Inspiring Women"
Expressing that they organized the program with the vision of "Achieving a Stronger Turkey with Businesswomen," BUİKAD President Şeyda Şençayır said, "We are together with our esteemed managers and successful women who are an inspiration with the business models they have developed in public life, local administrations, and the private sector. I would like to thank the mayors, academics, businesswomen, Bursa Metropolitan Municipality for their support, our sponsors, and Burcu Başar for organizing the summit."

Burcu Başar from Burcu Başar Communication Consultancy stated that they were happy to organize the summit for the first time, saying, "I thank all the participants for not leaving us alone. I also thank Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mustafa Bozbey and everyone who contributed for their support under the 'Women-Friendly Municipality' approach."

In the first session moderated by Posta Newspaper columnist Banu Şen, the mayors shared their views on "The Role of Women in Public Life, and the Contribution of Local Governments to Women's Employment and Development." Bursa Metropolitan Mayor Mustafa Bozbey, speaking first, said, "We want to see women in both politics and commerce. It is important for our associations, especially BUİKAD, to contribute by producing projects. Awareness in society must be increased in terms of employment and entrepreneurship. The level of development in Turkey is determined by the presence of women in all areas."

**"Women Will Smile in Bursa"**
Mayor Mustafa Bozbey stated that they had started working to ensure women's place in society as a local government, saying, "We should bring women's producer cooperatives under one roof and turn their production into work. We have projects to ensure the safety of women. The number of women managers in the Metropolitan Municipality will increase. Our main goal is to create a women-friendly city. Women in Bursa will smile."

**Positive Discrimination for Women**
Edirne Mayor Av. Filiz Gencan Akın, emphasizing the great responsibility she bears as a female mayor, said, "Gender equality is a universal right. We will conduct all our activities within this policy framework. We practice positive discrimination in this regard. We have made a good start, but we have a long way to go. We will open centers to educate not only children but also our women. We provide fuel and seed support to our producing women. We have implemented our love card project for housewives."

**Focus on Women's Employment**
Yıldırım Mayor Oktay Yılmaz reminded that we need the compassionate hand of women not only as a country but also globally, saying, "I want to mention that we have undertaken significant projects starting from Yıldırım. Through the employment center we previously established, we provided employment for 15,529 women. We increased the number of women's cooperatives from 2 to 12. We provided support covering venue, logistics, education, marketing, and other expenses to our women's cooperatives. We established women entrepreneur centers in 25 neighborhoods."

**"Free and Fair Nilüfer"**
Nilüfer Mayor Şadi Özdemir emphasized that they are an exemplary municipality in terms of women's participation in governance, saying, "We will work more for women to be freer, fairer, and more entrepreneurial. We will undertake initiatives to increase vocational training and employment. We will implement many projects with and for women. Foremost among these will be vocational training and support programs to increase employment."

**"Women's Labor Will Be Valued"**
Mudanya Mayor Deniz Dalgıç, the last speaker of the first session, stated, "Women are present in every aspect of social service. Currently, there are over 10 million working women in Turkey, but there are more than 3 million women who should be working but are not. As the number of women in the workforce decreases, poverty increases. We have a responsibility to fix this issue. Both central and local governments have major roles to play. We will open nurseries to increase women's employment. We will support women's cooperatives. We will establish a Women's Labor Office to create a women's brand in Mudanya."

**Future Business Models Discussed**
In the second session moderated by Hürriyet Newspaper's Noyan Doğan, DOSABSİAD President Nilüfer Çevikel, U.Ü. Faculty Member Assoc. Dr. Filiz Eryılmaz, UIB Deputy Secretary General Dr. Ayşe Mehtap Ekinci, NOSAB President Erol Gülmez, Journalist Cüneyt Toros, and BLC Experience CEO Koray Bilici discussed "Future Business Models and the Positioning of Women."

UIB Deputy Secretary General Dr. Ayşe Mehtap Ekinci noted that with the development of technology, the nature of commerce is changing, saying, "We need to make developments to help women entrepreneurs keep pace with advancing technology through positive discrimination. We have a Women Exporters Development Committee. We continue to support women in this regard." U.Ü. Faculty Member Assoc. Dr. Filiz Eryılmaz emphasized that as the level of education of women increases, their participation in the workforce also increases, saying, "We are lagging globally in terms of women's employment. We need to eliminate this problem through partnerships between the state, the private sector, and NGOs."

Koray Bilici highlighted the importance of artificial intelligence, stating that productivity will increase within 10 years, emphasizing the importance of integrating women with technology, especially artificial intelligence, in business life. Journalist Cüneyt Toros mentioned the benefits of gender equality in companies, asserting that rapid development stems from social equality. DOSABSİAD President Nilüfer Çevikel talked about the challenges she faced as a female entrepreneur in the business world, stating that women should never give up and should remain strong. NOSAB President Erol Gülmez reminded that they have undertaken joint projects with BUİKAD, saying that they have been working on gender equality and increasing women's employment within NOSAB.

**Dynamics of Women's Employment Discussed**
In the final session of the summit, moderated by Capital Magazine News Director Nilüfer Gözütok Ünal, the topic "Dynamics of Women's Employment in Sectors and Women-Centric Business Models" was discussed. Industrial Initiative Platform President Zülal Koç, Dünya Newspaper CEO Burcu Kösem, Borçelik HR and Corporate Communications Director Derya Demirer, Zerrin Özgüle Construction Chairman Zerrin Özgüle, Burpol Co-Founder and General Manager İlkay Yıldırım, Sage Diniz General Manager İpek Yalçın, and Rudolf Duraner General Manager Rasim Çağan shared their views.

Dünya Newspaper CEO Burcu Kösem shared her career journey as a woman, explaining the challenges in the media sector, stating that there are only two women in senior management positions in the Turkish media sector. Industrial Initiative Platform President Zülal Koç and Borçelik HR and Corporate Communications Director Derya Demirer shared notable examples of women's positions in various sectors. Zerrin Özgüle Construction Chairman Zerrin Özgüle discussed the struggles and key strategies for overcoming challenges in the construction sector as a woman.

Sage Diniz General Manager İpek Yalçın and Rudolf Duraner General Manager Rasim Çağan discussed the profiles of female workers in their sectors and companies. They emphasized the importance of women-centric business models and gender equality. Burpol Co-Founder and General Manager İlkay Yıldırım noted that the problems are significant due to the very low number of female entrepreneurs. She stated that her company employs 85 people and that they have accomplished significant work worldwide. "We faced many challenges as women. Nothing went smoothly, but nothing deterred us from our path. I want to increase women's employment in my business. I believe that women should be given more emphasis, especially as intermediate staff," she concluded.

BUİKAD President Şeyda Şençayır and Burcu Başar, who contributed to organizing the event, presented plaques to the speakers who participated and shared their views in the sessions.