about us

Just as in all countries around the world, tradesmen and craftsmen in Turkey are an important and dynamic component of the economy. While contributing to economic growth through manufacturing targeting all parts of the society, they play an important role in the economic and social development as well as maintaining stability in the country by creating employment.

Tradesmen-craftsmen and SMEs in Turkey make up:

" 98.8% of all the enterprises,
" 37% of all the production,
" 46% of all the employment, and
" 8% of all the export activities in Turkey.

When faced with financing difficulties in the establishment or running of a business and the financial support received from family and friends is not sufficient, tradesmen-craftsmen apply to institutions providing credit. However, there are usually problems in furnishing the guarantee required by such institutions. This problem has brought the tradesmen and craftsmen together to establish cooperatives. The first credit cooperative in Turkey was established in 1951 in Ankara. In 1970 TESKOMB was established as an umbrella organization bringing together all the cooperatives established throughout Turkey.

Today there are 32 Regional Unions and 910 cooperatives with 1.100.000 members under TESKOMB.
Halk Bank has been given the duty of making available the resources allocated by the State to support tradesmen and craftsmen. In the existing system, the tradesmen and craftsmen can get credit with low interest rates from Halk Bank with the guarantee they show from the cooperatives that they belong to. In this system the cooperative only provides guarantee to its members. The difference between the interest rate of these types of credits and commercial credits is compensated by the State.