In the News

Our weekly atelier program at Darussafaka High School in Turkey ended on June 8th 2022 with the conclusion of 2021 - 2022 school year.

Entrepreneurship for Youth workshop was attended by 16 students ranging from 9th to 11th grades. 4 teams participated in the Business Plan Competition and all 5 of the winning team members got a chance to attend the summer school camp at Sabanci University where they took 3 college classes and learned about college life. 

The program will open it's doors again on Sep 14th 2022 with the new academic year.    

Mercy College was pleased to recently recognize Umran Beba’s contribution to the Mercy community by bestowing her with an honorary degree from the School of Business (SBUS). As the school’s honorary degree recipient, Umran delivered remarks during the SBUS commencement ceremony and provided graduates with valuable insights and guidance. You can watch Umran's inspiring speech from the "View More" button.

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We were the proud sponsor of the 3rd Annual Student-Preneur Conference and Business Plan Competition that took place on April 21st, 2022 at Mercy College.  

A total of 26 students or student teams from across Mercy entered the Business Plan Competition. The application required an executive summary, a business plan, a business plan PowerPoint presentation and a video presentation.

The five top-ranked finalists—Tereva Bundy, M.S. ’22, Unique Online Reading Tutor; Travis Cox, James Kyle LLC; Astriz Contreras ’22, AA Luxurious Cleaning; Victor Rosado ’22, Clutch Nation; and Leilani Tyson ’23, Lay Styles—were then invited to present their business plans to the judges at the Student-Preneur Conference.

Bundy won first place and a $1,500 prize for pitching her business, Unique Online Reading Tutor. She is pursuing her master’s degree in educational administration at Mercy and was the only finalist not from the School of Business. 

Our Co-Founder Prof. Beba visited Darussafaka High School in Istanbul and had a luncheon with school management, students and select members of the press on March 15, 2022. Our initiative called "Entrepreneurship for Youth Atelier" is open to 9-11th grade students and we have completed 23 sessions in this school year where we teach entrepreneurship to the 16 enrolled students. 

Members of the press had a chance to tour the "Techo-Entrepreneurship Center" which is a team based learning classroom that was established with Beba Foundation's support and got detailed information on the program.  

Umran Beba's "Deger Yaratan Liderler" book was published in February 2022 in Turkey. The book, co-authored with Ms. Arzu Cekirge Paksoy, talks about the concepts of leadership and leaders in a today's changing world.

Concepts such as corporate social responsibility, sustainability and social impact are becoming more and more important in the agenda of leaders.
 
Individual values ​​and social goals come to the fore, voluntarism awareness rises. The public questions institutions and social benefit more than ever, and demands responsibility. This is the period also described as the "civilian century". When it comes to creating a better world, the leaders who run institutions have a great responsibility.
They set an example for both their employees and the public with their views and actions, and shed light on the future.
 
This book, which includes the value-creating views of pioneering leaders from Turkey and the world, makes a great contribution to social transformation and the process of creating benefits. 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s U.S.-Turkey Business Council today announced the launch of Million Women Mentors/Milyon Kadına Mentor program with the goal of providing mentorship opportunities to young women in Turkey who wish to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.

Marissa Cuevas created the company microTERRA to aid the move toward more sustainable water usage in farming and animal husbandry. After winning first place in the Greater Good Challenge, she plans to use the money to fund a pilot program in Mexico. The circular system not only cleans and oxygenates dirty pond water for re-use, but could allow a fish farmer to produce up to 60 percent of their own feed, she says.

Many have speculated about whether the current coronavirus outbreak will spark an economic recession. Renowned venture capital firm Sequoia Capital recently shared their experience of best practice, advising that, “Having weathered every business downturn for nearly 50 years, we’ve learned an important lesson: Nobody ever regrets making fast and decisive adjustments to changing circumstances.”

Where are the million-dollar women? In 2018, just 1.7 percent of women-owned businesses generated more than $1 million in revenue, and the challenges are even greater for women of color entrepreneurs. Why is it that even though women own 40 percent of all businesses in the U.S., making "real money" is more the exception than it is the rule? What's getting in our way when it comes to business ideas that make bank?

In 2010, Jaime Schmidt took a local class on how to make shampoo. At the time, she was pregnant with her son, eager to experiment with crafting her own natural, nontoxic products. One thing led to another, and soon she succeeded in creating a natural deodorant “that actually worked,” branded as Schmidt’s. Fast forward seven years, and the deodorant she began selling at farmers markets became a top seller on shelves at Target, Whole Foods and Walmart. 

Schmidt's Naturals sold to Unilever for an undisclosed amount in 2017 (but Schmidt puts it in the "nine figures"). Now, she's focused on her next cause: supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs.