Hepsiburada launches project to support women's cooperatives in e-commerce

ISTANBUL , March 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hepsiburada HEPS, one of the leading e-commerce platforms of Turkey, continues to celebrate and support women's entrepreneurship with the launch of the "Women's Cooperatives: Stronger with E-Commerce in the Pandemic" project in collaboration with International Labor Organization (ILO), Innovation for Development (I4D), and the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM).

The project aims to improve the digital and business skills of female entrepreneurs by providing training and mentoring support to over 100 women in 5 women's cooperatives that have been affected by the pandemic. The cooperatives involved in the Project,  will enjoy several benefits, including commission discounts, advertising and marketing support, free photoshoots, and shipping support. They will also receive mentoring and e-commerce training. The project will contribute to the participation of women's cooperatives in the economy to encourage local development and inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

The project will help with the digital transformation of women's cooperatives to improve their access to online marketplaces and boost their presence in supply chains and economy. Additionally, a new social procurement framework will help the cooperatives continue to set up new projects.

Today's announcement builds on Hepsiburada's strong track record. To date, Hepsiburada has supported 24,000 female entrepreneurs and 88 women's cooperatives since 2017 under the Technology Empowerment for Women Entrepreneurs program. Since then, the proportion of female-led business operating on the Hepsiburada platform has risen from 6 percent to 23 percent of total vendors.

Hepsiburada Chief Commercial Officer Murat Büyümez said: "We are excited to announce our collaboration with our international partners. This is an important demographic that Hepsiburada has been pleased to support over the past two years with a number collaborations and investments including Women Entrepreneurs Challenging COVID-19 Project in cooperation with Innovation for Development (I4D), SPARK and Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD).  As a company that supports the participation of women in all aspects of society, we will continue to mobilize our resources to empower female entrepreneurs, building on what we have already achieved with our Technology Empowerment for Women Entrepreneurs program."

ILO Livelihoods Officer Ayşe Turunç Kankal said: "At the ILO, we are working to minimize the damaging economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has hurt traditional sales channels and caused supply-chain disruptions globally. Moreover, it has been particularly hard on vulnerable groups such as women, the elderly, people with disabilities, and refugees. Strengthening vulnerable groups and integrating them into the digital economy of the future, particularly women's cooperatives and refugee entrepreneurs, is essential in achieving sustainability and diversifying sales channels."

I4D Director Doğan Çelik said: "At I4D, we have been working on breakthrough development interventions in areas including the jobs of the future, inclusive supply chain management, women's economic empowerment, social entrepreneurship, and social procurement. It is thrilling to see some of these efforts come to fruition in collaboration with the private sector and the sustainable development world. The issue of ending poverty is now more prominent than ever, so we are calling on the private sector and international development community to help develop and expand this collaboration with ILO and Hepsiburada."

About Hepsiburada

Hepsiburada HEPS, is a leading e-commerce technology platform in Turkey, combining a globally proven e-commerce business model with a one-stop 'Super App' to cater to its customers' everyday needs and to help make people's lives better. Customers can access a broad range of products and services including same-day delivery of groceries and essentials, products from international merchants, airline tickets and payment services through Hepsiburada's embedded digital wallet, Hepsipay. As at the end of September 2021, Hepsiburada seamlessly connected 39.6 million members and approximately 67 thousand Active Merchants.

Founded in Istanbul in 2000, Hepsiburada was built to lead the digitalization of commerce in Turkey. As a female-founded organization, Hepsiburada is committed to meaningful action to empower women. Through its 'Technology Empowerment for Women Entrepreneurs' program, Hepsiburada reached over 24,000 female entrepreneurs across Turkey to date.

About ILO

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations  for the world of work. It sets international labour standards, promotes rights at work, encourages decent employment opportunities, the enhancement of social protection and the strengthening of dialogue on work-related issues.

The primary goal of the ILO is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.

The mission of the ILO Office for Turkey is to have a strong, visible, and proactive presence in Turkey by effectively engaging with the government, employers' and workers' organizations, and other international organizations to promote decent work for all, ensuring that the core ILO priorities, standards, interests, policies are promoted, and its experience is disseminated.

About I4D

I4D is a social enterprise working with/for vulnerable groups in the field of inclusive and green growth in response to development challenges. It focuses on developing innovative practice examples with international development organizations and the private sector, and facilitating social cohesion through the business world. In this respect, the organizations provides research, communications and implementation support to national and civil society actors, national and International development organizations and development finance organizations in order to hit the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets.

About USPRM

The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) is the humanitarian bureau of the State Department of the United States of America. PRM promotes U.S. interests by providing protection, easing suffering, and resolving the plight of persecuted and forcibly displaced people around the world. In Turkey, the United States through PRM has provided over $1.1 billion in assistance since the start of the Syrian crisis in 2011 to support all refugees and impacted Turkish host communities.

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