Recently established Turkish American Business Improvement and Development Corp, (TABID) held its first meeting with a large number of participants. 120 businessmen from New York, New Jersey, Washington, Virginia, Maryland, and Connecticut came together in Universal Foundation’s new building in Brooklyn.

  TABID president Gokhan Ozkok thanked participating businessmen for coming to the event in his opening remarks and added that they will carry out important projects together in the future. TUSKON vice president Ahmet Ciger and executive director Mustafa Gunay, who joined the program by coming from Turkey, pointed out the economic benefits of Africa, Central Asia, and Pacific business networking programs organized by TUSKON in Turkey. Mustafa Gunay stated that United States is also an important business partner for Turkey and experiences of Turkish businessmen doing business in the US are also essential for improving relationships between the two countries. Beyhan Nakiboglu, one of the businessmen participating to the program from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, who owns Nema Quality Foods, talked about the food business and informed listeners by giving examples from the meat industry.

   120 businessmen from New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut and Washington DC shared their experiences in the program. Osman Kavak, a businessman from Connecticut, expressed that partnerships and economic alliance are as important as individual efforts for being successful in bigger project and moving successful businesses to the subsequent levels. New Jersey businessman Fahrettin Kumas shared his insights on real estate and construction businesses.

   TABID vice president Zafer Akin, on the other hand, asserted that businessmen, in order to be successful, have to gain knowledge of the socio-cultural qualities of the society they live in and added that one of the aims of TABID is to help businessmen achieve this. He stated that TABID also plans to connect Turkish businessmen with their American counterparts for partnerships and new business opportunities.

Another businessman Murat Guzel, who is also TABID representative in Pennsylvania, said that one of the biggest mistakes Turkish businessmen do is to invest on businesses by considering only Turkish Community. He stressed the importance of vision and cooperation for taking Turkish brands in the American market to better levels that they deserve. 

   Mehmet Ozbilgin, accounting professor at Baruch College, CUNY, talk about importance of the program and said that it would be possible to see a Turkish company in Fortune 500 in the future through these efforts of cooperation and partnerships. Program continued with other participants’ statements providing practical information about their businesses and ended with the dinner.