the beginning, and we will take much bigger steps and increase our numbers throughout this process.”

Highlighting their satisfaction with their collaboration with Tüpraş, Prof. Dr. İdris Demir, Rector of Batman University, said, “Today we are initiating ‘The Women Power in Technology and Innovation Program’ together with Tüpraş. The objective of our project, named Innovation in Young Minds and Women Power, is to create more creative, inspiring, and strong ecosystems, in which women are more visible, to increase the number of women working in the areas of innovation and technology, to reinforce awareness and create the climate and opportunities to reveal the potentials of women. For this purpose, entrepreneurship, information technologies, and digitalization trainings will be given to our students, and our female students, in particular, will be encouraged to take part in technology and innovation. A new door will open for our students with the program. We care a lot about these projects for the implementation of technology and innovation-focused business areas, as digitalization and increasing the entrepreneurship skills of women have become highly important. As Batman University, we try to provide every kind of opportunity for development to our students, and every project that involves people is very valuable and worth trying for us.”

Demir added: “This program will also ensure that our students take a journey into their inner world. I believe such projects, which enable personal development of our students and implementation of their unique ideas, will enlighten our country from our city. The students of Batman University will produce studies that will leave a footprint in relevant fields with their new entrepreneurship ideas, and I would like to thank Tüpraş and the project team of our university.”

Commitments of Tüpraş to Society in “Women Power in Technology and Innovation Program”:

Tüpraş has developed the “Women Power in Technology and Innovation Program” to contribute to the commitments of Koç Holding in parallel with its global leadership in the Equality for Generations Forum of UN Women. The company aims to reveal the potentials of female students in the branches of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), guide in strengthening women, and facilitate the access of women and girls to the ecosystem of technology and innovation with its “Women Power in Technology and Innovation Program.” The company also undertakes to reach 100,000 female students in total, 90,000 from high schools and 10,000 from universities, in 5 years with different training projects to be executed as a part of the program.