New Beginnings' Earthquake Zone Women Entrepreneurs Forum

Event title：New Beginnings' Earthquake Zone Women Entrepreneurs Forum
Date：February, 25,2025
Organizer：JICA, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization of Türkiye (KOSGEB)
Place：Kahramanmaraş, Republic of Türkiye

Ms. Megumi Ishimoto（NPO Women’s Eye）
Ms. Çiğdem KIRAL (Women entrepreneur association, KAGİD)
Ms.Betül Zabun KENGER（TOBB Kahramanmaras Women Entrepreneurs Board）

Ms.Sayaka Watanabe（University of Nagano）

Mr. Ali Abukumail （World Bank）
Ms. Megumi Ishimoto（NPO Women’s Eye）
Ms. Melik Sibel Çetinkaya (Kahramanmaraş Women's Business Development Center, KIGEM)
Ms.Çiğdem KIRAL (Women entrepreneur association, KAGİD)
Mr. Daisuke Watanabe（JICA Turkey Office）

KOSGEB, Support Organizations for Women Entrepreneurs in the Earthquake Affected Areas of Türkiye（Chamber of Commerce, NPO, etc.）、Women’s enterprises, World Bank, UNDP

The earthquake that struck southeastern Türkiye in February 2023 impacted micro-, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the region significantly, resulting in the deaths of workers, damage to factories and other buildings and equipment etc.

Since MSMEs are the pillars of the country’s economy, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization of Türkiye (KOSGEB) implemented “Post-earthquake Support Project for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises project” by utilizing a yen loan from JICA to provide liquidity support to such affected enterprises. Under this project, 10 per cent of the total project cost were earmarked for women’s enterprises.

When an earthquake strikes, women’s enterprises face not only difficulties in continuing their businesses due to loss or damage to buildings and facilities, or a decrease in sales but also due to their gender norm. Yet, the details of these challenges and how to address them have not been fully identified.

Therefore, the seminar was held to share the results of needs survey conducted by JICA in November 2024 and the questionnaire survey conducted through KOSGEB(Document1), and to discuss how we can support women’s enterprises effectively. Furthermore, we invited two Japanese experts to share their experiences in supporting women’s enterprises in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.

During the seminar, Ms. Megumi Ishimoto, Director of Women's Eye, a nonprofit organization based in Tohoku, dedicated to empowering women and communities affected by disasters, explained that supporting women’s enterprises will not only help them expand their businesses but also　promote women's political and economic participation in the community. The participants of women’s enterprises from Türkiye commented that they were encouraged by the stories of Japanese women’s enterprises who had experienced a comparable earthquake and made the significant contributions to the reconstruction of their communities.

In the latter half of the seminar, JICA, Women's Eye, KAGID(Women entrepreneur association), KIGEM (Kahramanmaraş Women's Business Development Center), and the World Bank, which support MSMEs in the affected areas participated in a panel discussion moderated by Ms. Sayaka Watanabe, who has experience in founding social businesses in disaster-affected areas after the Great East Japan Earthquake and has long been engaged in creating a network of women’s entrepreneurs in Asia.

During the panel discussion, the panelists shared their experiences in supporting women’s enterprises to address the challenges that women’s enterprises face, such as difficulties in accessing financial services and lack of networking and training opportunities. They also pointed out the significance of providing networking opportunities and building a community among women’s enterprises where they can gather and share not only their achievement but also their failures and challenges. Furthermore, it was also stated that support organizations ought to share information regarding their support that they have provided in order to prevent the duplication of support projects and to strengthen collaboration.

By sharing the experience of supporting women’s enterprises after the Great East Japan Earthquake and by recognizing the achievement and importance of women’s enterprises in the affected areas in Türkiye, this seminar not only empowered the women’s enterprises themselves who have continued their businesses despite the difficulties but also provided an opportunity for all concerned institutions to widely recognize the economic and social significance of supporting women’s enterprises in the earthquake affected area.

JICA will continue to support women’s enterprises in Türkiye.