Mentorship with Innovation Champions 2023

Garage Innovation Hub is carrying out the Innovation Champions Mentorship Program in cooperation with Mentors Network Turkey which gathers many national and global companies from different industries, with the objective of supporting Startups.

The Mentorship Program creates an opportunity for Startups to receive quality mentorship from experts in different verticals. Our objective is to support you to overcome your challenges. We have mentors from 13 Companies including Arçelik, Migros, Ford, Farklabs, Opet, Türk Traktör, Anadolu Efes, Tofaş, Nokia, Türk Havayolları, Koç Yaşa, Coşkunöz Holding and Yapı Kredi who are ready to offer their sound expertise and experience for the advancement of Startups.

What is in it for the startups ?


Mentorship opportunity with domain experts in areas you need support

Selection of mentors from different industries and expertise

Getting support and learning from business leaders with your most pressing challenges

Develop valuable relationships with national and global leading corporations which may be utilized as an opportunity for a long term collaboration.


Who is it for ?

If you are a Startup;

At early stage, pre MVP or post MVP with initial sales

At later stage but need support on vertical expertise areas of the Program or looking for market expansion.

Have a high level of awareness for the challenges you need to overcome and can clearly articulate your needs for mentorship support 

Can dedicate quality time for mentorship at least for a period of 2 months

A special quota will be reserved for startups focusing on technologies and solutions targeting to mitigate the effects of earthquakes or support post disaster management





Expertise and Technology Focus Areas

R&D

Product design and Prototyping

Hardware engineering and production

PoC development and management

Technology development, management and commercialization

Advance manufacturing and Manufacturing process

Product development and management

Software development

Project management

Business strategy and model

Customer management and validation

Team building and management

Marketing, Brand management, Market entry

Sales

Business development

Customer and user experience

Finance

Startup Funding and Pitch deck

Procurement

Logistics

Legal and IP Rights

Retail management

E-commerce

Smart home and IoT

  • Start for applications

    20 March

  • Applications close

    12 April

  • Announcement of selected startups

    14 April

  • Mentorship program starts!

    24 April

  • Startup – Mentor Matchmaking

    24 April - 5 May

  • Mentorship Program

    5 May – 30 June

Mentors & Jury

Mentor

A designer & engineer who is passionate about innovation. I explore needs, demands, and pain points in the users’ journey, and define them as valuable opportunities to create innovative solutions. I’m wearing two caps in Garage Innovation Hub of Arcelik; as the "Head of Strategic Design" and the "Product Owner of the Innovation Programs squad". Currently, I’m also a PhD Candidate who is studying the subject of “strategic decision-making in innovation programs”.

Mentor

Experienced with; 4+ years experience with Smart Home Systems Integration, Connected Devices, Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry4.0; 9+ years experience in Project Management, Embedded Software Development, Product Development and Sensor Technologies; 3 years experience in Image Processing, Signal Processing, Pattern Recognition, Neural Networks and Data Acquisition and Analyzing

Mentor

I am married and the father of Kerem, who is 8 years old, and Emre, who is 3 years old. I am interested in basketball, tennis, and football. :)

Mentor

I am an engineer specialized in renewable energy. Throughout my career, I have worked with several departments and senior executives in project finance, investment, business development, and strategic planning. I have managed more than 20 investments, 3 M&A, and 2 company establishment projects. I have a high level of industry expertise, especially in the automotive, defense aviation, and energy sectors.

Mentor

I started my career as a programmer and analyst, but later on, I continued in the areas of marketing, project and program management, sales planning, strategy and annual planning, and corporate reporting. For the last 12 years, I have been accumulating experience in international companies, specifically in international projects, sales platforms, telecommunications, and technology sectors.

Mentor

A proven leadership with a strong experience in team & function management in a multi-national company/culture and with the ability to provide direction and strategy to achieve the company objectives

Mentor

I graduated with a degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering with a focus on Electronics. I gained knowledge in simulation through my Master's degree. Currently, I am pursuing my doctorate and working on developing medical products in the MEMS process field.

Mentor

I have about 12 years of experience in the automotive industry, and I have held managerial positions for a long time. I believe I am good at team structuring, system establishment, project management, and risk management. In my current role, I am utilizing my previous experience more extensively by combining communication, talent, and structuring skills to perform my job more effectively.

Mentor

Born in Bursa, this individual has Product Engineering, Project Management, Sales, Marketing, Innovation, and FSMH management skills in multinational companies. They have a commercialization-focused approach and the ability to develop the most effective marketing and sales strategies by communicating through different channels. They are highly motivated, disciplined, and hardworking.

Mentor

Great to hear about your experience! Is there anything specific you need help with or any question I can assist you with?

Mentor

New technologies excite me... Contributing to a technology development project that creates value for climate change or for the well-being of people is my biggest dream...

Mentor

I think there are two important points in business today. Development and Change. Like the two sided brain theory, one represents creativity and the other analyticity. We can create remarkable results if we can use these two side harmoniously. I am a creative industrial engineer with strong business analysis and development knowledge specialised on strategy development. I love to see every case as a system.

Mentor

I am an expert in product development, business development, and project management

Mentor

I have been in the business world for about 18 years, working in procurement for Roketsan A.S. and TurkTraktor A.S. for many years. For the last 3.5 years, I have been working as a Manager for Service and Logistics Procurement. I have been involved in several procurement projects related to digitalization and process improvement. Additionally, for the last 2 years, I have been actively involved in internal entrepreneurship and innovation projects.

Mentor

"My responsibilities are • Driving product vision • Developing smart home appliances/solutions strategic plan • Defining OKRs • Being responsible for the value of the product • Prioritizing by liaising between customers, business stakeholders and software/embedded/teams and defining MVP • Translating business needs into user stories. • Leading continuous value delivery through iterations and customer feedback."

Mentor

General Perspectives; - Prince2 Certification in Project Management & M-MBA Degree in Management Skills - Technical knowledge and CAPEX & OPEX Management in Energy sector - Leading and Consulting Corporate Strategy Reviews - Ensuring the management of value-creating and business-developing projects

Mentor

I have been graduated from Yıldız Technical University - Computer Engineering in 2007. I started my professional career on the software development in Arçelik. I had chance to experience many different technologies and tools during this period. And I had a chance to take role of project management at B2B and B2C channels with agile principles.

Mentor

I have had the opportunity to gain experience in both the accelerator centers and the university as well as in the startup/scale leg in the entrepreneurship ecosystem for 8 years. To date, I have had the chance to work with nearly 200 startups. I have experienced all stages of an entrepreneurial journey by working directly with startups and supporting them.

Mentor

I can provide solution-oriented legal support.

Mentor

Someone who enjoys learning in the kitchen, gets excited about innovation, believes in the power of asking the right questions, is experienced in developing strategies and implementing them creatively, has managed the branding of some of Turkey's most important brands, loves exploring and learning, and has a total of 12 years of corporate experience, married and the mother of Alp :)

Mentor

Innovation enthusiast with an engineering and management education background. Experienced in corporate innovation and startup collaborations.

Mentor

I have a role in the automotive industry that ensures product development activities are customer-focused. Therefore, I have experience in creating and developing experiences, collecting feedback, understanding customer needs, interpreting trends in benchmarking, developing systems/features/functions. I also have experience working on projects related to mini electric vehicles and connected vehicles.

Mentor

Hello Irem, it's great to meet you. As a Corporate Innovation Specialist in HR at Tofas, your main focus areas are creating an innovation culture within organizations, establishing and implementing a systematic innovation management model, contributing to the internal entrepreneurship channels, and planning recognition programs

Mentor

I have been working at Migros Ticaret A.Ş's Macrocenter format for over 10 years. I started my role as an Assistant Store Manager and today, I continue my duty as the Macrocenter Business Unit Leader. I am particularly interested in simplifying field operations in plain language and integrating them into growing structures.

Mentor

Married father of 2 daughters (twins), animal lover, athlete, fond of the sea, interested in travel and food culture.

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Fatih Demir

Mentor

I have been working in the field of structural design since 2017. Thanks to the projects I have been involved in, I have knowledge about the white goods, medical and a little automotive industry. At the same time, I have been mentoring students at universities since 2020.

Mentor

"I have been working for 14 years in the automotive industry, and since my PhD thesis, I have given importance to creative thinking and critical path. I attach the utmost importance to overcoming critical milestones that affect the fate of projects, which can be called turning points. I think that I am equipped with the ability to feel a different and attractive solution in a trending area and I think I can transfer this to start-up entrepreneurs.

Mentor

In general, I like to improve myself and come up with new ideas to improve my work. I enjoy sharing the useful information I have learned and seeing others around me create new works and ideas with this information.