From Consortium lead The Center for International Private Enterprise
Osman Cakiroglu, Project Director of the LIFE Project, joins host Ken Jaques to discuss the new ways the program is helping local entrepreneurs in Turkey impacted by the global pandemic. They also discuss the upcoming CIPE event with the consortium partners (register here) and the exciting launch of the LIFE Project Cookbook that is now available for purchase. All proceeds of the cookbook will go towards the LIFE Project.
The COVID-19 crisis has hit the food sector particularly hard, upending traditional business models and disrupting supply chains. The challenges facing these businesses have far-reaching implications – not only for the enterprises themselves, but also for the people they supply with food during the pandemic-induced lockdown. Fortunately, many of these businesses are responding to these disruptions with creativity and innovation, enabling them to continue delivering food, maintaining supply chains, supporting workers’ livelihoods – and helping to feed society during these unprecedented times.
From Consortium lead The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
We celebrate Democracy That Deliver’s 200th podcast with a special episode just in time for Giving Tuesday 2020. We are joined by CIPE’s Marie Principe and the Stimson Center’s Johanna Mendelson-Forman for a behind the scenes look at CIPE’s very first cookbook “The Cuisine of LIFE” – now available for purchase online.
In July, WDI’s Amy Gillett, vice president of Education, and Kristin Babbie Kelterborn, senior project manager, along with Eric Fretz, a WDI faculty affiliate and professor at the University of Michigan, traveled to Istanbul and Mersin to lead workshops on entrepreneurship curriculum development, participate in a business pitch competition for Mersin’s second cohort of entrepreneurs and interview program graduates.
From Consortium lead The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
In this episode, Barbara Langley, Director of CIPE’s Center for Women’s Economic Empowerment, and Marie Principe, Program Officer for MENA, recount stories of impact from the LIFE Project. They discuss how through the LIFE Project, the members, particularly the women, build confidence in public speaking and advocating for their product and themselves, and how they also build a sense of community with other women from different backgrounds.
From Consortium Lead The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
On World Refugee Day, CIPE celebrates refugee entrepreneurs for their contribution to the development of entrepreneurship ecosystems and the expansion of economic opportunity for all in host countries. Refugee entrepreneurship supports sustainable livelihoods and resilience among refugee and host communities, while fostering social cohesion and offering a win-win scenario both for the socio-economic situation of the host country and the refugees themselves.
From Consortium Partner The William Davidson Institute (WDI) at the University of Michigan
Starting a business is a challenge for anybody, and business failure rates are high. How do refugees — faced with the additional challenges of being new to a country and often not speaking the language — manage to establish successful enterprises? It turns out that along with their unique challenges, they also bring some unique assets to the table. These attributes can both position them for success and enable them to enrich their host nation.
From Consortium Partner The William Davidson Institute (WDI) at the University of Michigan
Pitch competitions can be an invaluable component of entrepreneurship development programs. Preparing for a final pitch competition can keep participants motivated throughout the program as they work towards presenting their businesses to an engaged audience. While pitch competitions offer a clear benefit to winners — such as cash prizes, investments and consultancy services — benefits also accrue to those not selected for an award.
From Consortium Lead The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
Joan Nathan, Cookbook Author and Advisory Council member of LIFE Project, and Johanna Mendelson Forman, PhD, Distinguished Fellow at the Henry L. Stimson Center and CIPE’s Consortium partner on the LIFE Project, join co-host Stephen Rosenlund and host Ken Jaques to discuss how the LIFE Food Enterprise Center (FEC) is building food businesses and creating sustainable livelihoods in Turkey. These efforts have transformative effects for refugees and their host communities by building relationships through food.
From Consortium Lead The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
In this episode of Democracy that Delivers, Marie Principe, CIPE Program Officer for MENA and head of the Livelihood Innovations through Food Entrepreneurship (LIFE) Project, is joined by Andrew Varnum, Executive Vice President of DC-based food accelerator Union Kitchen, as LIFE celebrates its one-year anniversary. The LIFE Project in Turkey supports sustainable livelihoods in the food sector through an entrepreneurship incubation experience and workforce training program for refugees and the host communities.
From Consortium Lead The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
Amidst refugee challenges in Turkey and around the world, the Livelihoods Innovation through Food Entrepreneurship (LIFE) project provides solutions. The LIFE project helps refugees and host communities create businesses and jobs, while using food to foster social cohesion. The LIFE project, which is geared towards Turkish and Syrian communities alike, operates two business incubators at Food Enterprise Centers in Istanbul and Mersin.
From Consortium Partner The William Davidson Institute (WDI) at the University of Michigan
In Istanbul, Mohamad Bakkar, a Syrian refugee and now food entrepreneur, (pictured right) produces his own special Syrian cheeses and yogurt. About three and a half years ago, Bakkar fled the civil war in Syria, where he was an electrical engineer. As a refugee in a new place, life was not easy. To improve his family’s situation, Bakkar opened his own food business in Istanbul.
From Consortium Lead The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
The food industry has become a major pathway for Syrians who are looking for economic and social integration in Turkey. For this reason, CIPE and a consortium of partners recently launched the Livelihoods Innovation through Food Entrepreneurship (LIFE) project. The two-year project will establish two self-sustaining food business incubators in Istanbul and Mersin, geared towards Turkish and Syrian communities alike.
From Consortium Partner The William Davidson Institute (WDI) at the University of Michigan
Two WDI representatives traveled to Turkey earlier this month as part of the Institute’s work on a project, led by the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), that aims to develop sustainable livelihoods in the food sector for Syrian refugees and their host communities.
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