Gamze Cizreli, founder of Turkish hospitality chain BigChefs, speaking at the Forbes 30/50 Summit in Abu Dhabi in March 2023.n 2007, Turkish entrepreneur Gamze Cizreli was starting over from a divorce and in search of funding to start a new business. She’d run a successful cafe in Ankara in the 1990’s and was ready to build a bigger hospitality empire—but didn’t have the capital to get it off the ground.
And so, she took out a bank loan and started BigChefs, a cafe-brasserie and catering-focused hospitality company, entirely on the back of that loan. Within seven years, Cizreli expanded BigChefs into Dubai, and by late 2022 the company had grown to more than 100 locations across Turkey, the U.A.E, Germany, Azerbaijan and beyond., a list of women—produced in partnership with Mika Brzezinski and her Know Your Value initiative—who are stepping into their power in their sixth decade and beyond.
“A brand founded by a woman entrepreneur by a 100% bank loan has been transforming to a corporate transparent company in 16 years time,” Cizreli toldThe BigChefs IPO isn’t the only project Cizreli has been working on in recent months. Following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated parts of Turkey and northern Syria in February, Cizreli has been working to distribute food, build soup kitchens and rebuild restaurants that were decimated by the quake.
“Unfortunately, we’re at the beginning of a long road to recovery,” Cizreli told ForbesWomen editor Maggie McGrath at the Forbes 30/50 Summit in Abu Dhabi in March. “According to the world bank, the damage in the region will be $85 billion.” Watch the video below to hear Cizreli talk more about what it will take for the affected regions to recover, and her message to the international community: