Producing For Students-11-July-2020
Muğla-based Education, Geriatrics Ecological Agriculture Tourism (EGET) Foundation produces, sells and gives scholarships to students with all the income.
EGET set out to generate income to give scholarships to students. With this goal, he started agricultural activity. Over time, these efforts turned into significant entrepreneurship. EGET, which operates under the rule that all income of the foundation is given as scholarships, has created the first lavender field in the coastal region. In order to obtain higher added value from lavender, he obtained lavender oil and lavender water. The company intensified its activities and produced lavender-based cosmetics, from shampoo to tonic, using this raw material, which Turkey is an importer of. The foundation also turned to olive oil production. The extra virgin olive oil produced exclusively from the olives of the Muğla region received a silver medal at Japan Olive 2020, one of the most prestigious olive oil competitions. Foundation Founder and Chairman Özlem Uzman said, “We have turned all our focus to scholarships. Everyone can do something about this. It is set as a rule in our foundation charter. All income is directed to scholarships.”
NEXT FOR TRUFFLES
Noting that a total of 80 students benefit from EGET scholarships, including 48 students who continue their education, Uzman said that they have new projects. The expert said that EGET’s Armutçuk agricultural enterprise has planted oak saplings inoculated with truffles to grow truffles, one of the most expensive foods in the world, on 22 decares of land. Özlem Uzman also gave the following information about the foundation’s activities:
“The problem of young people failing, failing to start education, dropping out of education because they do not have enough financial support is much bigger than you think. Despite our limited announcements, more than twenty-five thousand young people have applied for scholarships in the last three years. As we see the responses to the questions, we feel great sadness for the students we cannot help, for those we cannot afford. This year, due to the pandemic, workers, farmers and low-income earners have suffered great loss of income. The unemployment rate has risen. We are afraid that in the coming years, there will be many students who will not be able to go to university and will abandon their education. Our experience shows this.”
AGRICULTURE BASED INDUSTRY
Safai Özer, Founder of the Foundation and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of EGET, said that EGET allocates all its revenues to scholarships and that this is a written rule of the Foundation. Özer said, “While we strive to generate income, we also develop methods to increase the income of our country’s farmers. We have given one of the best examples of agriculture-based industry; we produced cosmetic products. While EGET Foundation takes initiatives to generate income, we are also being as useful as possible for producers outside of ourselves.”