“Angel” Investment Group in Turkey

“Angel Investment,” a group famous for contributing to the emergence and success of companies such as Facebook and Apple, is now in Turkey to help entrepreneurs get off the ground, according to a local association head.

Turkish entrepreneurs who plan big businesses but lack resources will be able to find financing through the newly founded Business Angel Association Turkey, or TBAA, according to the body.“Angel Investment,” a group famous for contributing to the emergence and success of companies such as Facebook and Apple, is now in Turkey to help entrepreneurs get off the ground, according to a local association head.

Turkish entrepreneurs who plan big businesses but lack resources will be able to find financing through the newly founded Business Angel Association Turkey, or TBAA, according to the body.

The move paves the way for business ideas to emerge from Anatolia, Baybars Altuntaş, the chairman of the TBAA, told Anatolia news agency in a recent interview.

“The TBAA is easing the way for entrepreneurs planning start-ups to access both domestic and international financial sources,” the association said in its mission on its official website.

The group has intermediated in financing totaling $26 billion for 270,000 investors in the United States and 4 billion euros for 75,000 investors in the European Union in the past.

Home for entrepreneurs

Turkish people are generally thought of as good entrepreneurs with bright ideas, yet many are unable to start their own business due to a lack of capital, said Altuntaş.

Research has shown that one in 12 Americans want to establish their own business; this figure is one in 35 in Germany, one in 45 in the United Kingdom and one in 67 in Finland, according to the local chairman. “Such a research has not been conducted in Turkey yet. But if it were, we would find out the ratio would be one in two here,” he said.

In parallel with its mediation mission, the TBAA has launched a section on its website for entrepreneurs where they can file business plan plots and seek partners to invest in their ideas.

An English version of the online application is also under construction in a bid to attract international investors, Altuntaş said. “Our entrepreneurs can present their ideas to the World Business Angel Association and Europe Angel Business Association and find foreign partners as well,” he said.

The world average that Angel Investment system provides for per company is $100,000. Along with corporations, governments can also become partners to entrepreneurs through co-investment funds in the U.K., Portugal and the Netherlands.

Mobile and information technologies are the sectors attracting the highest amount of investments in the system, according to the TBAA chairman.

Angel investors must be entrepreneurs themselves, according to him.

They generally plan to exit the businesses they put money in by selling their shares after three to five years on average, he said.

July 6, 2011

SOURCE: HURRIYET DAILY NEWS