Türkiye’s business and innovation ecosystem is shaped by more than emerging technologies and ambitious companies. Across industries, professionals are rethinking how businesses grow, how people develop skills, and how established systems can adapt to changing economic and environmental demands.
The 10 Top Voices You Should Follow in Türkiye (2026) bring different perspectives to these challenges. Their contributions span venture investing, renewable energy, entrepreneurship, telecommunications, education, logistics, sustainable living, scientific research, fintech, and industrial innovation.
Together, they reveal how progress depends not only on identifying new opportunities, but also on building the capabilities, partnerships, and practices needed to turn them into lasting value.
Highlights
Editorial Note:
The NewInAsia editorial team independently curates this feature and is not a paid or sponsored listing. It highlights professionals with meaningful connections to Türkiye’s business and innovation ecosystems through their work, expertise, or sustained professional contributions, regardless of nationality or residence.
Selections are based on publicly available information, primarily from LinkedIn, and consider expertise, the quality and consistency of public contributions, professional credibility, and relevance to the featured markets. This is an editorial selection, not a definitive ranking.
Enis Hulli
General Partner, e2vc
Enis Hulli examines how early-stage startups from Türkiye and emerging European markets can develop the capabilities needed to compete internationally.
As General Partner at e2vc, he focuses on pre-seed and seed investments in entrepreneurs across Türkiye and Central and Eastern Europe. His investment portfolio includes companies such as Insider, Carbon Health, BillionToOne, and fal, reflecting experience across different technology sectors.
His commentary explores startup growth, emerging investment opportunities, and the assumptions that influence venture capital decisions. He questions conventional thinking about what makes startups attractive and examines how founders can position their businesses for international markets.
For entrepreneurs and investors, Hulli offers a perspective grounded in early-stage company development. His contributions encourage readers to look beyond funding announcements and consider the products, market opportunities, and competitive advantages that can support sustainable startup growth.
İhsan Erbil Bayçöl
Chief Executive Officer, Enerjisa Üretim
İhsan Erbil Bayçöl examines Türkiye’s energy transition through the infrastructure, investment, and operational decisions needed to build a more resilient power system.
As CEO of Enerjisa Üretim since 2020, he brings around two decades of power-sector experience. His earlier responsibilities included major energy acquisitions, power plant development, and corporate strategy, providing a foundation in both the commercial and engineering dimensions of energy investment.
His contributions focus on renewable energy, energy storage, and the growing importance of grid flexibility. He explores how generation capacity, infrastructure planning, and investment decisions must work together to support energy security as the electricity system evolves.
For energy professionals, investors, and business leaders, Bayçöl connects the ambitions of the energy transition with the practical requirements of implementation. His perspective highlights why long-term progress depends on building a reliable and adaptable energy system, not simply increasing renewable capacity.
Asiye Bahar Tabanlı
Co-Founder, Get Nexera | Founder, Turkishe
Asiye Bahar Tabanlı explores how entrepreneurship and emerging technologies can create better opportunities for young people, particularly women entering the workforce or building businesses.
Recognised in Forbes’ 30 Under 30, she founded Turkishe to support Turkish women aged 18–25 in developing entrepreneurial skills and pursuing business opportunities. She also co-founded Get Nexera, an AI-driven talent platform designed to assess potential beyond conventional CVs.
Her contributions examine youth employment, skills mismatches, AI-assisted recruitment, and the limitations of traditional approaches to evaluating talent. Through her work, she raises questions about whether education, hiring practices, and entrepreneurship support systems adequately recognise individuals’ capabilities.
For founders, employers, and education professionals, Tabanlı offers a perspective that connects technological innovation with access to opportunity. Her work highlights the importance of designing systems that help emerging talent develop skills, overcome barriers, and participate more fully in the economy.
Engin Aksoy
Chief Executive Officer, Vodafone Türkiye
Engin Aksoy examines business leadership through the decisions, organisational practices, and cultural changes required to sustain growth in competitive industries.
As CEO of Vodafone Türkiye since 2021, he oversees a business serving more than 25 million customers and an ecosystem of approximately 50,000 direct and indirect employees. His earlier leadership roles included expanding digital channels, strengthening commercial operations, and supporting the company’s transformation.
His commentary moves beyond telecommunications to explore leadership, mentoring, decision-making, and professional development. He challenges familiar corporate assumptions and reflects on how leaders can learn more effectively, empower teams, and respond to changing business conditions.
For executives and aspiring leaders, Aksoy offers insights shaped by the realities of managing a large organisation. His perspective encourages readers to examine how leadership decisions influence employee development, organisational adaptability, and the ability to create long-term business value.
Işıl Boy Ergül, PhD
Founder, TeacherX
Dr. Işıl Boy Ergül is an educator, entrepreneur and policy advisor specialising in AI in education. Her work rests on a single conviction: educational innovation succeeds only when teachers remain at its centre, equipped with the judgement, confidence and skills to shape how new tools are used.
Drawing on thirteen years of teaching and researching educational technology, she founded TeacherX, a professional development ecosystem that has reached more than 80,000 teachers in six years, and StudentX, an AI literacy curriculum platform for K–8 learners. She also founded the Educational Technologies Summit (ETZ), one of Türkiye’s leading education technology conferences, held annually since 2014.
An Apple Distinguished Educator since 2015, she serves as Türkiye Ambassador for the European Training Foundation and is a member of the OEB Global Advisory Board. Her international work includes collaborating with the Council of Europe on AI literacy initiatives and translating UNESCO’s guidance on generative AI and its AI competency frameworks for teachers and students into Turkish.
A TEDx speaker and frequent keynote at national and international conferences, she insists that AI literacy is less a technical skill than an epistemic responsibility: the capacity to question, not merely operate, the systems shaping what we know and how we learn.
E. Levent Özkuşcu
Founder, Levent Özkuşcu Training & Consultancy | Co-Founder, Kolay Süreç
E. Levent Özkuşcu examines logistics performance through the operational details that determine whether transport businesses remain efficient and profitable.
With 25 years of experience in road transport, fleet management, strategic planning, and logistics operations, he has held senior responsibilities across the sector. He now advises companies on fleet efficiency, driver performance, cost management, and operational improvement.
His analysis focuses on measurable problems, including fuel consumption, idle time, maintenance costs, driver behaviour, and route profitability. He also explores how performance indicators, telematics, and digital management systems can help businesses identify losses that may otherwise remain hidden. His professional profile reports contributions to cost optimisation of up to 15% and transit-time improvements of up to 20%.
For logistics executives and fleet operators, Özkuşcu offers a practical approach to operational decision-making. His perspective demonstrates how better data, disciplined processes, and workforce development can strengthen profitability without relying solely on expansion.
Hale Acun Aydın
Founder, Türk İşi Minimalizm | Author & Speaker
Hale Acun Aydın explores how minimalism and conscious consumption can make sustainability more practical in everyday life and workplace environments.
After building a career in marketing, she established Türk İşi Minimalizm to promote simpler and more sustainable habits. She reports delivering training to more than 10,000 participants across over 100 organisations and is the author of Sadeleşerek Özgürleş, published in 2023. In 2026, she was selected to FERD’s List as the first person from Türkiye to receive this recognition.
Her contributions address responsible consumption, digital minimalism, sustainable wardrobes, and employee wellbeing. She also founded Kahvem Termosta, a behaviour change initiative supported by UNDP Accelerator Lab Türkiye that aims to reduce disposable cup use and is now active in nearly 600 cafés across 65 provinces.
For organisations and individuals, Acun Aydın connects environmental responsibility with manageable changes in daily behaviour. Her perspective highlights how sustainability can move beyond broad commitments and become part of the decisions people make about consumption, work, and personal wellbeing.
Hasan Mandal
Rector, Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ)
Hasan Mandal examines how scientific research, engineering education, and institutional collaboration can strengthen Türkiye’s capacity for technological innovation.
As Rector of Istanbul Technical University and former President of TÜBİTAK, he brings experience spanning academic research, national science policy, and research administration. His professional record includes more than 140 publications, six international patents, and recognition through the TÜBİTAK Science Award.
His contributions highlight the importance of connecting universities, industry, and public institutions to address complex technological and societal challenges. He also explores how engineering education and research systems can develop the expertise required for emerging industries.
For researchers, university leaders, and innovation policymakers, Mandal offers a perspective on the institutional foundations of scientific progress. His work encourages readers to consider how research priorities, talent development, and cross-sector partnerships influence the translation of scientific knowledge into economic and social value.
Funda Güleç Yalçın
Managing Editor, FinTechTime
Funda Güleç Yalçın examines Türkiye’s financial technology ecosystem through the developments reshaping payments, banking, digital commerce, and financial services.
With approximately two decades of experience in technology journalism, digital publishing, and entrepreneurship, she has worked with FinTechTime since 2014. She also produces fintech coverage through Fundalina and FintekWins, including industry round-ups, interviews, and analysis of domestic and international developments.
Her contributions connect fintech news with wider changes in regulation, consumer behaviour, artificial intelligence, and business models. By bringing together market developments and industry perspectives, she helps readers understand how individual announcements fit into the evolving financial technology landscape.
For fintech founders, financial services professionals, and business leaders, Yalçın provides a perspective grounded in sustained industry coverage. Her work helps readers follow emerging opportunities while recognising the regulatory, technological, and commercial forces shaping Türkiye’s fintech sector.
Hüseyin Güler, PhD
Global R&D and Innovation Director, Kastamonu Entegre
Dr. Hüseyin Güler examines how established industrial businesses can develop lasting innovation capabilities rather than simply respond to emerging technology trends.
As Global R&D and Innovation Director at Kastamonu Entegre, he brings more than 25 years of cross-industry experience spanning telecommunications, automotive, public sector, and manufacturing. His work has included developing the company’s technology roadmap, leading its R&D centre, and introducing internal innovation programmes.
His contributions focus on industrial transformation, sustainable business models, and collaboration across research institutions, suppliers, and companies. During his leadership in innovation-related roles, Kastamonu Entegre developed new products and received recognition for its innovation practices, including awards associated with İnovaLİG.
For manufacturing executives and innovation leaders, Dr. Güler offers a perspective on how transformation becomes part of an organisation’s operating model. His work highlights the importance of combining long-term strategy, research investment, employee participation, and sustainability to build competitive capabilities.
Final Thoughts: Connecting Expertise Across Türkiye’s Industries
Across venture capital, renewable energy, education, telecommunications, logistics, fintech, scientific research, and sustainable living, these ten voices offer different perspectives on how Türkiye’s industries are navigating change.
Their contributions highlight a shared challenge: turning expertise into practical outcomes. Whether supporting entrepreneurs, developing talent, improving operational efficiency, or advancing sustainability, meaningful progress depends on the ability to connect knowledge, investment, and collaboration with real-world needs.
Following these voices offers readers a broader understanding of the opportunities and challenges shaping Türkiye’s business landscape. Together, their perspectives show how expertise across different industries can contribute to innovation, stronger organisations, and lasting value.
Highlights
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