BigCat Research

Entrepreneurship Pioneers 2026 Impact Monitoring

The Entrepreneurship Pioneers program continues in 2026 with the same purpose and vision. BigCat Research continues to monitor and evaluate women entrepreneurs’ digital capability, business development and economic empowerment journey in the new program period.

Client / partners: Habitat Association, Alarko Holding

Year: 2026

Project type: Economic Impact Monitoring

Status: Ongoing

Project impact: 2026 monitoring of digital capability, business development and economic empowerment impact in women entrepreneurship.

Background from public sources

Programme and organisers

Entrepreneurship Pioneers (Girişim Öncüleri) is a women's entrepreneurship programme that Alarko Holding and Habitat Association (Habitat Derneği) have run together since 2023. It offers training, mentoring, experience sharing, networking and grants to women who want to grow an existing business or start their own company. 2026 is the programme's fourth year.[1][2]

Scale

As of January 2025, 1,700 women entrepreneurs had attended 220 hours of training across six topics. According to articles published in 2026, more than 4,000 women from all 81 provinces of Türkiye have taken part in the training, and 40 ventures have received grants. At the end of the third year, a jury of business and civil society representatives selected 25 women entrepreneurs for grants. Alarko Holding funded 20 of these grants and Alarko Agriculture Group funded the other 5.[1][2][3]

The 2026 period

Training in 2026 covers four topics: artificial intelligence for operational efficiency, data-driven storytelling and community management, impact-oriented sustainability strategies, and customer experience design. Also in 2026, Alarko Agriculture Group launched a "Women's Strength in Agriculture" category, which supports five ventures.[2][4]

Measured impact

The social impact reports for the first two years put the programme's social return on investment (SROI) at 2.77. An analysis after three years looked at income growth, employment capacity, digital skill gains and positioning in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. It found that each unit invested produced 3.53 units of social value.[1][2][3]

Sources

  1. Capital, Alarko'dan kadın girişimcilere hibe desteği, 2026-03-06. Accessed 2026-10-15
  2. Ekonomist, Girişim Öncüleri'nde yeni dönem başladı, 2026-05-12. Accessed 2026-10-15
  3. Ekonomim, Kadın girişimcilere Alarko'dan ödül, 2025-01-27. Accessed 2026-10-15
  4. Capital, Tarımda kadın gücü ekonomiye yatırıma dönüşüyor, 2026-04-20. Accessed 2026-10-15