Episode 31 | Part One: The Next Generation

Gregory Shepard, an entrepreneur who's built and sold 12 businesses, a recipient of 4 private equity awards, TEDx speaker, and Forbes author. This is The Boss Podcast with Gregory Shepard.

My guests this week are Umran Beba and Korhan Beba from the Beba Innovation and Entrepreneurship Foundation. Umran is the founder and Korhan is the executive director. Together, their mission is to assist aspiring entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into applications, commercial products, or services for global markets. Umran, welcome to the podcast.

Hi, thank you so much for inviting.

Oh, you're more than welcome. Koran, thanks for being here. I really appreciate it.

Oh, I appreciate it too. It's great to be here. Thank you.

So let's just dive right in. So Koran, listeners will notice that you and Umran share the same last name. Can you tell us a little bit about that background? It might be interesting. I see that— I say that because a lot of the time entrepreneurs are working with other people and these sort of things are unusual, but they also can be a really big catalyst for growth and expansion because you're kind of always talking about it, you know, so you're working when you're not working.

Yes, absolutely. You're right. So, yes, we do share the last name. That's because we're a family. Imran is actually my stepmother. And, you know, we've been working together now since the beginning of 2000 as part of the foundation work. But in particular about my background, I have now over, I don't know, like 25, I guess, years now that's been spent in a lot of major international corporations like Unilever, Procter Gamble, and then most recently at Johnson Johnson, mostly in the marketing department managing international global brands. I also was involved in small startups as well. So I do have the one of the unique or rare opportunities where I was able to see kind of both sides of the spectrum. Since the beginning of 2020, I have been the executive director of our family foundation that's based in New York.

And Umran, your CV is also impressive. You've worked in HR and diversity positions with major brands like Pepsi. What kind of changes have you seen in the course of your career in those areas?

Yeah, many, many. Absolutely, you are right. So I have 35 years of experience in corporate life and 25 in one company, PepsiCo. So during those years, I worked in business as general manager, president, but also in HR, talent, and diversity roles. And even if I was not in a diversity role, actually I was working on diversity on the side as a project because I was the only woman in most of the rooms throughout my career. So for me, it started actually looking at the gender agenda, especially in the countries where I was operating, starting with Turkey and then Southeast Europe. Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa. And every time, you know, I wanted to improve the numbers, but especially for the gender agenda and women in general management roles. That was my kind of focus on the side. And of course, it is not only about gender, this whole diversity agenda, the multicultural aspect, because I worked in, in many different countries and 4 different locations. You know, I had to really understand the multicultural aspect of business talent and inclusion became a very important part of the agenda and my work. And moving to US, of course, the ethnicity became another important dimension. And especially in the last couple of years, ethnicity agenda has been top of the charts. I mean, it has been there forever maybe, but not at this level because not much was done. There was frustration and we have seen it throughout the pandemic. but also with unfortunate events, the city agenda became very, very critical. And also the equity side of the equation, you know, how can you have equitable processes, systems? So it is moving, I should say, with a good speed and change. And I was very happy doing that work.

It feels like, you know, for me, you know, I did a ton of research on this, right? So, I was trying to level the playing field for those of us that had nothing to begin with or those of us that are diverse. I'm from a diverse family myself. And then, also, the gender issue, right? I mean, these things are— the numbers during the research that I did back in 2016 up until last year was incredibly disappointing in terms of the number of founders that are women and the number of founders that are women So the impact that you're making, do you feel like it's starting to increase? Do you feel like it's getting better? Do you feel like we're going in the right direction?

I mean, absolutely, it's top of mind today for organizations, for governments. Now, do we see enough progress? I think we unfortunately, it is not immediately visible. But throughout the pipeline, especially in the corporate, yes, you see. In entrepreneurship, I think with the pandemic, we have also seen more positive change. Now, the question is, it is not the number of women and, you know, multicultural women in these fields, but can they get funding? I think that's the critical question. Now, yes, there is a lot of interest from those cohorts, But can they get the funding? Therefore, how can we support them to have the right training, mentoring, and go for, uh, go for and ask for the funding? I think that's going to be the focus, or should be the focus, I believe.

I agree. I, I want you to unpack the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Foundation that you founded 4 years ago and tell the listeners a little bit about what it is, what your mission is, and why you did it.

So we originally come from Turkey, then as a family we lived in Hong Kong, Dubai, and we moved to US in 2016 with my role. And my husband has been a professor of entrepreneurship and was teaching in many, many prestigious universities around the globe. So when we moved here, he said, I don't want to go to another university, but it's time to really return. You know, he always says like it's learn, earn, and return. So he said now it's time for return, and we decided to establish this Beba Innovation and Entrepreneurship Foundation, him being the lead and me, you know, like a co-founder. And later Korhan joined us, and our objective was really to focus on women and youth in terms of entrepreneurship and how we can support them with trainings, mentoring, and also competitions. So bring those ideas out and support them, give mentoring and training. So that's the way it started. And in the last 2 years, I should say, we have been definitely very active and enjoying the work and creating a difference.

I feel that's just so cool. I just love that. I mean, it's just so great. So, Corinne, you started to work with the foundation in 2020, right? What made you get involved in, you know, sort of switch And pivot to this end of the side of business and get— I mean, you're really involved now, right? I mean, you're a big part of this. So can you tell maybe a little bit about what made you make the switch and why did you get involved and what you're seeing now?

Absolutely. So as Imran was saying, in our family, we do really believe in this cycle of learn, earn, return. And I also felt, you know, after so many years in the corporate world and you know, making a decent living, I figured, especially with also the start of the pandemic, you know, in 2020, we said, okay, how can we use our foundation in a much more active way and really start to make a difference and touch some people's lives? So at the time, you know, the foundation was there, but we weren't really very active. So I made the switch and took on the role of executive director to be, you know, full-time responsible for all the operational work. at the foundation. And that's really how it all started. And as Imran was saying, for the past 2 years now, we're trying to increase our reach and we're trying to basically come up with different types of work and projects to try to make that difference. As the foundation, we're trying to really reach out to those most underserved, especially young and women entrepreneurs. Right. And our work is really kind of revolving around 3 key pillars. One of them is trainings. Like Umran was saying, we work with small business development centers, women enterprise development centers, for instance, the one in White Plains. We provide trainings there like how to write a business plan and, you know, business plan canvas, things of that nature. We have another pillar which is around mentoring. And the 3rd key pillar is really working with younger people, as I said, you know, we do want to support younger entrepreneurs. We work with Mercy College and also with other colleges around the globe, you know, in Turkey and even high schools. We did have an atelier program, a workshop program at a high school in Istanbul, for instance, for the whole of last year, which did create a lot of, I believe, excitement in the school and the 16 kids who attended.

So this is a tremendous amount of support and it's all focused on a group of people that don't get any support really. And so you're trying to level the playing field, right? So are you focused more on the founder side, more on the mentor side, more on the investor side? Like if you look at this whole industry, you know, you see sort of like a cube and there's all these different angles. Are you guys more favorable to one side than the other, or do you just play the center?

So I would say we're kind of more in the center and the founder side, if you will. For instance, you know, the business competitions that we run with Colombia, we are providing some, you know, seed money, if you will, some investment from that point of view. But that's not our, you know, main focus. We're not in this to, you know, give out funds and be an investor. For instance, we don't take any equity at all. Honestly, we don't also, you know, look around for investors to get these investors with the entrepreneurs. We don't really do that that much either. Our main focus is mostly on the training and the mentoring side of things. And, you know, be and work as, you know, guides really for these people who may not really have, you know, such a support in their life otherwise.

Yeah, I mean, it's crazy because when you get into this industry and you really start to focus on it, you start to see that these entrepreneurs come in, they raise their hand, I have an idea, and the first thing they get hit with is like 4,000 people trying to sell them things and offer them advice, and they don't even know where to start. So groups like yours Really come in handy to make sure that they get some focus, right, and some direction, and they aren't susceptible to all of the people out there trying to sell them things that they're too naive to understand they don't need at that point in their business career, you know, in that, in that point of their startup.

Absolutely right. I mean, a lot of the women, for instance, that work with the Women Enterprise Development Centers, to your point, they don't really know where to start from. There's so much out there, and they get You know, I get, I guess, bombarded by, you know, these types of things that you were mentioning. So, so yeah, I mean, I think it's really good to be able to kind of show them the way, if you will, in a bit more focused manner.

Yeah. I mean, from, from my perspective, you know, when I started 30-whatever years ago, I started building businesses, it was like that, right? It's like you're sitting there and you have— I have this idea and, well, back then you didn't even have search engines, but even now, I don't even know if it's It's that much more helpful because now you go online and there's like a million things and you can spend months just going down different rabbit holes trying to figure out where you are in this ecosystem. So I think the guidance that you had mentioned that you do with the mentors and sort of sherping their way through this is just really, really cool. What are some of the biggest challenges you guys have?

So I think one of the biggest challenges is, I don't know if you would call this a challenge really, but as we have been talking about it, you know, we have been really active in the past 2 years and we only want to increase our reach and our impact as we go forward. So, so far, you know, we were formed in 2017 based in New York as a family foundation. So all the funding really comes from our, you know, family basically.

Mm-hmm.

So as we go forward, one of the challenges that we'd like to tackle is How can we start bringing in outside contributions in a more impactful way so we can actually increase our reach? And, you know, in terms of touching more people's lives and also maybe also creating a more significant impact.

This is just so cool. I love that you guys— I love how you're giving back and you're doing it, you know, you're doing the teach a person to fish method instead of just giving them the fish. It's really— it's some of the things that I really focus on is that You know, when I was coming up, there wasn't a lot of help for me. You know, so in my life, just like your husband, I turned around and said, okay, I need to give back. I need to make sure that these entrepreneurs don't have to go down the minefield, the gauntlet of booby traps that I had to go down.

Absolutely.

Amran, I want to ask you if you could tell me a little bit more about the Million Women Mentors Program and how you're supporting these female students and young entrepreneurs. And all these different professionals that seek careers in this STEM program in Turkey. I'm really fascinated by this.

Yeah, I think if I just summarize what we discussed, so we are basically reaching out to younger people, try to encourage them with the understanding of entrepreneurship, and then make their decisions to have it as an option. Versus you know working in an organization. So there is that option. We give them that inspiration, and if they are interested, they can come up with ideas, join competitions, get coached and mentored, and even win some seed money. So that's kind of the whole idea of you know reaching out early. And why do you have STEM in this equation is because what we have seen around the globe and also in Turkey. We don't have a lot of women in STEM fields either. And if you look at the future with the digital automation, AI and everything, we need more definitely women in STEM areas so that they can have decent earnings, they can have decent livings, right? I mean, I was part of the Million Women Mentors program in the US when I was in PepsiCo, and I said we should take this program to Turkey. and establish a group of founders who can really invest in this program. Our objective is in 10 years to reach 1 million girls and also young women in STEM fields and support them with mentoring. And as you can imagine, during this mentoring program, they can be professionals, they can be students, and they can be entrepreneurs, right? We can still reach out to the entrepreneurship aspect of the game. And as you know, most of the ideas really come in the STEM fields these days. And then we will be able to really mentor them, help them in their, let's say, journey. We already left behind a year and we have an incredible set of founding partners, big organizations, Turkish and global. And they're all, you know, giving their time and resources to support young professionals, women in Turkey in the STEM area. So that's one part of the equation. But if you look at also the Turkey context, this program with the high school and entrepreneurship, you know, program, and then at the end there was a competition again. So at the earlier age, we make them think about, you know, entrepreneurship as an option. So that's the fun part of the game. So you will later maybe talk about the education system, but we believe earlier the better.

I think it's really neat. I think that I hear a lot about the— with the women movement and with ethnicities, I hear a lot about, even myself, about leveling the playing field and trying to bring these people up to a level where they're— where they should be. And on the other hand, I had a conversation with somebody the other day, and she was telling me that, you know, this is not just about raising these people from a certain level to another level. But also getting a perspective that you can't get from other people. You know, you get a perspective from women and you get a perspective from people of ethnicity that you just don't get from— so they add value that is unseen, like shadow value. So there's another important component to this outside of just leveling the playing field, right? And that is getting this other perspective. Do you agree with that, or what are your feelings about that?

Oh, absolutely. I mean, I am also mentoring, um, you know, women for boards. I mean, that's another level, you know, like, so you have the entry level, you have the highest level. And the reason, as you say, the whole idea of diversity and diversity of thought, how you can make businesses better, either a startup or an established corporation. But if you have diversity in a board from a multicultural background, gender and ethnicity background, veterans, LGBTQ, you know, I mean, all those different life experiences actually matters in terms of innovation. So that's the starting point, really, not just to have 50/50. I mean, yes, of course we should, but they bring something different, you know, like let's accept it and take care of it.

Yeah, especially when you're looking at The whole idea of entrepreneurship, right, is to solve problems. Well, you know, if people aren't experiencing those problems, they're blind to them. So the people that grew up the way I did and other people that have other challenges similar to that are the only people that are even aware of these challenges, let alone have the capacity of even thinking about solving those problems.

Absolutely. Yeah.

Koran, everybody loves a little bit of competition, and this Greater Good Challenge has my attention. Can you tell us a little bit about what that's all about?

Absolutely, Greg. Yes. So this actually really started in 2020, again, with the pandemic. So as I came on board as the director, we were looking at ways to really, you know, make an impact, as I was saying. And Imran is also on the board of Columbia University School of Professional Studies. So, you know, we were talking with them and exploring different ways of opportunities, different opportunities that we can partner with. And with the pandemic, we said, okay, look, I mean, there's obviously a big problem here. Why don't we think of a business ideas competition, a business plan competition where we can, you know, ask anyone who's interested within the school to come up with their ideas to solve some specific problems. So that's how it really started. We decided we really want to focus on 5 main areas. And some of those areas were things like sustainability, supply chain and logistics. Obviously, that was a big issue, as you may all— as we have all experienced with not being able to find any toilet paper, you know, for a while.

Yeah.

So we said, okay, let's identify those main areas or main categories that are really, you know, hit in the most major way and ask the students to come up with their ideas, business ideas to solve these specific problems. That's how it started. And it went really well. That's why we are actually in year 3 in 2022. The way it works is really once we open the submissions window, students have about 10 weeks to come up with their ideas, put them in a certain context, basically a condensed business plan, and then submit it. In the first year, we got over 60 submissions from across 12 different countries. Obviously, Columbia has, you know, the satellite programs that people from other countries can also enroll in. So, you know, out of the 60+ submissions, we were able to bring those down to 10 finalists. And then the 10 finalists basically— so far it's always been virtual due to obvious reasons. Those 10 finalists make their pitches on a specific day live. Every team has about 3 minutes for their pitches. And we are very specific about how they can pitch so that it's kind of like, you know, to level the playing field, if you will. Because you know sometimes people get creative, come up with like different films and stuff like that videos. So we really want to be as fair as possible to everyone. So they each get three minutes to pitch, and then at the end of the the day, we decide on the top three winners through a a collection of esteemed judges. There were five judges, like for instance in the first year, and we've we determined we decide the top three places, and we also do get. An audience pick as well. We get over 200 people, you know, live watching the competition on the average over the past 2 years. So they also do vote for their favorites and we also get to pick a 4th audience winner. So, so far it's been going really well as I said. Actually a couple of the entries, the 2020 first place winner is a company called Microterra and they are a company that is actually founded by 3 young entrepreneurs or woman in Mexico.

Oh, cool.

So what they do is, yeah, what they do is, you know, they are looking to come up with solutions to make inland fish farms much more efficient. I don't want to get into all the details. Obviously, we don't have time. But if your listeners would like to learn more, they can obviously email us or they can just go ahead and check out their website. They're making a significant impact. After they actually won the competition in 2020, they went ahead and got some significant funding through a couple of series of investing pitches. They, I believe, so far were able to collect about $2.5 million on top of the $12,000 they got from our competition. So I think we're making a big impact. We're very, very excited for 2022. And as I was saying earlier, one of those challenges you were asking about, we would love to make this much more impactful as we go forward. We do want this to be a continuous activity. It's not just a one-off. So I think it's going well. And we took that program and we have actually been in talks with other universities across the globe to see if we can kind of do a copy-paste type of an approach to, you know, bring something that's working very well to other places.

Man, that is awesome. I can't wait to get into more of what you're doing, but we have to take a break. Coming up in the second part of my conversation with Omran Beba and Koran Beba from the Beba Innovation and Entrepreneurship Foundation. Koran talks about the importance of building a strong team.

You really need to have a good team of people that kind of complement each other, you know, because you cannot just get to everything yourself. You need— obviously you need to be disciplined, you need to be on top of things, but, you know, subject matter experts is, I think, an important thing to have in an entrepreneurial setup.

Learn more about the BOSS Business Operating Support System at bossstartupsience.com, or you can reach Gregory Shepard at gregoryshepard.com. This has been a production of Forbes Books.