Gaziantep is one of the cities that is well known with carpet weaving, which is the livelihood of thousands of families in Türkiye. Ravanda Halı is one of the leading family businesses in the sector with 228 employees. The Company Manager Mustafa Uzanır emphasized the benefits of the loan under the FOSTER Project as follows: “The ability to receive interest rate/profit share subsidy makes the loan attractive in these times when it is difficult to obtain long-term loans”

He describes his business as: “This is a family business that has been operating for three generations. Our business began with hand weaving and a small machine, and since then our product range has expanded. ” According to 35-year-old Uzanır, who has nine years of professional experience, polyester and printed carpets are in high demand, and their production is primarily focused on exports, with Canada, Saudi Arabia, England, France, and United States among the nations they are exporting to. Additionally, 5% of the products are being sold to the domestic market.

The earthquake disaster in Kahramanmaraş, according to Uzanr, prevented his factories from operating for two weeks, making access to financing even more crucial. The loan they received through the FOSTER Project, however, helped to restore the company’s operations. “In our sector, raw materials are the key elements, and it takes an average of six months for the raw material to be converted into carpet,” says Uzanır while explaining the benefits of the loan under the Employment Committed SME Finance Support Programme. “We were relieved to have cash on hand in that regard because access to finance is the biggest challenge facing the industry.”

Trans-El Elektrik, which produces oil-type distribution and power transformers in Şanlıurfa, aims to heal the wounds of the earthquake occurred on February 6, by increasing its export volume.

Müslüm Kara (36), a young business person who is an electrical and electronics engineer, runs Trans-El Elektrik in Şanlıurfa with his two partners. Trans-El Elektrik is one the beneficiary SMEs of FOSTER Project’s Employment Committed SME Finance Support Programme and they purchased raw materials with the favorable loan and boosted their working capital.

Their business was adversely affected by the earthquake that took place in Kahramanmaraş and neighboring provinces therefore, they could not collect the products they sold, especially in Adıyaman and Kahramanmaraş, and the checks were not paid yet. Emphasizing that their operations have completely stopped at times, Kara adds that employees have also lost their motivation. He underlined that the need, which grew more urgent in the wake of the earthquake, is primarily financial assistance to cover the fixed costs of SMEs during their period of inactivity and to offer investment incentives to boost capacity and employment. investment incentives to increase capacity and employment.

Trans-El Elektrik meets the demand for qualified personnel by retaining experienced staff and training the new hires. Kara continues, “Supporting employment empowers them so he aims to increase the number of employees from 40 to 250.” He explains that as an entrepreneur, contributing to production and exporting nourishes him. Kara states, “We produce an average of 3 thousand transformers annually and we aim to increase our exports to Europe and America rather than the Middle East. ”Osman Karakaş is one of the workers Trans-El Elektrik hired as part of the FOSTER Project. Karakaş, 36, provides for his family’s needs through his work as a bobbin winder. As he explains, “I got a job thanks to the project, and my dream is to sustain my job.”