Business Diplomat: Envoy and Raider

Every entrepreneur abroad carries two identities. Prof. Dr. Birol Mercan names them with a historical image. In this part of its interview series, Business Diplomat presents his description of that double position and what it asks of a Business Diplomat.

First observation: two perspectives
Having called the businessman an envoy for the other side, Mercan continues: “while from his own side, to use an old term, he is an ‘akıncı’.” The akıncı was the frontier rider of the historical Turkic and Ottoman world, who rode ahead of the main force to explore and open the way. The image suggests daring, initiative and appetite for gain. The same person is an envoy to the host and a pioneer for himself.

Second observation: the art of the balance
Mercan gives the concept its definition: “on the one hand, respect for the values of the country in which you do business; on the other hand, the art of managing the entrepreneur’s profit motive and ambition.” The word “art” is chosen deliberately. It cannot be reduced to a rule. The business diplomat must hold two forces in balance: respect for the host and the entrepreneur’s own drive.

Third observation: ambition is not condemned
Neither side is dismissed. The profit motive and ambition are treated as real and legitimate, to be managed and not suppressed. Respect for the host’s values is equally real. The task is neither to abandon ambition nor to ignore the host, but to channel one in light of the other.

The logic of the assessment
The entrepreneur has a double role: envoy for the host, akıncı for himself. The business diplomat’s skill lies in reconciling the two. The definition places respect and ambition in tension and calls the resolution an art.

The role of Business Diplomat
The platform’s mission is to give young people experience, bring a diplomatic order to the business world, and benefit states by revitalising the economy. The “diplomatic order” the platform wants to bring is an order in which ambition operates within respect. Business Diplomat can help young professionals learn to hold both.

Conclusion
The Business Diplomat is at once an envoy who inspires confidence and a pioneer who pursues gain. The concept is the art of respecting the host country’s values while managing one’s own ambition. Business Diplomat aims to teach that art.