Examination of İŞKUR s Disabled Entrepreneurship Support Program (TR61 Region Sample)

In order to prevent poverty, which is one of the main problems of people with disabilities, they both need to be supported in all areas they need and be employed or given opportunities to be an entrepreneur to the extent their disabilities allow so that they can stand on their own feet. According to the data for February 2019 released by the Turkish Statistical Institute, the unemployment rate in Turkey was 14.7 (TÜİK, 2019). This rate is the highest unemployment data of recent years. The increase in unemployment will lead to a decrease in quotas for, and an increase in unemployment of, people with disabilities. Another way to include people with disabilities into the labour market is to make them an employer. For this reason, it is of great importance to promote, encourage and facilitate entrepreneurship for people with disabilities in Turkey as in many developed countries. In recent years, different policies and programs are being developed in Turkey for the promotion of entrepreneurship for people with disabilities. One of the actions, determined among the strategic targets of the overall objective of to promote the entrepreneurial culture, to create a strong ecosystem and develop entrepreneurship has been identified as Promoting Entrepreneurship for People with Disabilities in the Turkish Entrepreneurship Strategy and Action Plan (Resmi Gazete, 2015; 5). According to the research conducted in 2010 on people with disabilities registered in the national disabled database, 55.7% of people with disabilities registered want to be employed in jobs that do not require heavy physical work and power. Moreover, 28.7% of people with disabilities want to increase their employment opportunities (TÜİK, 2011). In Turkey where at least one out of every ten is a disabled, İŞKUR is one of the institutions that support people with disabilities to become an entrepreneur. Using the Fund for Administrative Fines Collected from Employers Who Do Not Employ Disabled Persons and Ex-Convicts , İŞKUR, since the beginning of 2015, has been supporting projects that will be prepared for the vocational education and training and rehabilitation of people with disabilities and to ensure their adaptation to work and workplace and to start their own businesses. The objective of this support, provided by İŞKUR, has been identified as assisting disabled persons and ex-convicts to start their own businesses, to receive vocational education and training and be employed and their rehabilitation. The program is announced twice a year through the application guides published by İŞKUR, and disabled persons who meet the required conditions can file their projects and benefit from a grant support up to 50,000 Turkish Lira if their projects are approved.This study aimed to examine the supports provided to disabled entrepreneurs within the scope of the Disabled Entrepreneurship Program implemented by İŞKUR, identify the problems experienced and to develop suggestions for these problems. Interviews were conducted with the practitioners of the İŞKUR Disabled Entrepreneurship Support Program in TR61 Level 2 (Antalya, Isparta, Burdur) Region through the interview method, which is the most widely used method in qualitative research. As a result of the study, it has been determined that disabled people experience problems in participating in entrepreneurship training; the grant support has not been increased for a long time; İŞKUR personnel experience many problems especially in the areas like follow-up, payment, control and monitoring and that İŞKUR fail to carry out adequate information and awareness studies about the program, and suggestions to eliminate these problems have been made.