KOSGEB Entrepreneur Support Programme adds 250,000 TL for young and women, who qualifies?
Founders who are young, women, disabled, veterans or first-degree relatives of fallen soldiers get separate rights in three places under the KOSGEB Entrepreneur Support Programme: non-repayable Performance Costs Support, an extra TL 250,000 on the Business Development Support limit, and Interest/Profit Share Support that is open only to women and young founders (KOSGEB programme page, accessed 13 October 2026). KOSGEB is Türkiye’s Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization. The support rate, however, is the same for everyone: 80%.
What this means for you: the difference lies in amounts and scope, not in the rate. If you belong to one of these groups, the same spending can reach a higher ceiling. Hit the sales and insured-employment conditions and performance payments follow for two years.
What exactly does the KOSGEB Entrepreneur Support Programme give young and women founders on top?
It gives three extra items, and none of them is a higher rate. Performance Costs Support is open only to these groups, TL 250,000 is added to the TL 2,250,000 Business Development limit, and Interest/Profit Share Support is reserved for women or young founders. KOSGEB’s Entrepreneur Support Programme page and the Directive dated 5 October 2026 list these three items separately.
How does KOSGEB define young founder, disabled and martyr-relative status?
The Directive spells out two definitions and leaves the rest open. A young founder is a person who has not turned 35 on the support application date. A disabled person is someone who documents, under the relevant legislation, a disability rate of 40% or more. The text available has no separate definition for women founders, veterans or martyr relatives.
What are the sales and insured-employment conditions for KOSGEB Performance Costs Support?
Three conditions apply together: the tax registration must continue, sales in the period must reach at least one gross minimum wage, and total 4A insured premium days in the period must be at least 90. 4A is the standard employee insurance category in Türkiye’s social security system, and 4B covers the self-employed. If a 4B record is opened for the first time, the founder’s own 4B days also count.
Which founders does KOSGEB’s group difference affect, and how?
Women and young founders can reach all three items; disabled, veteran and martyr-relative founders can reach two. Personnel support gives no one an advantage: the cap of four times the employer cost of the gross minimum wage for IT staff, three times for vocational school graduates and twice for other staff is the same for everyone.
The table puts the criteria side by side; the last row shows who each column suits.
| Criterion | Woman or young founder | Disabled, veteran, martyr relative | Other founders |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance Costs Support | Yes, eight gross minimum wages | Yes, eight gross minimum wages | No |
| Business Development limit | TL 2,250,000 + TL 250,000 | TL 2,250,000 + TL 250,000 | TL 2,250,000 |
| Business Development rate | 80% | 80% | 80% |
| Interest/Profit Share Support | Yes, jury score 50 or above | Not in the text available | No |
| Best suited to | Producer or service business growing on credit | Equity-funded business that will hire | Any business planning at the fixed rate |
How can young and women founders use KOSGEB support across web, marketplaces and ads?
Because the performance condition is tied to sales, your digital channels directly shape the support calendar. Reaching at least one gross minimum wage in sales per period is easier in the first months with marketplace listings, local search and social ads working together.
What should a founder with group status do this week about a KOSGEB application?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- Put your status document and date of birth in the calendar
- Clear the entrepreneurship training and the Business Declaration
- Recalculate your plan at 80% and the right limit
There are four concrete tasks: prepare your status document, clear the training requirement, sort out the Business Declaration, and recalculate your plan at the fixed rate. The overall framework is in our guide to the programme’s three supports.
Put your status document and date of birth in the calendar
Note the rate and number on your disability report. If you are a veteran or martyr relative, keep the relevant document scanned and ready. Close to 35? Apply before your birthday.
Clear the entrepreneurship training and the Business Declaration
The entrepreneurship trainings on KOSGEB e-Akademi are free and online. The Business Declaration is the next document to sort out, and its steps are set out in order in our article on the five steps of the Business Declaration.
Recalculate your plan at 80% and the right limit
Delete any “extra rate” assumptions from your plan; the rate is 80% and the difference is in the limit. If you will borrow, mark whether your group has a right to interest support. If you want to build the application file and your digital sales setup together, our digital consulting team handles exactly that work.
Quick Summary
- The Entrepreneur Support Programme has no separate rate for young, women, disabled, veteran or martyr-relative founders; the rate is 80% for everyone (KOSGEB).
- These groups receive non-repayable Performance Costs Support equal to eight gross minimum wages (KOSGEB programme page).
- TL 250,000 is added to the TL 2,250,000 Business Development limit for these groups (KOSGEB Directive).
- Interest/Profit Share Support is open only to women or young founders with a jury score of 50 or above (KOSGEB Directive).
- Personnel support caps do not change with the founder’s group.
Short Glossary
- Young founder
- Young founder is the status used by KOSGEB for a person who has not turned 35 on the support application date.
- Gross minimum wage
- The gross minimum wage is the legal wage amount, as in force on the last day of each period, used to calculate performance support and the sales condition.
- Jury score
- The jury score is the assessment result used to decide eligibility for Interest/Profit Share Support, which requires 50 or above.
Frequently Asked Questions
Next Step
To work out which items your group can reach and how your plan takes shape within these limits, fill in the consult your expert form. Other programmes are listed on our grants and incentives news page.
Support amounts and conditions can change; check the current terms on the institution’s official page before applying. This article is not financial or legal advice.
Sources: KOSGEB, Entrepreneur Support Programme page (accessed 13 October 2026) · Entrepreneur Support Programme Directive, revision 15 (5 October 2026) · Business Setup Support Application Form
Updated: October 2026
Sık Sorulan Sorular
According to the programme page, a business whose founder is young, a woman, disabled, a veteran or a first-degree martyr relative receives non-repayable support equal to eight gross monthly minimum wages.
It raises the spending ceiling, not the support rate. In Business Development Support the rate is 80% for everyone and the limit is TL 2,250,000. If the founder belongs to one of these five groups, TL 250,000 is added to the limit.
The Directive ties it to businesses whose founder is a woman or young and whose jury score is 50 or above. The loan limit is TL 1,000,000, the maturity 36 months, and the support equals 50% of the interest or profit-share rate. The text available grants disabled, veteran and martyr-relative founders no separate right under this item.
The yardstick is your application date, not your birthday as such. If you apply before your 35th birthday, you count as a young founder.
The Business Setup Support Application Form has status fields for young, veteran, first-degree martyr relative and disabled, plus a gender field; disabled applicants enter the disability rate and report number. If the status data does not come through the web service, you can select it by uploading a document.
There are eight three-month periods starting from the month after the support begins, 24 months in total.
Because the gross minimum wage in force on the last day of each period is used. If the minimum wage changes, the payment changes with it.
If sales in a period stay below one gross minimum wage, that period’s condition is not met.
The woman or young founder who will buy machinery or equipment on credit. In capital-heavy businesses such as a workshop, small-scale production or a food business, both the extra TL 250,000 and the interest support are routes worth weighing against the same investment.
When they plan to grow on credit. Performance support and the extra amount are open to them, but the interest burden stays entirely with the business.
Founders close to 35 and teams planning a company with partners. The Directive does not make clear whether “founder is young or a woman” applies to one partner or to the majority. Partner teams should put that question to KOSGEB in writing before applying.
For a founder starting a boutique or handmade products business in Istanbul in autumn 2026, a shop window alone may not be enough. A marketplace account and a simple website keep sales going when customers walk past the door.
For a café, hair salon or workshop, customers search for the business on a map. A Google Business Profile with the right category and current opening hours helps reach the first period’s sales threshold.
Three numbers are enough: total sales for the period, total 4A premium days and days left until the period ends. Average basket size and conversion rate show how far you are from the threshold.
No, the Business Development Support rate is 80% for everyone. For women founders, the difference lies in the extra TL 250,000 on the limit, Performance Costs Support and the right to Interest/Profit Share Support.
In the Directive text available, Interest/Profit Share Support is granted only to women or young founders. A disabled founder can use performance support and the extra TL 250,000.
Under the Directive, the yardstick is the support application date; a person who has not turned 35 on that date counts as a young founder. For later situations, ask KOSGEB directly.