Empowering Women Entrepreneurs in Türkiye After the 2023 Earthquake Through Digital Capacity Building and the Adoption of Digital Solutions to Support Business Growth and Reconstruction (ELEVATE)
The world faces countless crises, including natural disasters, infectious disease outbreaks, and the increasing impacts of climate change. All these problems, especially natural disasters like earthquakes, disproportionately affect societies.
For example, on February 6, 2023, a series of earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş in southern Türkiye affected 11 provinces. Of these 11 provinces, Hatay was one of the most severely impacted, with 48,422 businesses destroyed. In this province, women entrepreneurs (KGİDER) running micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were among those most severely affected. According to the Turkey Women Entrepreneurs Association (KAGİDER) and UN Women 2023 report, 88% of SMEs reported that their business operations were affected, and 50% of those that had to suspend operations stated that they could not resume production and/or services after the earthquake. Therefore, the ‘ELEVATE’ Project aims to develop, evaluate, and implement a cutting-edge toolset to empower women-led SMEs in Hatay.
The toolset will help women-led SMEs build digital capacity, implement business solutions, and enhance their sustainable competitive advantage. For this reason, experts from UoW, UK, and UoC, Turkey, are proposing the ELEVATE project. The project team consists of experienced researchers, including Professors, Readers, senior lecturers, and academics whose work has impacted over 30 countries.
Therefore, the impact of the ELEVATE project extends beyond academic research, benefiting a variety of stakeholders, including women-led SMEs, the local community, and policymakers. This restructuring will contribute to Turkey’s post-earthquake economic recovery and growth, promote gender equality in entrepreneurship, and foster a more inclusive business environment. The project will also contribute to short-medium and long-term environmental management and the promotion of green business practices in Turkey.
