BigCat Research

Alarko Holding - Entrepreneurship Pioneers Project 2023

We analyzed participant development in a program designed to support young entrepreneurs and strengthen entrepreneurship capacity.

Client / partners: Alarko Holding

Year: 2023

Project type: Social Impact Analysis

Status: Completed

Project impact: Development of entrepreneurship skills and social impact analysis.

Background from public sources

Programme and partners

Entrepreneurship Pioneers (Girişim Öncüleri) is a women's entrepreneurship programme run by Alarko Holding together with the Habitat Association (Habitat Derneği). According to an October 2024 Capital article, the Alarko Group launched the project with the Habitat Association in 2023. The programme is aimed at women who are aspiring entrepreneurs or already run a business.[1][3]

2023 round: training

According to Alarko's programme page, 464 aspiring and active women entrepreneurs from 59 provinces took part in a 40-hour training programme in 2023. Topics included digital marketing, design thinking, cooperative formation, Google Sites, Figma, Canva, Powtoon, and Facebook, Instagram and YouTube advertising.[1][2]

Idea marathon and awards

The second phase was the "Added Value to Entrepreneurship" Idea Marathon. Twenty teams from the marathon went on to further training in design thinking, pitching, marketing and brand strategy, entrepreneurship and Lean Canvas. A preliminary jury selected 10 teams, which received one-on-one mentoring and presented at a demo day in Istanbul. Three of the 10 finalists shared 100,000 TL in technology prizes: first place went to Science and Nature Box (Esra Şen, Deniz Şen), second to Gökçe'nin Bahçesi Seed Paper Workshop (Merve Fergökçe Erkol, Serkan Erkol) and third to Rumii (Rümeysa Ruken Polat, Ayşe Demirci).[1][2]

Social impact measurement

A January 2025 report states that the social impact reports for the programme's first two years put its social return on investment (SROI) at 2.77. The programme continued after 2023: by March 2026, more than 4,000 women from 81 provinces had attended its training over three years and 40 ventures had received grants, and an evaluation based on income growth, job creation, digital skills and ecosystem positioning found that each unit invested produced 3.53 units of social value.[4][5]

Sources

  1. Alarko Holding, Pioneers of Entrepreneurship 2023. Accessed 2026-10-15
  2. Alarko Holding, Alarko Holding'in Girişim Öncüleri Projesi'nde Kazanan Girişimciler Ödüllerini Aldı. Accessed 2026-10-15
  3. Capital, Kadın girişimciler için hibe destek programı, 2024-10-14. Accessed 2026-10-15
  4. Ekonomim, Kadın girişimcilere Alarko'dan ödül, 2025-01-27. Accessed 2026-10-15
  5. Capital, Alarko'dan kadın girişimcilere hibe desteği, 2026-03-06. Accessed 2026-10-15