Meet Patrick Bosteels, a chief connector-mentor for entrepreneurs as he calls himself. Originally from Belgium he and his Turkish wife Nesen founded Stage-Co, a platform that provides business consultancy services to start-ups and connects them with potential investors and mentors. They permanently reside in Istanbul, but also frequently travel in other cites as the work of Stage-Co has expanded to Izmir, Eskişehir and Ankara.
Why did you come to Istanbul?
I came to Istanbul for the first time in 2012 looking for extra business opportunities for my company in Belgium. My friend introduced me to a local agency that specialized in mobile marketing. Not being sure what I’d find in Istanbul I was pretty reluctant, but once I left the airport I instantly became a fan of the city.
What do you do here?
Recently I got married to Nesen Yücel, who is from Turkey and with whom I work together on our own start-ups. We founded Stage-Co in April 2013. It’s a community of start-ups, investors, mentors, and universities which is now present in four Turkish cities. Another project is CoderDojo, a volunteer program for kids between 6 and 17 years old who learn how to code and develop games, applications, websites etc. Almost all of our time we spend on organizing events and meetings.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced here?
Language is still the biggest challenge along with another culture of doing business. A very good example is the follow-up emails. While being used to working in a 24 hours (max 49 hours) reply delay, one should not be surprised to receive an answer in 14 days. It takes some time to get used to new ways of decision making process, but it’s nothing compared to the language barrier.
The rest wasn’t a problem at all. Personally I got immediately accustomed to the food, the life, the people and the drive of society.
What do you do for fun?
Turkey is a very big and diverse country so for me traveling is still the most pleasant thing to do. I also enjoy discovering new ways of cooking food and learning about new ingredients. One of my first discoveries was mantı, especially from Kayseri in Central Anatolia. It is amazing how each town or neighborhood in Turkey has its own culinary specialties.
Where do unwind/relax? Where is your favorite haunt?
Me and my wife prefer to get out of Istanbul, and if possible go to Izmir for a relaxing environment. Fortunately, her parents live in Göztepe close to the Aegean Sea, where we love to go for long walks alongside the water. From there it’s only one-hour drive to Balıklıova, a small town at the sea, where we can stay in a summerhouse. It’s an authentic town with no comfort and few tourists, but with very good food.
What has been your biggest surprise about Istanbul?
What surprised me the most was Istanbul’s ambivalence. It’s a huge modern city with over 15 million people and crazy urbanization. On the other hand it’s still very disorganized. I would say Istanbul is like a puzzle, and your happiness living here mostly depends on getting the pieces right.
Do you have any advice for other expats?
My advice to expats, both those who consider Istanbul as a very temporary place of stay and those who intend to live here for a longer period of time, would be:
1. Try to learn and speak Turkish, because knowing the language opens many doors. Also communicate with locals to better understand what matters here and what is great to explore;
2. Go outside Istanbul. Turkey was a place where modern civilization originated and it offers so many wonderful places to see. You will be amazed when visiting the renovated part of Ankara, or the river with many colorful bridges in Eskişehir or little villages like Adatepe.
