Papara, Turkey’s leading financial technology company with over 21 million users, has teamed up with young people to create a groundbreaking youth initiative. Papara listens to the voices of young people and will implement social benefit-oriented projects to find solutions to the problems of young people in the Papara Youth Division, which it has established with an innovative management model, a first among corporate structures.

Papara Youth Ambassadors spoke about their dreams and goals

Nearly 9,000 students from universities across Turkey have registered for the open call to determine which young people will be included in the Papara Youth Division. As a result of extensive post-application evaluations and interviews, six Youth Ambassadors were determined to represent the Papara Youth Department’s first term.

He continues his bachelor’s degree in the Departments of Business, Electronics and Electronics, Computer, Software and Mathematics of Turkey’s major universities such as Middle East Technical University, Yıldız Technical University, İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa, TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Izmir High Technology University. Young ambassadors from the Papara Youth Department took the stage at the launch and introduced themselves and shared their future goals and what they wanted to achieve as youth ambassadors.

Youth, who bring hope to participants with their energy, passion and courage, will transform their ideas and dreams into social benefit projects by receiving training and mentoring during the six-month period they work. At the same time, young people who will act as reverse mentors to Papara leaders will contribute to Papara’s dynamic and innovative structure.

“Don’t listen to anyone and follow what you believe in”

Emre Kenci, CEO of Papara, explained the vision of Papara’s Youth Division at the launch event: “As a brand that draws its strength from youth, we wanted to invest in youth and create a permanent structure for youth empowerment. At the same time, we said that we should not decide what to do for young people. “We brought young people into our team with the idea that young people know the problems of young people best and they will create the solution,” he said. “We do not want to lose the young talents of our country. “We want to reveal their potential by offering them different opportunities and giving them the support they need to achieve their dreams,” said Kenci, giving the youth the message: “Don’t listen to anyone and follow your dreams and what you believe in.”

The common denominator problems of young people are ‘inability to take action’ and ‘internalized hopelessness’

The results of the research that Papara conducted in collaboration with FutureBright Group and Platon.Ai were also shared during the event. As part of the study, the authorized and anonymized data of the young people who registered with the Papara Youth Department were analyzed with artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, as well as the social media interactions and behavior of young people in Turkey with similar profiles in Turkey, with reference here. The results revealed the common problems, concerns and concerns of young people. According to the results of the survey, the inability to take action, internalized hopelessness and feelings of refuge in conformity emerged among the common problems of young people. While 1 in 10 young people are concerned about their mental health, it has also been found that every problem in young people’s lives is connected. The first two places were future anxiety at 29.7% and economic and financial problems at 23.1%.

Evaluating the research results, FutureBright Group Founding Partner Akan Abdula said: “This research, in which we analyzed not only the words but also the actual behavior of more than 80,000 young people from across Turkey, goes beyond understanding the problems of youth. This research clearly shows the youth dynamics that shape the future. By analyzing 107,884 data points, 44,900 complex text structures and 1,735,656 words, we gained an in-depth understanding of the economic, psychological and social challenges of young people. Amid these motivations, Papara did not remain indifferent to the voices of youth and took action by immediately activating the Youth Division. This step by Papara is not only a search for solutions to the problems of young people, but also the beginning of a movement that touches their dreams and builds the future with hope and courage. “If everything you do is meaningful, young people will feel like their voices are really heard.”

The voices of young people met digital art

Digital artworks inspired by the ideas, problems and future expectations of young people added another dimension to the launch. The digital artwork of the young artist and musician Can Memişoğulları, known for his works that combine sound, visual media and interactive technology, presented with impressive visuality the driving force that young people need to overcome the feeling of stuckness they experience and to take a step forward. Musician and writer Beyza Doğuç, who pushes the boundaries of art with the limitless possibilities of artificial intelligence, converted the lyrics in which young people described their problems and dreams in their Youth Department applications into song lyrics and composed them with the help of artificial intelligence. Doğuç also designed a music video using artificial intelligence and combined it with the song he composed.