What makes Atilla special
3 July 2017
Atilla Aytekin has been through tough times as an entrepreneur. With support of the ING Netherlands fund, he now helps young starters dream big. A moving video tells his story, without Atilla having to say a thing.
With his Dutch Dream Foundation, Atilla matches young entrepreneurs from a different cultural background with hardboiled Dutch business people. They get coaching, training, advice or just access to their advisors’ network.
Atilla himself was once that young, aspiring entrepreneur. He could have used a seasoned advisor at some point. Despite the hard work, his company went bankrupt. But his experience inspired him to set up the foundation, helping ‘young Atilla’s’ with their business dreams.
We’re behind you: Atilla Aytekin of the Dutch Dream Foundation is surprised in the studio by friends, family, clients and partners.
Big fan
ING in the Netherlands is a fan of Atilla and 19 other entrepreneurs that get structural support from the ING Netherlands fund. The fund selects social entrepreneurs and initiators – people who are not just interested in growing their business, but are looking for profit for society.
To celebrate the two-year anniversary of the fund, ING in the Netherlands produced videos about three of these social entrepreneurs, including Atilla. Instead of asking them questions on-camera, ING invited friends, family, clients and partners to tell the story.
It ended up being a great tactic. The ‘Powerstories’ videos have been viewed three-million times on Facebook and around 2.8 million times on YouTube, with reactions highly positive.
In response to the video Atilla wrote:
“We never boast about what we are doing and how great it all is. I’d rather stand at the back, silently, enjoying the results. Helping without expecting something in return has always been the basis, always. I see this video as a personal gift and it makes me both emotional and proud. Thanks again.”