Tabit Co-Founder and Vodafone Smart Village Founder Tulin Akın attended the "TIM WOMEN EXPORT TALKS-3" event of the TIM Women's Council organized by the Turkish Exporters Association. In the program she attended together with TIM Women's Council Vice President Pınar Taşdelen Engin, she shared her experiences in the field of agricultural technologies and agricultural marketing, which is exemplary in Turkey and the world with the Vodafone Smart Village project. Noting that they realized an international transfer due to the realization of a project with foreign business partners in service exports, Akın said, "We have accumulated a lot in 16 years. With the awards received as a company and as an entrepreneur, we opened up to the world with the reflection of these to the public and we started to receive demands from other countries. There have been no obstacles to this day because our primary goal has been to provide benefit."
"Our Only Obstacle is the Pandemic"
"The only obstacle we have faced so far has been the pandemic," said Akın, "When I founded the company, I was a university student, I did not expect that this company would become an export company and reach this stage. We are now a company that opens up to the world. In our projects, we aim to benefit as the first step in terms of being a social enterprise, we use profit for benefit. Our goal has always been benefit and how we can provide benefit. In this respect, successful projects emerge after a prior study and research, preparing a project depending on the feasibility of the work, the cultural and social situation there, and determining how we can financially handle it, how we can afford it. For example, with our work in Africa, we aim to empower small farmers by using technology. We needed to see the social life, the land and the situation there. Due to the pandemic, we could not go and see it. We need to know the life there, what farmers and those who can farm need from a sociological point of view, and how they can farm. For example, we can look at the satellite for locating and measuring, but seeing it in person will of course give better results. In 16 years, we have successfully carried out all our projects, and this was the first obstacle in terms of service exports."
"Our aim is to make farming attractive"
Adding that they are working on agriculture and technology education as a career and career goal, Akın said, "Our aim is to make farming a career and a distinguished profession that brings good income. We are conducting a rural development project in Hatay province. We have studies to prevent desertification in Mediterranean countries. It should be a profession in which our farmers can be proud to be farmers. This can be done not by traditional methods, but by saving our resources and earning more by using smart agriculture and agricultural technologies with digitalization in the digital age. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry took a step in this direction in 2020. We had implemented this in 2004. Preventing food crises in the future of the world is possible with agriculture. Therefore, agriculture is also the way to prevent migration.
"To Go to Mars, We Must First Fix the World"
Tulin Akın, who made suggestions to young entrepreneurs and exporters, said, "I have a motto. Dream, act, be patient. If action is taken and enough patience is shown, dreams come true. Courage must be shown first. It is scary for people to get out of the safety zone, that is why they are afraid of doing something new and making new breakthroughs. But it is necessary to take steps without fear, because as you open up, your world, your perspective expands and the world at large becomes your safety zone. First of all, it is necessary to break that shell. Let them not be afraid, let them continue. In order to prevent migration and go to Mars, we must first fix the world."
