In May 2010, we founded our association under the name Food Banking Association. You can read about the details of our organization in my previous article at http://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/yoksullukla-mucadelede-ideal-bir-model-destek-projesi . Founded by eight food companies at the time with the goal of becoming an umbrella organization for food banking, our association quickly faced the realities of life. Food banks in various provinces across Türkiye, whom we contacted or who contacted us, generally told us, “Just send the products, don’t get involved.” We explained to them the high standards that should be applied in food banking, certain principles such as impartiality and transparency, and our mission to prevent waste.
However, we didn’t speak the same language. At the time, to be of benefit, we began distributing our available products through various channels that made sense and worked well. We maintained this model for four years.
Uğur Uralcan was the first general secretary of our association. He’s an extremely honest and upright person. Our only disagreement revolved around his lack of openness to change. He consistently objected to any initiative outside of traditional food banking. I constantly tried to persuade him to experiment with new approaches and develop this model. These conversations continued for four years. I understood his conservative approach to a certain extent. In an environment where cash donations were scarce, he, a frugal individual, maintained a slow-cooked approach to ensure financial sustainability.
The turning point was 2014
By the way, don’t get me wrong. We were doing very beneficial work. We probably secured hundreds of millions of Turkish Lira in donations in our first four years. But that still didn’t satisfy me.
The hardest part of the story came in 2014. That year, with my encouragement, we expanded the team. In my opinion, the association needed new blood. In the interviews I conducted at the time, two young people stood out to me. One of them was Selen Gökdeniz and the other was Ezgi Özkök. Both interviews went well. I liked both of them, so we made offers to both. During this period, Uğur Bey left the association of his own free will.
Selen was the first to jump on board. Her arrival sparked a remarkable movement. We spoke the same language. If I told Selen, who was highly motivated, to “do one,” she would “do three or five.” She had far exceeded my expectations. After seeing this, I started giving her more work. She was able to handle every task. Things were really picking up at the association.
Meanwhile, Ezgi and I initially reached an agreement. Later, when she told the NGO she was working for, “I’m leaving,” the organization didn’t let her go. They initially gave her a significant raise, saying they needed her. Then, they promoted her position and transferred her to another position within their organization. After this, she said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t leave my job unfinished,” and asked for forgiveness. Still, I didn’t leave Ezgi behind. We maintained contact. Ezgi continued to volunteer for some of the association’s activities.
Foundations Laid in Soma
During this period, we were hearing the tide of change within our association. At the general assembly, all members in attendance gave the green light to change. Thus, we completely changed our bylaws, name, and business model—everything—to create a new model that would teach people how to fish while providing them with fish, rather than simply providing fish. Two days after our general assembly, the Soma incident erupted. Without hesitation, six of us jumped into a car and headed to Soma. Our association’s board member, Alp Armutlu, and two of his friends, Selen, Ezgi, and I, were the first group to go to Soma on behalf of TİDER.
Those who recall know that things were very chaotic back then. The gendarmerie wouldn’t allow anyone to enter Soma. They stopped our car, license plate 34, at the entrance to Soma. So, we implemented our plan B and called a friend from Soma who was working as a wind energy technician. Thankfully, he came out and let us in, saying, “They’re close to me.” Once inside, we began traveling throughout the district, village by village. Unlike other NGOs, we first asked, “What do you need?” and then delivered whatever they needed. As a result, we became the NGO that did the most work in Soma, whether it was meeting in-kind needs, providing vocational training and scholarships for children and young people (we shared the data we obtained there with numerous institutions like Darüşşafaka), or later implementing a rural development project in Yırca Village. With an incredibly positive, humane, and enthusiastic spirit, and with the support of our ever-growing supporters in Soma, we accomplished every task. You can see this spirit reflected in the video below, which includes images of Selen and Ezgi:
https://www.facebook.com/serhan.suzer.10/videos/10152569380055757/?pnref=story
These are some of the most memorable images of Soma:
You can read the details of our work in Soma in my article at http://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/soma-faciasi-ve-ilk-kalkinma-projemiz .
We also embraced the work we did at TİDER with the same spirit. Despite all the challenges, we opened our first Support Market in Maltepe in February 2015. Within two years, the Support Market has achieved incredible success. Today, TİDER has become an organization that has helped 5,000 families in need, aims to help 100,000 more with the new Support Market to be opened in Bağcılar, and is on track to grow across Türkiye with our own Support Markets and accreditation system. We utilize technology to provide in-kind assistance and vocational training more efficiently and with greater speed. Meanwhile, in March, we were recognized with an innovation award from the GFN, the global organization of world food banks. You can read my article about this award at http://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/global-bir-stk-olma-yolundaki-tidere-buyuk-odul .
Strengthening Bonds with Ezgi
About a year and a half ago, I received a message from Ezgi. She said she wanted to meet with me. She came to meet with me. She told me about her life plans. She said she wanted to study abroad and, if possible, work for a while to improve herself. She had chosen Harvard as her destination. She completed the application process and was accepted. The Harvard program required one year of study abroad and one year in Boston. She started the program in Istanbul, but she was seeking a scholarship for the two semesters she would study in Boston.
This desire to improve herself made me want to help her. Finally, I made her the following offer, in line with my heart and mind (the best decisions I’ve ever made are those where my heart and mind align): “I’ll provide you with a scholarship that covers the budget we agreed upon for you to go to Harvard. However, after Harvard, I’d like to see you join us in the association.”
She accepted my offer. She even said, “I’ve been wanting to work with you for a long time, even without your scholarship.”
We agreed on all the details. Ezgi went to Harvard to complete her Master’s in Business Administration and her Professional Certificate Program in Nonprofit Management.
Along with business administration courses, he furthered his education by taking the following courses, specifically in nonprofit management:
- Principles and Practices of Fundraising
- Managing Financial Resources in Nonprofit Organizations
- Microfinance
- Strategic Planning and Fundraising for Nonprofit Organizations
Theory Reinforced by Practice
He continued his studies for these programs as a full-time student on campus in Boston during his first semester. Towards the end of that semester, he called me and asked what I thought about the option of working for a social enterprise operating in Mexico during his second semester. I told him, “Don’t hesitate to go to Mexico. It would be wonderful to see in practice what you learned in theory at Harvard.” I encouraged him to go. He decided to go to Mexico.
Meanwhile, during the semester break (in January this year), he came back to Türkiye and visited us. After Yasemin Uyar, who left us at the end of last year and achieved great things within a year, left the association, we made some decisions regarding the association’s management team. First, when I heard that my dear friend Uygar Özesmi, in my opinion one of the most knowledgeable and experienced professionals in Türkiye regarding NGOs, was likely to leave Change.org at that time, I didn’t hesitate to offer my support. He quickly accepted the part-time position of Executive Director (in other words, the Chief Executive Officer, or the manager between the board and the professionals at the association).
During our conversations, inspired by his passion for developing young people, he suggested, “Let’s appoint a young general manager and train him under my mentorship.” He described a profile for me, and I told him, “I know this person.” In fact, I invited him to meet with Ezgi two days later and introduced him to her. Immediately after that first meeting, we met again and made him an offer. Ezgi, of course, was thrilled.
Patient, swift steps taken
Uygar couldn’t believe how quickly this deal was wrapped up. Within five days, we had signed Uygar as executive director; we had also informed Ezgi that we would appoint her as general manager upon her return from the US and Mexico, and we had received her confirmation. The team was ready. We only had a 5-6 month window to wait. As before, business would remain uninterrupted during this period.
As before, business was expected to remain uninterrupted during this period. By dedicating far more time to the association than I would normally have to, we ensured TİDER was managed in the best possible way. We even crowned this period with the GFN Innovation Award.
During this period, Ezgi also had the opportunity to put into practice what she had learned in classes during her four-month tenure at the social enterprise she worked at in Mexico. This included:
- Creating all financial management processes and procedures
- Preparing financial statements and analyses
- Developing potential donor analysis and plans for fundraising
- Developing strategic growth planning
For the Mexican people, she performed the following tasks. After these incredible experiences, Ezgi returned home approximately two weeks ago and officially began her role as TİDER General Manager yesterday.
A Multi-Functional New Position for the Versatile Selen
Selen, with her dedicated and dedicated work style, has been appointed to another position, a position she deserves. As a result of the work she has done with great dedication, she has solidified her position at the association as “Director of Corporate Communications and Resource Development.”
I wish them both success with all my heart and believe that we will achieve success together for many years to come. I have no doubt that the model we have developed for our country and even the world will serve humanity and nature greatly for generations to come.
I have always admired intelligent people who work with their heart. This has been true in both my professional and personal life. For example, in my professional life, it’s not easy to find someone who is both honest, decent, skilled, and knowledgeable. Once I find someone, I won’t let them go.
I strive to support young people with these qualities as much as I can. Ezgi and Selen are excellent examples of this. However, they are in the minority, and life is not always a bed of roses. Unfortunately, a significant portion of the young people I meet are poorly educated, malicious, only concerned with money, eager to get by quickly or quickly, ignorant of hard work, overly ambitious, and like wolves in sheep’s clothing. Those who are well-intentioned are often incompetent, lack results-oriented, lazy, and wouldn’t care if the world were falling apart.
Continue to provide the right support until the end
When people ask me, “Do you support young entrepreneurs?” I usually smile. The answer is, “Yes, I do, but only those I choose.” I’ve had two bad experiences with young people I’ve helped. As I said, good character is an essential quality for me. Of course, this doesn’t manifest itself immediately. But those with bad character quickly reveal themselves. When I see this, I immediately withdraw my support.
Whatever is happening to the world today stems from capital and power being held by those with bad character. I absolutely do not want to be a source of trouble for the future.
In return, I will continue to support, until the end of my life, positive individuals who strive to make the world a better place to live, who are of good character, who contribute to humanity, who maintain continuity in their professional and personal lives, and who bring joy to those around them.
I believe there are others who share my views. Let’s all support young people of good character and integrity so that future generations won’t experience the hardships we’ve experienced. In other words, it may take generations for the world to return to goodness, but if we initiate this “giving a hand to the right people” trend without delay, we will have laid the foundations for a more livable world for our children and future generations.
On this occasion, I’d like to invite all friends to the Kindness Festival in Maçka Park tomorrow. I also recommend checking out Good4Trust, the invitation of which you can see below. As my friend Uygar, who founded Good4Trust, envisioned, “kindness grows by sharing.”
See you at the festival of kindness…
Tag: excursion
