Karaköprü Entrepreneurship, Business Development, Innovation and Commercialization Centre is funded by the Local Common Use Facilities Grant Scheme under ENHANCER Project, which is funded by European Union and implemented by ICMPD. The grant contract with Karaköprü Municipality was signed in March 2021, to create areas for common use and establish workshops on Silk Carpet and Rug weaving and Ecological Wooden Toys. These spaces will be allocated to target Syrian and Turkish entrepreneurs by providing personal development and professional skills trainings, in order to enhance socio-economic integration by establishing and developing businesses and labour market integration.
Representatives of the EU Delegation to Turkey, led by EU Ambassador H.E. Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, visited Şanlıurfa between 26-28 May 2021.
On the last day of their trip to Şanlıurfa, the EU delegation visited the Karaköprü Municipality where they met with potential female entrepreneurs at the model Silk Carpet and Rug weaving workshop. EU delegation met with the representatives of the RIZIK association, which is a stakeholder of the municipality within the scope of the EU funded ENHANCER project, and received information about outreach activities especially for Syrians. EU Ambassador emphasized the importance of socioeconomic cohesion and ENHANCER project’s initiatives in this regard.
With the €244,989 Euros grant allocation received from ICMPD under the Enhancer Project funded by the Facility for Refugees in Turkey (FRIT) II program, the Municipality will provide legal trainings on start-ups, partnership agreements and incorporation processes for entrepreneurs, offer social media, web design, graphics and animation and digital marketing trainings, coupled with mentorships. In addition, at the established workshops carpet and rug weaving miniature carpet weaving and wooden souvenir making trainings will be provided.
Karaköprü Entrepreneurship, Business Development, Innovation and Commercialization Centre is designed to provide a sustainable environment by bringing entrepreneurs and private sector together through joint working spaces.
Funded by the Facility for Refugees in Turkey, ICMPD’s EU funded ENHANCER project allocated €17.1 million for grant support to entrepreneurs and local institutions out of the total €32.5 million project budget. For this purpose, ICMPD launched the Pilot Local Common Use Grant Scheme for Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa in September 2020 with a budget of around €2 million and contracting was completed with 8 beneficiaries in March 2021, one of which is Karaköprü Municipality.
ICMPD ENHANCER Project Coordination Unit provides continuous support and training to not only establish local common use facility of Karaköprü Municipality but has already done a through needs analyses and will recruit experts to work with the Karaköprü Municipality team members. The grant approach developed by ICMPD is beyond the provision of finance and targets maintaining sustainable and long term solutions to entrepreneurs and job creation at the region.