Turkey stands at the crossroads of the East and West in many ways. Geographically, Istanbul is the only major city on two continents--Europe and Asia. Politically, Turkey is the only major democratic republic with a population that is more than 98 percent Muslim. Economically, Turkey is the 16th largest economy, although vast areas could be considered part of a "least-developed country" by many standards.

With Turkey as a backdrop, KAGIDER (the Turkish women entrepreneur's NGO) and Garanti Bank held their first Women Entrepreneurship and Leadership Summit in June. It was a melting pot of women (and a few men) from North America, Europe, Asia and Africa working to "write history together." It attracted dignitaries from the Obama administration, NATO, the United Nations, the European Union, the World Bank and various Turkish ministries.

The summit produced many action plans. Attendees discussed several joint programs, including an MBA exchange between Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif., and Turkey's Sabanci University in the summers of 2010 and 2011. The Global Women's Leadership Network--part of Santa Clara University--also plans to solicit new participants from Turkey for its Women Leaders for the World program. To date, that program has 80 graduates at work in 27 countries.

Participants also discussed raising $10 million to fund entrepreneurial women's efforts in Turkey.

Here are the facts that make initiatives of this kind so important to Turkish women:

• Only 24 percent of women are employed in Turkey vs. 57 percent in the EU.
• Turkish women entrepreneurs are only 9 percent of total entrepreneurs.
• Women's representation in parliament is only 9 percent.
• Top executive women total only 6 percent.
• Average daily time spent on household duties and child care is five hours.

Several role models had a chance to tell their stories. Among them:

• Meltem Kurtsan. She's the first president of KAGIDER and one of the first businesswomen to talk about women's rights in the male-dominated Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association.
   
• Aysegül Ildeniz. The regional director for Intel Middle East, Turkey and Africa is a young, ambitious and successful top executive.
   
• Vuslat Doğan Sabancı. President of the executive committee of Hurriyet newspaper, she spearheaded a campaign on women's protective media language.
   
• Nakiye Boyacigiller. She's dean of the management faculty at Turkey's Sabancı University, which supports women's entrepreneurship.

It is encouraging to see these and other efforts to support women entrepreneurs in Turkey. During the past three years, Garanti Bank has loaned more than $90 million to women to scale up their businesses. The bank also sponsored seminars in five cities in Anatolia to teach business skills to more than 1,200 women.

Akbank has helped open a new Women's Entrepreneurship and Leadership Center in Istanbul. It will be a hub for entrepreneurs, businesswomen, women leaders and supporters of women's development in Turkey and in the region.

KAGIDER has a mission to develop entrepreneurial women and to raise women's place in the community. The center will serve as a place for training, developing, communicating, empowering, coordinating, gathering and inspiring women.

These efforts have had an impact. Many wrote from Anatolia to say how useful the training is for their success. Some said they were inspired to stay in business by KAGIDER. Others said they are working hard to become members of KAGIDER because women in the KAGIDER network aren't trying to make it alone, without any support.

The success of women entrepreneurs in Turkey goes beyond their individual achievements and even beyond the contribution they are making to the Turkish economy. Their success has empowered other women, too. Today, we see women in Iran standing up for their rights to a fair voting system. From young women to grandmothers, their voices are uniting. So the growth of women's entrepreneurship in Turkey matters to women worldwide because it symbolizes how political and economic freedom can create opportunity for women of any religion.

As the Turkish women reach out to world markets, they need help forming new channels. As their business needs mushroom, they become a market for technologies, equipment and services from many parts of the world. As KAGIDER President Gulseren Onanc said in her opening address, "It is possible that from these entrepreneurial efforts will come a new world order . . . for the welfare of the world in general."

Linda Alepin is Dean's Professor of Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University and founding director of the Global Women's Leadership Network. Previously she worked in the information technology industry, rising to be an officer of a Fortune 200 company and serving as CEO of an early internet startup.

Bahar Kayserilioglu is the owner of KARUNA Management Consultancy in Istanbul. She has served as a KAGIDER board member and headed the organization's entrepreneurship development committee. A graduate of Istanbul Technical University and UCLA, she was an HR manager before establishing her own firm.