Greeting of the Chair

In the last 30 years, a German-Turkish-European community has (re)emerged. The children of the guest workers have been socialised in Germany and have found their own way, at least most of them. These young people have grown up in a free, democratic basic order with Turkish roots and German identity. To a large extent, they did not quite find their way on either stage, but they made the best of this situation. The result today is that many of them have contributed to Germany’s prosperity with their life stories. These people, whether in the first or second generation, have used their values, traditions and diligence for the benefit of society and have made it possible for a kind of third generation to build on these successes. These people, the former guest workers and their children, have enriched our society economically, socially and culturally. With their unparalleled commitment, they have become irreplaceable economic and political actors. In many parts of our society, these people have rendered outstanding services.

It is precisely this combination, especially the companies that have shaped their work in Germany over decades, that is showing its true strength today. Indeed, their strength lies in large part in their emotionality, coupled with the German attitude and concepts from both worlds.

This is what has led me to make exactly this kind of commitment in Germany for over 30 years.

The first talks that we needed a German-Turkish-European platform were held in the 1980s. Many initiatives, activities and models since then have been established in society, some successful, some not.

Establishing some kind of improvement and added value are our goals that we should not lose sight of.

But what distinguishes our BizNet from the other organisations? What do we want to do better, what is BizNet specifically about?

With BizNet we want to make a significant contribution with a real added value to our German-Turkish-European society, in concrete terms this means

1. Building a common bridge:
   The organs of BizNet have been filled throughout with German and Turkish personalities. Here, our common philosophy is to build the bridge with all participants in such a way that we represent the centre of our society. That is why our organs are almost 50:50 distributed.
2. It is equally important that we embrace diversity and fair share. We have established gender in our representative functions, in addition to German-Turkish. We are one of the few, perhaps even the only association, that has this theme written all over its banner. Because both our chairmen of the board of directors and our chairmen of the supervisory board represent exactly this kind of bridge-building. Our task is and will be to fill precisely this philosophy with life, to steer our fortunes in such a way that we ensure added value for our member companies. Our team is made up of networkers, team players, excellent strategists with whom we will succeed in driving our network strongly forward.
3. Advisory Board:
   This is made up of very strong and experienced individuals. Here we have made sure that we have been able to create a good and genuine council of experts from many sectors, from many functions. They stand for the fact that we can and will bring about a solid, well-founded and also a real and true change.

The aim of BizNet is to offer people and companies an institutional platform for their exchange and success. That was the reason why we founded the Network of European-Turkish Businesses.

We are an independent centre of competence for the German-Turkish business community in Germany and Europe.

As an intermediary between business, politics and the public, we play a key role at important interfaces in our society.

Our activities are aimed at welcoming and accepting all entrepreneurs as members, regardless of their origin, faith, nationality, gender or culture. The combination of professionalism, committed members and our extensive network makes us a strong and unique partner.

We also cannot ignore the current situation regarding Corona and the global challenge. Understanding that our current situation can only be overcome by us as a community offers us another chance not to get bogged down in our own rut.

As a NETU family, we are always there for our partners and members with advice and support, offering them not only our talks but also expert opinions tailored to their needs, which together look for and implement solution approaches and perspectives.

Just as important for our economy is the establishment of (new) target markets. In the context of digitalisation and globalisation, growing in other fields is another task that we are closely involved with.

An essential and important building block for this is the topic of education and training. The formation of the existing team, in connection with the issue of a shortage of skilled workers, coupled with the new challenge of corona/pandemic, is one of our key issues for the coming months and years.

In this spirit, we wish you only the very best for 2022, a good hand in overcoming the challenges of your business.

We look forward to many good and fruitful discussions with you. Please feel free to contact us and get to know us better.

Your Metin Aydin