Çelebi Holding Vice Chairperson Canan Çelebioğlu Tokgöz has been elected the “Businesswoman of the Year” as a result of the “White Gold Turkey Entrepreneurship Awards Poll”, European Union's biggest organization in economy and held for the third time by the Association of Entrepreneurial Industrialists and Businessmen of Eskişehir (EGSİAD). Canan Çelebioğlu Tokgöz was presented her award by the President Abdullah Gül at the ceremony held on May 6 at Osmangazi University Sports and Congress Hall. The guest of honor of the ceremony, President Gül and his wife Hayrünnisa Gül were also among the award winners at the ceremony. President Gül received his “World's Entrepreneur for Peace” award from the ambassadors for Afghanistan and Pakistan, while Hayrünnisa Gül, honored with “Yunus Emre Award for Contribution to Love and Education”, was presented her award by Mehmet Kılıçlar, Mayor of Eskişehir, and his wife Assistant Professor Arzu Kılıçlar.
The award winners have been named from amongst nominated businesspeople by public assessment and voting carried out at eight locations. The number of the people of Eskişehir that cast votes to determine the winners numbered 25,000 this year. Other awards distributed are as follows: Hamdi Akın – Entrepreneurial Businessman of the Year; Durmuş Yılmaz – Bureaucrat of the Year; Ekrem Dumanlı – Journalist of the Year; Finans Cafe hosted by Melda Yücel –Best TV Program of the Year; Turkish State Railways and Süleyman Karaman – Innovation of the Year; Abant Platform – NGO of the Year. At the ceremony, Yusuf Ziya Özcan, president of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), was presented with “EGSİAD Prof. Sabahattin Zaim Science Award”, while Semih Kaplanoğlu, the winner of the Golden Bear for his film Honey, has been honored with the Yunus Emre Award for Culture and the Arts, and Firuzan Kanatlı, representing ETİ Group of Companies, received the Eskişehir Award for Brand Contribution.