ISTANBUL Chamber of Commerce (ICOC) has been shaping Istanbul’s business life for 143 years. ICOC, the world’s second-largest chamber, has 820 thousand members (40 thousand members representing foreign capital companies), and its members have been increasing daily. ICOC informs its members and international investors about the business world’s fundamental dynamics, such as digitalization, innovation, sustainability, and a green economy. Additionally, the chamber organizes various B2B activities to enhance commerce and cooperation between foreign business people and Istanbul’s companies. The company’s establishment process in Türkiye can be accomplished in less than an hour, which is in line with the rules and regulations of the Ministry of Commerce. Foreign natural and legal entities are subject to the same rules as local investors. The process is conducted over the trade register.

THINK TANK: ITOSAM

ICOC Strategic Research Center (ITOSAM), founded within ICOC and operating in Liman Han, has issued six research reports. In addition to the reports, ITOSAM publishes a weekly economy bulletin, and the centre has launched a website to enable users to access more content quickly.

This way, users can access multiple content on Istanbul and Türkiye with a single click. ITOSAM also builds roadmaps for global investors in Istanbul.

PRE-INVESTMENT ANALYSIS

To date, ITOSAM has published thirty-five periodical publications. These publications, titled Macroeconomic Indicators, Turkish Economy in Figures, and Istanbul’s Economic and Social Indicators, have guided the traders. ITOSAM drafts a weekly economy bulletin and sends it to ICOC members via multiple platforms. The think tank sharing the bulletins on social media platforms now guides SMEs through its website. With comprehensible and rich content, these bulletins summarize all data on Türkiye and Istanbul in nearly twenty-five slides. The price index reports and global investment analyses of Istanbul are included on ITOSAM’s website. The think tank published seventy reports under these two themes so far. The reports containing the foreign companies registered with ICOC are published twelve times yearly. ITOSAM delivers presentations on sustainability, entrepreneurship and data analysis to local and foreign universities and presents its research reports at the universities. Moreover, ITOSAM performs detailed presentations on Istanbul to foreign investors.

Investors can reach detailed information over ITOSAM’s official website: www.itosam.org.tr

GLOBALLY ACKNOWLEDGED

Şekib Avdagiç, ICOC President, pointed to ITOSAM’s task to guide the investors. Avdagiç continued on ICOC’s think tank ITOSAM: “As ICOC, we deem ‘scientific research’ essential for generating permanent solutions to our members’ production and business problems and developing correct policies through accurate findings. To this end, we launched ITOSAM and institutionalized the centre as a globally acknowledged qualified research centre. ITOSAM hosts competent experts with scientific backgrounds assigned to conduct research and build reports. We assigned ITOSAM to draft sector reports and research in touch with our members, who are also our most effective sources. We gather ITOSAM’s experts with our members, who source know-how and data and create magnetic resonance images of the business world. We do not only diagnose but also provide counselling. ITOSAM is the think tank of ICOC society with 820 thousand members.”

Build your B2B

Thanks to its strategic position and business volume, ICOC became a centre frequently visited by foreign delegations. ICOC hosted twenty-two Chinese delegations in the first nine months of 2024, and the chamber underlined that such interest stemmed from Istanbul being declared as a pilot commerce region by many states of China. These visits enabled Chinese companies to execute B2B (business-to-business) meetings with Istanbul’s business world and evaluate business opportunities. The B2B meetings during the visits paved the way for new partnerships to increase the business volume between the two countries. B2B talks were carried out with delegations from thirty-seven countries. Companies wishing to conduct similar meetings and gather with the business realm must fill in the related application form for B2B meetings.

For detailed information and application: [email protected]

ICOC assisting in finding the right supplier 

Now that you have invested in and founded a company, you have reached the stage of finding a reliable supplier to start manufacturing products. ICOC steps in right at this moment. The suppliers you have been looking for can be found at the Supplier Days event held by the Sub-Industry Market under ICOC. The Sub-Industry Market covers not only Istanbul’s companies but also a considerably large pool of suppliers under the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) roof. In this way, the companies attending such events seize the chance to gather with suppliers from across Türkiye and Istanbul companies.