Ethno-marketing an opportunity for recovery in German economy

Organized by two Turkish entrepreneurs, Yıldıray Cengiz and Zafer Karaca, Ethno Day attracted around 35 companies. Delivering a speech at the opening ceremony, Gersenkirchen Mayor Frank Baranowski said citizens of foreign origin (or migrants) constituted the majority in some German cities and that the foreign population in the country was increasing with every passing day. Therefore, he said, ethno-marketing is becoming important for entrepreneurs.

“The ethno-marketing sector, which is worth billions of dollars, gives the German domestic market a chance to recover, particularly in the face of the current crisis. We have seen that German entrepreneurs are also keen to move into this sector as they look to diversify their markets,” Cengiz said in an interview with Today’s Zaman.

Emphasizing that ethno-marketing has gained much importance, particularly during the crisis, he said they expected to reach more entrepreneurs in the German ethno-marketing sector. “There needs to be healthy communication among Turkish entrepreneurs as they have the biggest share in Germany’s ethno-market. We hope this fair will be a good example to this end.” Cengiz said they had established a company named Ethno Day Yildiray Cengiz and Zafer Karaca GbR to undertake the organization of this fair in particular.

Underlining that they are satisfied with the level of attendance at the fair, Cengiz, also the head of the Ekip Group, a marketing services company, said: “Around one-third of the big players in German ethno-marketing sector are here. This is a good number to start with.” He said they had been preparing for this fair for the past six months, adding that the market needed a comprehensive fair which could bring together entrepreneurs from different nationalities, not only Turks, in Germany.

Some 72,000 Turkish firms employ more than 330,000 workers in Germany.

Renate Niessner from CSS, a software company, said they were glad to have participated in Ethno Day, underlining that there is a huge Turkish customer potential in Germany and that they expect to reach these people through ethno-marketing.

Rober Çakaroğlu from Convinco, a consultancy firm, said most entrepreneurs from Turkey entered the European market via Germany, which is home to nearly 3 million Turks. “In this sense, Turkish firms can find considerable investment opportunities in the German market, and we believe that ethno-marketing will gain much more importance in the coming years.”