7 Turkish women entrepreneurs win top awards

Seven women entrepreneurs have been recognized for their work with top awards as part of the Women Entrepreneurs of Turkey Competition, beating out more than 33,000 applications.

Dress Best Uniforms founder Rana Tülin Yazıcı and Mene Research founder Şule Mene won the top awards at an award ceremony on Oct. 12.

Yazıcı started her company by producing 2,500 uniforms for the Habitat Conference in Istanbul in 1996 in just 25 days. Later, she focused on uniform manufacturing for hotels and hospitals. She then created her own brand, "Dress Best Uniform," in 2008, opening up to the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Her company has an annual production capacity of 75,000 uniforms and is set to soon open a branch in London. 

Mene, who has a postgraduate degree from Harvard Business School, was awarded thanks to the success of her international clinic research center in Istanbul. Her center also has offices in the United States and Switzerland, and runs research activities in a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Iran and Israel. 

Meanwhile, Kılçak Farm founder Ayten Çöl and Arcadia Vineyard founder Zeynep Arca Şallıel shared the Woman Entrepreneur Who Makes a Difference in Her Region Award. 

Çöl, born in 1949, fought and won a legal battle to gain her family's lands. After completing her postgraduate education in history in Germany, she returned to the northern province of Amasya and started to run her family's farm. She registered a number of firsts at the farm, including cultivating the first potatoes in Amasya with natural seeds and using natural methods. "I don't want anyone who eats my products to have cancer," she said. 

Şallıel is the first wine producer in the northwestern province of...