Organization:

Lider Adaylarini Destekleme Dernegi- LADDER (Turk Leader)

Name of Project:

Building Turk Leader's Intranet (Operational Grant)

Grant Amount:

$10,000

Website:

http://turkleader.com/

Project Phase:

Ongoing

Brief Description of Organization:

TurkLeader is a non-profit established in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Turkish graduate students from top universities and companies, TurkLeader aims to help the personal and professional development of Turkey's future business leaders. To achieve this mission, the organization relies on a peer-to-peer mentorship programs to either help Turkish applicants get into top masters programs in US and Europe or help top undergraduate students develop professionally.

The organization has 2 major programs:

MBA Prep:  The objective of this program is to perfect MBA/MSc applications of Turkish applicants and increase the total number of Turkish students accepted at top master programs.

Career Prep: The objective of this program is to identify high potential business/engineering undergraduate students in their 3rd or 4th year of study and provide them with professional counseling to ensure they achieve their professional potential.

Primary Purpose of the Organization:

To help the personal and professional development of Turkey's future business leaders.

Needs that will be addressed:

In the wake of EU membership and increased integration into the global markets, Turkey will need visionary business leaders who can accelerate the economic and social progress and raise the living standards of others. A growing number of top executives around the world have graduate degrees from top schools, MBA PREP programs tries to increase the number of top MBA students in the best programs in US and Europe and thus increase the chance of Turkish executives to lead world's biggest companies. Secondly , there are no structured mentorship programs in most of Turkey's universities thus even the most talented and hardworking students are left alone while deciding what to do in business life. The Career Prep program will help top students from both top and second tier universities of Turkey get ready for a successful career and thus will ensure that most talented students realize their potential.

Population Targeted: Young Business Leaders

Core Project Activities:

MBA PREP program has been running for 1.5 years and helped 30 students get into the top MBA programs such as Columbia, Wharton, Harvard, Stanford, Insead, London Business School and MIT.

Career PREP program aims to help in its first year a minimum of 50 students. These students will go through a structured personal development program and will be mentored by a very successful Turkish executive. In the end of the process, the students will be placed in the partner companies of TurkLeader. Special attention will be paid to select top students who also come from average or low income families.

Area-focus:  Education

Targeted Outcomes:

MBA Prep:  Helping 20-30 students each year get in the top programs

Career Prep: Helping 50-100 students each year get jobs in top companies and develop through personal mentorship