“Mentor Clinic IV”, organized by Galata Business Angels in partnership with KWORKS Entrepreneurship Research Center brought once more the key players of the entrepreneurship ecosystem and entrepreneurs on May 18.

The international event supported by İstanbul Development Agency took place in “İstanbul Maslak Steinberger Hotel” received a particularly high level of interest from university students aspiring to become entrepreneurs in addition to entrepreneurs.

During his opening speech GBA President Emre Kurttepeli emphasized the importance of mentorship in the success of startups. The first keynote speaker and the co-founder of Yemeksepeti Melih Ödemiş shared with the entrepreneurs the lessons he learned through Yemeksepeti’s journey from its founding until its acquisition by Delivery Hero last year. He was followed by entrepreneur and consultant Elmira Bayraslı who talked about 3 secrets of the successful startups: “believing in the idea, not following the herd and the power of telling your own story”.

As the last speaker in the event, Stage-Co founder Patrick Bosteels argued that universities should teach students how to found a company instead of teaching them how to carry out business tasks which, according to his observations, is currently the case in Turkey.

The last part of the event was allocated to mentoring sessions during which entrepreneurs had the chance to get feedback from approximately 50 mentors among which were many important figures of the entrepreneurship ecosystem such as Melih Ödemiş, Patrick Bosteels, Cem Soysal, Ahu Serter, Görkem Oktay, Rana Özşeker and Seval Üçler Yıldız. During 20 minutes sessions, mentors gave entrepreneurs valuable advice and feedback on fundamental topics of entrepreneurial success such as Business Development, Financial Investing, Social Entrepreneurship, Digital Marketing, Media Relations, Team Building and Legal Issues.