Two entrepreneurs solve language issues

DN ECONOMIC R EVIEW / Sectors*
Monday
AGRIBUSINESS
Tuesday
ENERGY DEVELOPMENT
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2010
Wednesday
Thursday
TRAVEL, TOURISM & AVIATION INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
Bloomberg photo
Two entrepreneurs
solve language issues
ÖZGÜR ÇET‹N
ISTANBUL - Referans
CHIEF: Haruhiko Kuroda, president of
the Asian Development Bank, or ADB.
Asian bank
may start
new fund
TOKYO
Bloomberg
The Asian Development Bank may
raise at least $100 million more in
venture capital to invest in developers of advanced clean-energy technologies in the region.
The lender has formed a taskforce
to design the fund before seeking
management approval, Jun Tian, an
adviser at the Manila-based bank’s
regional and sustainable development department, said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday.
The lender had already raised
$363 million for four funds focusing
on renewable energy, Tian said.
Clean energy investment fell 6.5 percent to $145 billion worldwide last
year from 2008, according to
Bloomberg New Energy Finance, as
the global recession sapped funding
for the sector.
“ADB’s strategy is to encourage
the use of renewable energy and to
focus on smaller and poorer countries
for using the funds,” said Tian.
An instant translation and messaging Web site created by two Turkish
entrepreneurs approximately three
months ago has reached 450,000
members worldwide.
Yobombo.com, created by
Burhan Ayd›n and Emre
Güngör, is now available to use
in Turkey and supports 51 languages.
The site reached 40,000 Turkish members in just 10 days following its inception in Turkey,
said Burhan Ayd›n, managing
partner of the portal.
“There are two membership
options, gold and standard.
Gold membership is needed to
use several special features of
the site while standard membership is free of charge.”
Two Turkish entrepreneurs have become highly successful with the
Yobombo.com Web site, which has reached 40,000 members in less than a month.
The Web site does instant translation and helps registered users communicate
rapidly. The site supports 51 languages and the basic service is free of charge
BURSA
Anatolia News Agency
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watch each other
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system for Far East countries
first, and later the paid system
will be implemented for the rest
of the world, he said.
“We expect to have 10 million members by the end of
2010,” he said, adding that he
expects the site to become a
world giant like Facebook in the
long term.
Investors’ trust in
economy increases
The Entrepreneur Confidence
Index, created by the Chamber of
Commerce and Industry in the
northwestern industrial city of
Bursa, rose 24.5 percent in January
to 83.2 points over the previous
period.
The Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry has conducted
a study on entrepreneurship regularly since April 2004 and releases
the index once every three months.
The study compiles answers from
203 entrepreneurs registered with
the chamber, who share their ideas
on the entrepreneurship climate
and whether they have plans for
new investments.
A result above 100 indicates an
optimistic outlook, while results
below 100 show a pessimistic one.
Some 20.2 percent of those
who took part in the survey said
they find the current en-
fati@fatierdogan.com
ART REAL ESTATE
days following its founding in Turkey, says Burhan Ayd›n, managing partner of the highly successful Web portal.
costs 34.90 Turkish Liras for
six months and 59.90 liras for
a year.
Of the 40,000 members in
Turkey, 7,000 are paid members,
Ayd›n said, adding that services
such as an iPhone application as
well as voice and video chat are
in their long-term plans. Soon,
there is a plan to shift to a paid
FATMANUR
ERDO⁄AN
trepreneurship climate to be a positive one, while 48.8 percent said
they do not find it suitable.
The results for the same question were 17.7 percent positive and
63.5 percent negative three
months ago. The percentage of undecided respondents has climbed
from 18.7 percent to 31 percent
during the same time period.
When asked whether they would
establish their existing enterprises
considering today’s economic conditions, 29.1 percent said “yes”
while 43.8 percent said “no.” The
rate of affirmative answers was 27.1
percent three months ago.
INNOVATIVE ENTERPRISE: The Yobombo.com Web site has reached 40,000 Turkish members in just 10
Philippines. Moreover, we also
see demand in the Balkans and
Eastern European countries,
such as Russia, Serbia and
Macedonia.”
Ayd›n said they are providing
free service globally for the time
being as they have not established their payment system.
In Turkey, the gold package
Friday
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Almost all of us love watching movies. One reason
we like them so much is we like to see people living through situations we experience in our own
lives, too. We want to see old friends drifting apart.
We want to see a daughter struggle to gain independence from her parents. We want to see a man
and woman fall in love, get married, and raise a
family. But we also like to watch people going
through trials we'll never see ourselves. We'll never
be a James Bond dangling from a cable car high
above the Swiss Alps, but we love the action and
suspense, and we carry the image around in our
heads afterwards, dusting it off when we face our
own, admittedly more mundane, challenges in life.
In recent years reality shows have become
popular, too. We like those because they remind
us no one is perfect. We get to see a famous actress struggle through a bad hair day, or an otherwise heroic role model cursing his way through
the living room after he stubs his toe on the furniture. When we see these people being less than
perfect in front of a worldwide TV audience, we
feel more comfortable with our own imperfections. While the characters in the movies tend to
be airbrushed and perfect, on reality shows we
get to see people warts and all.
Then along came social media - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs. Social media gives us a
voice of our own. It lets us star in our own reality TV
show. Sure, it creates a lot of noise, but it brings everyday talent to the surface, too. Social media gives
us all the chance to practice marketing ourselves
and cultivating our own following. It also makes it
so much easier to watch what other people are
doing. There aren't enough hours in the day to
spend quality time with everyone we know, but social media allows us to keep an eye on what they've
been up to. You might not have seen your old
roommate from university in years, but because of
social media, you know that he recently went on a
vacation to Fiji and that he went parasailing while
he was there. What makes social media even more
fascinating than movies and reality TV is that it
gives us direct access to the lives of hundreds of everyday people just like us.
That fascination with social media isn't too different from watching famous people in the movies
or on TV, though. Sure, in social media, you and
your friends are the producers. But whatever the
medium, the principle is the same: People love to
watch other people. We love to watch Meryl
Streep's face when she learns her husband is cheating on her, and we love to learn Ozzy Osbourne
gets lost in the kitchen, and we love to know an old
friend from high school goes skiing on the weekends. That curiosity didn't start with Facebook or
Twitter, it was already part of us, long before computers, TV, or movies.
You can put this principle to work in your professional life, too. Remember that no matter what
business you are in, your customers are normal
people, and they love to watch each other. Find a
way to help them learn from each other. Find a
way to help them connect with each other. Find
a way to help them build relationships with each
other. Yes, you will lose some control over the relationship in the process. Your customers will
start forming bonds with each other that you
don't even know about, and some of your customers will develop relationships with each other
that are stronger than their relationships with
you. That can be a little scary at first, especially
when you realize how little control you have over
what's going on. But if you have the courage to
take that step, your customers will love you for it.
While other businesses are just selling widgets,
you will be tapping into the basic human need to
connect with others. People will be drawn to your
business as if it were a magnet, and your competitors will wonder what your secret is. Only
you will know the secret is as simple as remembering that people love to watch other people.
Developing
technology infrastructure
Noting that they have
worked for two-and-a-half
years with a team of five people
for the Web site, Ayd›n said
they benefit through a technological
infrastructure
they
have developed.
“Yobombo.com is the first of
its kind in getting together instant messaging and real time
translation. We launched it
globally three months ago and
have 450,000 members as of
February. We receive most interest from Far Eastern countries
such as Indonesia, Thailand and
14
DAMAGED: Bursa’s crucial automobile industry was hard hit by the
global economic crisis last year.
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