Mevlana Development Agency, operating in the TR-52 Konya-Karaman Region under the coordination of the T.R. Ministry of Industry and Technology General Directorate of Development Agencies, organized an “E-Commerce, E-Export Training Program” for new entrepreneurs, especially women and young entrepreneurs, who want to engage in e-commerce and e-export oriented entrepreneurial activities.

After the completion of the 30-hour training, held over 5 days at the Mevlana Development Agency Konya service building, successful participants were awarded certificates.

Evaluating the training program conducted by the Agency, Mevlana Development Agency Secretary General Dr. İhsan Bostancı said, “When we look at current data on e-commerce, which experienced a boom especially during the pandemic and continues its rapid growth, we see that the share of e-commerce in trade in developed countries is 28%, in Asian countries this share is 50%, and the world e-commerce average is 23%. According to this data, it is possible to say that getting a share from here is critically important and e-export is an important item. Again, in light of the data, when we look at the situation in our country, we see that the e-commerce sector, which started with a target of 1.2 Trillion Lira at the beginning of 2023, completed the year at around 1.5 Trillion Lira, and the share of e-commerce in total trade in Turkey reached 22%. In our country, which is among the fastest-growing countries in e-commerce, the fact that this growth has also started to occur in e-export and that large internet sales sites aim to reach an e-export volume of more than 10 Billion Dollars in the next three years is a very pleasing development. In addition, the statement by sector representatives that the share of e-export in general exports increased to 2% in 2023, reaching 5 Billion Dollars, and that they expect this rate to rise to 4% by the end of 2024, is another positive development in this field. While there are 560 thousand businesses engaged in e-commerce in our country, it is estimated that only 150 thousand of them are engaged in e-export, and to increase this number, various state institutions provide support and incentives for e-exporting companies, B2B platforms, retail e-commerce sites, marketplaces, and e-export consortia under e-export supports. With the implemented support mechanisms, it is among our country's goals to increase the share of e-export in our country to 10% by 2028 and to achieve a trade volume of 37.5 Billion Dollars in this field. When we look at the performance of our Konya and Karaman provinces in our region regarding exports, which are among the main dynamics strengthening the hands of companies, cities, and countries in international trade, we see a volume of approximately 4 Billion Dollars. In this framework, as Mevlana Development Agency, while we aim for the economic development of SMEs in our region with the financial and technical support we provide, we also strive to carry out activities for our regional companies to increase their exports and reach new markets. I would like to share once again that as of 2021, our technical support programs have been opened to the use of our private sector, and in this context, our agency provides support for consultancy services on issues such as export, institutionalization in family businesses, lean production, and resource efficiency. Furthermore, I would especially like to state that under the heading of export development, our agency continues to provide practical consultancy services to our companies on issues such as target market, export coaching, company intelligence, and export processes in cooperation with the Konya Foreign Trade Center, established by the Konya Chamber of Commerce with the contributions of our agency, and we expect demand from our companies that export or aim to export in this regard. In this 5-day, 30-hour training program organized by our Agency for new entrepreneurs, especially women and young entrepreneurs, who want to engage in e-commerce and e-export oriented entrepreneurial activities, entrepreneur candidates were taught subjects such as introduction to e-commerce and basic information, management of e-commerce operations, logistics and supply chain management in e-commerce, strategy, pricing and customer analysis in e-commerce, SEO in e-commerce, payment methods in e-commerce, return processes in e-commerce, and state incentives, and practical applications were carried out. We believe that these trainings conducted by our Agency are extremely important for our entrepreneurs in the region who want to engage in e-commerce and e-export to develop themselves in a period where competition in international trade is increasing day by day. Stating that our efforts in this direction will continue as an Agency, I wish the training program to be beneficial.”