Turkcell is providing mobile application development training and remote working job opportunities to low-income women from all over Turkey.

Istanbul, Turkey, 18 July 2019 – Digital Operator Turkcell has joined Business Call to Action with a commitment to provide training opportunities to approximately 4,000 low income women in Turkey and upskill a total of 200 female employees to become tester experts by 2021.

As a digital operator, digital technology and innovation is at Turkcell’s core. Recognizing that it had the ability to help close the gap in female labor participation and unleash the potential of women in the digital workforce, Turkcell partnered with the Union of Chamber and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) in 2017 to launch Women Developers of the Future, a project to promote women’s social and economic empowerment by upskilling them through training. TOBB’s Women’s Entrepreneurs Council located in every city of Turkey helps Turkcell to reach women to train and make them join the project, and also in finding the mentors for women entrepreneurs.

“We recognize the importance of fostering inclusive employment towards building the digital future of telecom industry,” says Murat Erkan, Turkcell CEO. “At Turkcell, we use organizational practices to empower women in the workplace and to support women-led initiatives. We are proud in our diverse community that helps Turkcell put people first in its business.”

Under this project, Turkcell first provided mentorship and training to thousands of women on mobile application development and entrepreneurship. After completing the preliminary training, the programme then offers two opportunities. Firstly, their Entrepreneurship Journey supports women to develop their own mobile apps and launch a business using these platforms. Secondly, the Tester Journey employs 100 women (of which 80 are low income) to contribute to Turkcell’s strategic product and services by conducting end user tests. As part of the development team, these new employees can carry out the tests wherever they want and report their corrections, innovations and findings. Since January 2018, they reported 5600+ bugs and proposed 400+ new features.

“The Tester Journey has created a new job ecosystem, in which women can work at home or at school for leading technology companies. We hope that this project becomes a serving model for other companies in Turkey,” says Erkan.

As a next step, Turkcell plans to offer this business model (employing these women as end-user testers) to other TOBB member companies, which has the potential to create of thousands of new jobs for low income women.
Launched in 2008, BCtA aims to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by challenging companies to develop inclusive business models that engage people with less than US$10 per day in purchasing power (in 2015 dollars) as consumers, producers, suppliers and distributors. It is supported by several international organizations and hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

“Turkcell is a leading example of how digital technology can be harnessed to help overcome the gender gap when it comes to women in the workforce. Through this initiative they’re creating new and exciting opportunities for women to earn incomes and increase their economic independence,” says Sahba Sobhani, acting Head of Business Call to Action.

For further information:
BCtA: aimee.brown@undp.org
Turkcell: ali.karaya@turkcell.com.tr, bugra.kaya@turkcell.com.tr

BCtA membership does not constitute a partnership with its funding and programme partners, UNDP or any UN agency.

About Business Call to Action (BCtA): Launched at the United Nations in 2008, BCtA aims to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by challenging companies to develop inclusive business models that offer the potential for both commercial success and development impact. BCtA is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), UK Department for International Development (DFID), and hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). For more information, please visit www.businesscalltoaction.org.

About Turkcell: Turkcell is a digital operator headquartered in Turkey, serving its customers with its unique portfolio of digital services along with voice, messaging, data and IPTV services on its mobile and fixed networks. Turkcell Group companies operate in 5 countries – Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Northern Cyprus, Germany. Turkcell launched LTE services in its home country on April 1st, 2016, employing LTE-Advanced and 3 carrier aggregation technologies in 81 cities. Turkcell offers up to 10 Gbps fiber internet speed with its FTTH services. Turkcell Group reported TRY5.7 billion revenue in Q119 with total assets of TRY46.1 billion as of March 31, 2019. It has been listed on the NYSE and the BIST since July 2000, and is the only NYSE-listed company in Turkey. Read more at www.turkcell.com.tr