Country
Turkey

Local project partner

SENED - Turkish-Syrian NGO focused on improving the living conditions of vulnerable people
ASSIAD - Association of Arab and Syrian Businessmen
GCC - Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce

German project partner
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Donor
GIZ

Duration
01.11.2022 - 31.10.2023

Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Turkey has hosted the largest number of Syrians who have fled their country, more than 3.7 million people. The economic and social integration of refugees is compounded by negative macroeconomic trends in Turkey and high unemployment rates among the local population. In addition, Syrian refugees have little access to financial services. Moreover, economic and social participation is limited due to insufficient knowledge of the financial and economic environment and the legal framework of the host country. Despite these challenges, there are over 8,300 registered Syrian-owned businesses.

The project will provide various trainings and coaching to up to 80 Syrian entrepreneurs to improve their financial and entrepreneurial skills and help them run their businesses and use financial services successfully and sustainably. After attending the selected trainings, participants will also attend group coaching sessions to share experiences, learn from each other, and receive individual feedback from the trainers. To ensure the sustainability of the training program, Trainings of Trainers (ToTs) will be conducted for local trainers from the three partner institutions. After the ToT program, local experts from at least one partner institution will be enabled to provide business development services directly to the legalized businesses. The trained entrepreneurs and business owners are supported in obtaining business financing from Halkbank's loan rotation fund.