Scheduled · 8–9 September 2026 · Istanbul
Istanbul Congress Center, early September 2026. The Turkish SME forum where Georgian SME founders, partner-network teams and B2B service providers meet regional peers. We plan apparel, giveaways, lead gifts and VIP kits for the Tbilisi-to-Istanbul working swing.
KOSGEB SME Forum is the Turkish SME forum that gathers regional small and medium businesses, partner-network teams, B2B service providers and public-funding representatives in Istanbul. For Georgian SME founders, partner-network teams and the wider Enterprise Georgia cohort, it is the closest regional SME-forum date on the calendar and a useful European-adjacent landing pad for partner conversations. Many combine the trip with a partner swing through the wider Turkish business ecosystem and use the merch programme as the brand layer for the whole regional cycle.
The ICC venue sits in the Harbiye district of Şişli with a strict loading-dock policy. For a Tbilisi-based team the production decision is a geography decision: most apparel and paper-based items are produced in Tbilisi or Batumi for short Caucasus freight lanes; technical items like power banks, insulated bottles and metal pen sets are usually sourced from a Turkish regional partner with Türkiye import clearance already in place.
The early-September timing places the KOSGEB Forum in the autumn regional SME cycle, ahead of the wider European autumn SME season. Many Caucasus teams stack the Istanbul trip with a partner swing through the wider Turkish business ecosystem and use the merch programme as the brand layer for the whole cycle.
Polos and T-shirts in two colourways, plus a lightweight zip layer for the often-cool early-September Istanbul air-conditioned halls. Sizes run across the full shift rotation. Name plates in English and a Georgia or partner-network mark on the sleeve are standard.
Lanyards with badge category colour, heavy cotton tote bags with internal pocket, A5 notebooks with pen loop, metal ballpoint pens, and 500ml insulated bottles. Quantities sized for full two-day hand-out across the forum floor.
10,000 mAh power banks, USB-C cables, slim cardholders and the occasional branded AirPods-style case. Reserved for qualified partner conversations and stored behind the counter.
A6 leather-look notebooks with metal pen, compact gift boxes with Georgian-origin items for visiting regional managers and European partners, slim cardholders for the speaker pack. Delivered by hand to the named contact.
ICC is a controlled-access convention venue with strict loading-dock windows. For a Tbilisi team the production split is the same as for other regional stops: apparel, paper, tote bags and pens produced in Tbilisi or Batumi and shipped overland via the BTK railway or via air freight into Istanbul; electronics, drinkware and metal items from a Turkish regional partner with ICC delivery experience.
The BTK railway corridor from Georgia through Azerbaijan to the Turkish border has matured into a real option for time-sensitive Caucasus-to-Türkiye freight. A Tbilisi–Istanbul BTK leg takes roughly three to four days including customs, which compares well with sea freight via Poti or Batumi ports for non-urgent apparel and paper SKUs. We plan the freight lane per SKU based on the production completion date.
Customs paperwork for the Georgia leg is straightforward for apparel and paper; electronics need Turkish conformity paperwork, which a Turkish partner will already hold. The freight split also keeps the consignment size sensible — a single pallet of apparel from Georgia plus a single Turkish pallet of electronics is easier to move through the ICC loading yard than a single mixed pallet.
For the wider Caucasus SME-forum pattern, see the Automechanika Istanbul 2026 brief (a different Istanbul hall, automotive audience) and the BIF Business Forum 2026 page (a Caucasus business forum). For overland freight planning across the BTK corridor, see the cross-border merch shipping playbook.
For a Tbilisi-based SME team, running a stand at KOSGEB SME Forum in Istanbul is a logistics problem disguised as a marketing problem. The forum itself is the easy part: ICC provides clean booth builds, standard booth power, and shared Wi-Fi across the two-day programme. What the team controls is the merch layer over the shell, and the merch layer is what survives the Caucasus–Türkiye corridor better if it was planned with the BTK railway and overland freight lanes in mind from day one.
The most common KOSGEB merch pattern we see from Georgian SME teams falls into three buckets. The first is the home-courier run: a single account manager flies from Tbilisi International or Batumi to Istanbul with a check-in suitcase plus one large hold item containing the full booth allocation. This pattern works for a small booth and an order below roughly 30 kg; the merch has to be light, durable and well-packed to survive the trip and the ICC loading window. The second is the split plan that we recommend for most Caucasus teams: apparel, paper, tote bags and pens produced in Tbilisi or Batumi and shipped via the BTK railway or via air freight into Istanbul, electronics, drinkware and metal items from a Turkish regional partner with ICC delivery experience. The third is the partner-stock pattern: a regional Turkish SME or partner-network holds a pre-built consignment, and the Georgian team arrives with carry-on apparel only, picking up the rest on day zero.
The split plan is the most resilient for KOSGEB. It survives a road closure at Sarpi (because the electronics allocation is sourced inside Türkiye), survives a missed BTK slot (because the apparel can be re-shipped from Tbilisi via the next available routing through TBS or BUS), and survives an ICC venue delivery rule change (because the Turkish partner usually knows the new rule faster than the Tbilisi supplier does). The trade-off is cost: a split plan is more expensive per unit than a single consolidated consignment, but the consistency gain is real for the team that has to be on the stand on day one.
For Tbilisi-based teams that combine KOSGEB with a wider partner swing through Türkiye — typically Istanbul, Bursa and a short visit to Ankara or Izmir — the merch programme can be planned as a multi-leg consignment. The ICC stand allocation is the main share; a smaller reserve is held at the team's Istanbul hotel for partner dinners; and a Tbilisi-return set is held back for delegation members flying back at different times. The hotel-reserve pattern is what lets the team talk about a Caucasus-deliverable programme without carrying the full booth allocation to every dinner.
The KOSGEB audience overlaps more with the regional Türkiye–Caucasus SME ecosystem than with the broader international forum crowd. That means the merch brief is closer to a partner-network brief than a generic trade-show brief: the booth team is talking to SME founders, partner-network representatives, public-funding teams and the visiting wider European and Asian partner community, most of whom already know the brand names, and who decide whether to stop within a few seconds of seeing the stand. The merch that survives that test is one that reads clean, says something about the brand in under a glance, and gives the team something useful to hand over after a substantive conversation.
For most Caucasus teams the apparel layer is the cleanest place to make a brand statement. A polo in two colourways, a lightweight zip layer for the often-cool early-September Istanbul air-conditioned halls, and a T-shirt for the floor team cover the main team rotations; sizes run across XS to XXL because the KOSGEB audience brings a wider partner-network team profile than the typical regional conference. The booth number on the back of the polo is standard, and a subtle Georgian or partner-network mark on the sleeve reinforces the Caucasus-delegation position without dominating the design.
The giveaway layer needs two distinct splits. The general giveaway (two thirds of the consignment) covers lanyards, tote bags, notebooks, pens and 500ml insulated bottles, sized for full two-day hand-out across the forum floor. The reserved lead-capture allocation (one third) covers power banks, USB-C cables, slim cardholders and the occasional branded AirPods-style case, and stays behind the counter for qualified partner conversations. The split matters because it forces the team to make a deliberate choice about who gets the reserved allocation, and that choice is where most of the post-show follow-up happens.
The VIP and speaker layer is the smallest allocation but the highest-touch. A6 leather-look notebooks with a slim metal pen, compact gift boxes with Georgian-origin items (Mtavruli-branded honey, Mukhrani or Tsinandali wines, adjika from the Kakheti region, or premium brandies from the parent Partnership Fund portfolio), and slim cardholders for the speaker pack make up the kit. The kit is delivered by hand to the named contact, and the delivery moment is often the most useful conversation slot of the day for the team.
Yes, for non-urgent apparel and paper SKUs the BTK leg is a sensible option. The end-to-end transit is three to four days including customs. For time-sensitive electronics we still recommend a Turkish partner sourcing direct.
Two thirds general giveaway (lanyards, totes, pens, small notebooks) sized for full two-day hand-out, and one third reserved for lead-capture gifts handed over after a qualified partner conversation.
Yes. A bilingual Georgian–English mark on a sleeve, a back-of-tee imprint, or a packaging insert is a useful Caucasus-delegation signal at a regional SME forum. We check artwork against the KOSGEB Forum programme before submission.
No. Corp-Merch is an independent supplier that helps participating companies prepare their own merch. It does not organise, sponsor or represent KOSGEB SME Forum, ICC or any partner venue linked to the programme.
Corp-Merch is an independent supplier to participating companies. This page is for exhibitors planning their own KOSGEB SME Forum merch programme; it does not represent the organiser, ICC, the venue or any sponsor.