BÜMED (Boğaziçi University Alumni Association) and the Student Team brought together individuals who have impacted our society and become role models with their work in the social impact field at the “Sectors Together Special Education Social Impact” event they organized. Boğaziçi University alumni, students, and their guests all participated in the event.
At the event held in the BÜMED Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Hall, BÜMED Chairman of the Board Önder Şahin said in his opening speech, “we support students in social enterprise projects and pave the way for students.” Boğaziçi University Faculty Member and GETEM Coordinator Hande Sart, who began her speech by saying, “There is no issue that a citizen is not responsible for. A handful of people achieve change. I believe everyone can create change,” shared her knowledge and experiences in the panel themed “Social Impact from the University & Municipality Perspective.”
Beşiktaş Municipality Youth Center Coordinator Volkan Altınok emphasized that we cannot ignore the social impacts of all kinds of work, saying, “We must draw a participatory, transparent, data-driven framework,” and left the stage to the social entrepreneurs who transform systems.
Ashoka Turkey Social Entrepreneurship Director İstem Akalp touched upon the skills that make a difference: empathy, teamwork, creative problem-solving, and new leadership, saying, “We are working for a world where we will not be needed one day, to create an ecosystem for the field of social entrepreneurship.” Afterwards, Impact Hub Communication and Community Officer Cansu Öner spoke about community analyses.
İMECE Director Mustafa Özer, after his words, “Social innovation is not a linear thing, it is a spiral, just like life itself,” drew attention to the important question by saying, “what should we do in this problematic world in terms of sustainable growth and social justice.”
İyilik Hareketim (My Kindness Movement) Founder Pınar Sabancı and Yanındayız (We Are With You) Association Member Derin Altan emphasized that people do not have an example before them and that they are carrying out studies in terms of guiding young people.
TABİT Smart Agriculture Technologies Founder Tülin Akın shared her success-filled story as TABİT and as Tülin Akın with the participants, saying, “Before a person starts doing something, others draw that person’s boundaries, but nobody can draw my boundaries. With this motivation, I opened a page that had not been opened before and started informing farmers.”
In the Fundraising Process for Non-Governmental Organizations Panel, Fonzip Founder Emre Danacı, Givin Founder Başak Süer, and ES Kariyer Engelli İstihdamı (ES Career Disabled Employment) Founder Esra Odabaşı gave their speeches. Afterwards, in the Successful Social Entrepreneurship Example: SosyalBen Panel, SosyalBen Foundation Founder Ece Çiftçi gave her speech, and finally, SosyalBen Supporter Hakan Sabancı gave the closing speech.