Expo Capital Quest, a unique four-session event organized by the U.N. Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia as the continuation of the EXPO 2022 platform to promote women’s entrepreneurship ecosystem building was held in the Seed venue of Istanbul’s Sabancı Museum Thursday.

Envisioned as a platform that would help the further proliferation of female-run businesses by opening their doors to potential business investors the event brought together 23 selected women entrepreneurs from Europe and Central Asia region.

Out of the approximately 1,600 applicants, the event's culmination gathered the women who attended the boot camp, had a booth at the earlier virtual Expo event and underwent an Expo mentorship program.

Combining innovation and modern marketing techniques women operating tech, educational, green-blue focused and fashion businesses coming from several countries including Ukraine, Moldova, Albania, Bosnia-Herezegovina, North Macedonia, Türkiye and Caspain countries had a chance to pitch ideas on the expansion of their businesses, delivering short presentations of their work through the event.

Organized by U.N. Women ECA in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Yıldız Holding as part of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator supported by Mary Kay, the expo stands out as an interactive space highlighting the importance of presence in the international arena, building solid relationships stressing women-empowerment related programs.

As part of his opening remarks, Ali Ülker, chairperson of Yıldız Holding one of the leading conglomerates in the production of food goods in Türkiye, underscored the significance of collaboration with the U.N. and said the expo partnership aimed at acceleration of women's entrepreneurship programs as one of the largest in this regard.

Alia El-Yassir, U.N. Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, expressed her excitement about the event citing it was a long journey, not only in terms of the long geographical distances each individual participant had to transcend but also as a path each female entrepreneur had to take to reach this milestone.

"From its inception in 2021, the vision was to put the women in the center," she said.

"They are the experts on what their need, they are the experts on their priorities and it's up to the rest of us to support them, implement that for them," Yassir added.

Speaking to Daily Sabah, Yassir recalled the unprecedented role and the sole purpose on which their organization was established, being promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls wherever they are.

Answering the question on how the idea for the expo evolved in particular, Yassir said, "This idea about entrepreneurship really came about at the time of global crisis, COVID-19."

Yassir mentioned the general impact of COVID-19 on personal lives, emphasizing the inequalities that exist in the world, not least of which are gender inequalities.

Noting that the women carried sort of the "burden of care" during this period, often being the first to leave the workforce, Yassir said that instead of focusing on negative impacts they have seen "that one way to recover is through women's entrepreneurship."

Highlighting the undertaken steps as meaningful not only in terms of reaching out to those in need of aid, she additionally drew attention that the program aimed at the women who can stand out in their own countries and contribute in a way to post-pandemic economic recovery.

Yassir also underlined the significance of the regional event as such, stressing networking and mutual support among participants as some of the key elements they have focused on.

Considering the first step in empowering young individuals, including women, is to unleash their potential on the country level, and then regional and global level Yassir conveyed hope for positive outcomes of their work and its influence on future generations of entrepreneurs.

Apart from the representatives of the leading partners, the event was attended by Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator at U.N. Women Meral Güzel, CEO of a global advisory firm Veritas Ventures Vera Futorjanski, international investors and distinguished mentors.