Hamdi Akin Kayseri Microfinance Branch, being under Turkey Graamen Microfinance Program, which provided support for 1,574 low-income micro-entrepreneurs, provided a ceremony for women who will use microcredit for the new term. Speaking at a ceremony held in Novotel Kayseri at the beginning of March, Akfen Holding Chairman Hamdi Akın said that women who met with the microcredit project overcame poverty were able to stand on their feet economically and help their homes.

Akın, who expressed great pride for starting the practice of micro-crediting in Kayseri said: “Islam is the religion that commands the right hand to not see the left hand and the poor to be invisible. For this reason, this kind of aid will continue to be done by philanthropists, but it can not be used as a promotion material by anyone. Our mission is not for you to get lazy by donations. Instead, we are trying you integrate you into a system. Trying to make you a player in the system.”

WILL GIVE HOPE TO 270 WOMEN

Hamdi Akin, who explained that microcredit is a credit in a real sense, said, “However there is no such thing as collateral, guarantor, execution, court, a foreclosure in this loan.That’s why our amounts are small. Akın, who pointed out that the project is a non-profit finance model that provides funding for the poor said: I am an entrepreneur and ending poverty is possible by micro-entrepreneurship in Turkey. Hamdi Akin pointed out that they will provide 200.000 TL worth of support to female entrepreneurs in Kayseri.

The initial loan amount is 750 Liras in micro-crediting, and that means that 270 thousand Liras allow 200 women to be able to start new jobs. Hamdi Akin, who stated that women worked wonders with these small amounts of support, said: “When I see the creative works done with 700-800 TL of micro-credit, I feel like what we did was nothing. These women work wonders. When I saw their achievements, I decided to double the budget. When we first came here, I was going to contribute 100 thousand Liras to the budget of this year. But we found out that really great things were done. That’s why we decided to add another 100 thousand Liras on top of it.To me, this money is worth so much in return and definitely is not considered as waste.”