An outstanding turnout of over 300 attendees!

Alibaba.com held its first Open Sesame member event in Istanbul, Turkey on 16 December 2008.

Attended by over 300 members and trade professionals from Turkey, the Open Sesame was a full house event that brought together SME's from all over Turkey, both existing and new members. As the company's first inaugural Open Sesame in Turkey, the company selected of one of Istanbul's most iconic locales to host the event ' the Four Seasons Hotel in Sultanahmet situated right next to one of the world's largest and oldest markets- the Grand Bazaar. It was an apropos way to start Alibaba.com's entry into Turkey as the Grand Bazaar is where East and West commerce have come together for thousands of years.

This gathering was an outstanding success in every aspect. The Four Seasons grand ballroom was crowded like never before. Members and trade professionals from the audience took part in a lively and informative Q&A session. Local media also swarmed to the event with more than 20 Turkish economic and business related publications and television stations featuring stories about Alibaba.com s event and interest in the Turkish market  

Turkey is one of the fastest growing nations in terms of trade and has one of the most active internet user bases in the world (the most MSN users of any market and 3rd largest Facebook community in the world.) Therefore, Alibaba.com sees great potential in Turkey.

The Open Sesame was inaugurated by Mr. David Tan, Senior Manager of Strategic Business Development. Afterwards, presentations were given by Mr. Brian Wong, General Manager of EMEA Region for Alibaba.com, and Mr. Murat Yaniklar, CEO of Turkticaret.Net.

The second half of the event was dedicated to a panel discussion comprising of three Alibaba.com Turkey SME members. These panel speakers included Mr. Murat Akyuz, Mr. Ahmet Mert and Ms. Özlem Kad1z. Together they shared their experiences and learnings in online B2B trading and also answered questions from an audience eager to learn about tips and techniques for improving their online know how.

Alibaba.com would like to thank our attending members and guests for making our Open Sesame such a successful event. We greatly appreciate your support and interest, and we look forward to hosting another event in Turkey very soon!

PRESS COVERAGE

On the sideline of the Open Sesame, a press conference comprising of 23 Turkish economic and national newspapers and medias was organized. These included articles written in leading national dailies Hurriyet, Milliyet and Referans amongst others, as well as television coverage on CNBC Turkey.

In addition, Mr. Brian Wong conducted a number of one-on-one interviews with Sabah newspaper, Dünya Economy Newspaper and Para Economy Magazine.

Open Sesame highlights reel

Also read these case testimonials from our panelist representatives:

Murat Akyuz, CEO of Akyuz Plastics (Eng / Tur)
Caglar Bektas, Director of Kayla Kozmetik (Eng / Tur)
Sami Yavuz, Director of Manas Mensucat (Eng / Tur)

 
OPEN SESAME PICTURES

Guest registration

    

                                                        Guests on their way down to the conference room

        

                                                                           Picking up their headsets

Busy atmosphere before the event starts

Enjoying a welcoming drink

       

Going through the event program                    First networking moments

Reading through knowledge materials

Speeches

Mr. David TAN, Senior Manager, Strategic Business Development

Brian A. WONG, General Manager, EMEA Region

Introducing Alibaba company

And how it can help SME's to go global

Mr. Murat YANIKLAR, Turkticaret.net

Introducing Turkticaret.Net and the role the Internet plays in helping businesses become more competitive.

Panel discussion and member's testimonial

Our members sharing their experience with e-commerce

     

Mr. Murat AKYUZ                     Ms. Ozlem KADIZ                     Mr. Ahmet MERT

Audience Q&A

  

   

Networking time

       

Attendees' testimonials

Mr. Gürkan DONMEZ, Sales Executive, Düzel Construction Chemicals, Istanbul, Turkey

My company is in the construction industry and importing chemical products for that field of business. We have been using Alibaba.com platform since 3 years already, and got the chance to meet with reliable and trustworthy business partners. Moreover, online sourcing and e-trade is now the key support to keep on doing trade during the current economic crisis. As a SME, we are paying attention to staying in the competition and surviving the crisis. We have to adapt to the new rules of the crisis, that is where online sourcing tools like Alibaba.com are cost saver and definitely helpful!

Mr. Irbrahim COSKENER, Deputy Manager, Turkish Economy Bank, Istanbul

In the current economic crisis situation, i believe e-commerce and online B2B platform like Alibaba.com can definitely be a supportive tool to the small and medium companies. I am very delighted to have had the opportunity to attend this event today, even since more it gave me more knowledge on how Alibaba.com can facilitate and support SME's around the world to improve their global trade. I'm looking forward to the next Open Sesame, the door to Turkey is now wide open for Alibaba.com!

Conference with the media

 

The end of the Open Sesame but the beginning of a long and bright future in Turkey for Alibaba.com!

Brian A.WONG and Arthur CHENG, VP Global Sales

Thank you!

Quoting from [Admin]:

An outstanding turnout of over 300 attendees!

Quoting from [Admin]:

  

When will  in Indonesia??

Quoting from [meritautomotive]:

It seems that Alibaba also started its client discrimination policy!

How can an Alibaba event be held at our home and leave us without notifying???

Maybe budget of Alibaba was not enough to sponsor a bigger participation event???

In the name of my company membership I protest this event of Alibaba!

Best regards,

Mustafa Alioski

 As being a TrustPass member from Turkiye for two years, why didn't Alibaba.com informed us, while they planned and made an event in Istanbul/Turkiye ?

 As they saw importance and felt hopes in Turkiye,they prepared and made this event in Istanbul.They selected a good location in Istanbul to make this event as it seems in the information at Alibaba.com.

 Did Alibaba prepare the event for a limited numbers of Turkish members of Alibaba.com ? This question could come easily to the minds of every uninvited Turkish member.

 We saw importance that Alibaba have to correct this wrong and we hope Alibaba could do it,as soon as possible.

Quoting from [adali]:

Quoting from [Admin]:

An outstanding turnout of over 300 attendees!

Why we poor Alibaba members were not notified of the event.

Quoting from [1Rady]:


wow turkey is best country http://img.alibaba.com/images/eng/style/icon/emoticons_great.gif

adali wrote:

Why we poor Alibaba members were not notified of the event.

kidding