About the Event
Since the war began in Syria in 2011, more than eleven million Syrians have been displaced, of whom 3.6 million now live in Turkey. Though the sheer number of displaced persons has put enormous pressure on the host country and strained resources in local communities, the Syrian refugees have also shown entrepreneurial resolve to create thousands of small businesses across Turkey. While grappling with the consequences of war and loss, the Syrian refugee entrepreneurship is a remarkable ongoing story that Dogan Çelik and Nazli Kazanoglu have researched over the last year. In this webinar, they will present their report findings on the opportunities and challenges of refugee-led small businesses that are transforming the lives of refugees and contributing to the overall economic growth in Turkey.
About the Speakers
Doğan Çelik
Doğan Çelik is a development practitioner specializing in private sector development and refugee entrepreneurship. He has spent years consulting with organizations like The World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). His current work focuses on social procurement framework developed for public procurement and inclusive growth through e-commerce platforms targeting SMEs during COVID-19.
Nazlı Kazanoğlu
Nazlı Kazanoğlu is a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Gender Studies KOÇ-KAM and UNESCO Chair on Equality and Sustainable Development at Koç University. She obtained her Ph.D. from Ulster University School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences in 2018 and her MSc from Istanbul Bilgi University. Her research interests are in the areas of Europeanization studies, comparative welfare regime analysis, new-institutionalism theory, gender equality, social policy, employment policy, women’s employment and reconciliation of work and family life. She has recently published The Politics of Europeanisation: Work and Family Life Reconciliation Policy (Routledge, 2021).