Software and food industry sectors have a high share in Turkey 100. Average age of winners when they found the company is 31. Turkey 100 companies grew on average by 271 percent in 2010-2012.

ANKARA –   The fastest growing 100 companies of Turkey were selected. The winner of the project was Reysaş Technology. It was followed by Alco Beverages and Cici Chocolate.

Winners of the Turkey 100 Project TEPAV carried out in cooperation with TOBB and the AllWorld Network of Harvard University were announced.

Reysaş Technology, Warehousing and Transportation, which grew by 7400% in the 2010-2012 period won the first place. Second and third places were won by Alco Beverages and Consumer Goods which grew by 2242 percent and Cici Chocolate which grew by 1856%. Other companies in the top ten were İntermey Manufacturing, Sakarya Wagon Industry, Teknokon Machinery, Elma Sepeti Computer and Technology, Mensace Marbles, Nurmet Steel, and Elginsan Fruits.

Hisarcıklıoğlu: “Fast growth companies invest in Turkey’s future”

Stating that all around Anatolia were thousands of entrepreneurs who spot opportunities, make innovations and create jobs, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the Turkey 100 project brought attention to entrepreneur companies. Pointing at their partnership with Harvard University on the project, he said, “This second Turkey 100 project will pave the way for successful entrepreneurs in Turkey as well as throughout the world. We will help them network with international investors and customers and grow further. We must keep in mind that fast-growth companies invest in Turkey’s future.”

Characteristics of Turkey 100 companies …

Below are facts and figures based on the analysis of balance sheets and interviews with the executives of Turkey 100 companies:

• Average age of the founders of the winner companies at the year of establishment is 31. The average of current age of the founders is 41.

• Turkey 100 companies improved their revenue by 371 percent on average in the 2010-2012 period. Cumulative turnover of Turkey 100 companies increased from 2.2 billion TL in 2010 to 6.1 billion TL in 2012.

• Total employment created by Turkey 100 companies increased by 95 percent from 11,486 in 2010 to 22,472 in 2012. Over this period, the companies created 10,986 new jobs.

• Forty-one percent of Turkey 100 companies are in the technology-intensive sectors such as machinery production, cloud software and e-commerce while others include agriculture and construction sectors as well as conventional manufacturing sectors.

• Founders of Turkey 100 companies are serial entrepreneurs: they have found new companies as well. Eighty-three percent of the CEOs stated that they are planning to found at least one business in the year ahead. Turkey 100 CEOs in total have 196 companies other than the winner companies.

• Turkey 100 list proves that entrepreneurship has a contagion effect. Employees of Turkey 100 companies also start attempting entrepreneurial activities. There is a high tendency amongst people working in fast-growth companies to become entrepreneurs themselves. Currently, 116 new companies were founded by people working in one of the Turkey 100 companies.

• Eighty-three percent of the Turkey 100 companies are seeking for additional capital so as to expand their business activities. Sixty-five percent of these aim to use the capital for an investment in a new technology or a production facility.

• Forty-five percent of Turkey 100 entrepreneurs believe that skilled labor force is the biggest impediment to the growth of their companies.

Top 10 companies

26 provinces have companies on the Turkey 100 list

The provincial distribution of the Turkey 100 companies are as follows:

Istanbul (29%), Ankara (17%), Izmir (9%), Kocaeli (8%), Gaziantep (4%), Adana (4%), Mersin (3%), Manisa (3%), Bursa (3%), Hatay (2%), Eskişehir (2%), Kahramanmaraş (2%) and others (%14). Uşak, Balıkesir, Çanakkale, Sivas, Çorum, Erzincan, Yozgat, Kayseri, Sakarya, Samsun, Karaman, Batman, Osmaniye and Antalya among the others group each have one company on the Turkey 100 list each.