IEFT

What IEFT does

IEFT (International Education Fairs of Turkey) is a privately held student recruitment fair operator headquartered in Istanbul that has run semi-annual international education fairs across Turkey for over 20 years. Its core product is the IEFT Fairs, held in Istanbul (European and Asian sides), Ankara, and Izmir, drawing approximately 200 institutions from 30+ countries and around 15,000-20,000 Turkish students and parents per event. The 47th IEFT March Fairs in 2026 attracted 45 top-500 global universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, NYU, and LSE.

The company operates a multi-product recruitment ecosystem beyond the in-person fairs. Supporting offerings include the IEFT Talks webinar platform (approximately 2,000 sessions delivered with 500+ universities from 30 countries since the pandemic, priced at 1,000 Euros per session), the Turkish Student Magazine (bi-annual, 20,000 copies per issue), the Turkish High School Counsellors Workshop (3,500 Euros for a single-day event hosting 50 leading Turkish high schools), Country Villages for country-specific pavilions, on-site seminars, the IEFTApp smart data collection tool, and the IEFTONLINE portal integrated with DreamApply for online applications. The company recently introduced a VIP 1-on-1 Meeting Session premium tier and expanded into a High School and Summer School Pavilion.

IEFT generates revenue through six identifiable streams: fair participation fees from universities, fees for premium recruitment services (workshops, seminars, high school visits), IEFT Talks webinar fees, print and digital advertising in Turkish Student Magazine and on turkishstudent.com.tr, web banner corporate memberships, and program-based marketing. Pricing is predominantly transactional per-event or per-unit, with annual subscriptions limited to web banner corporate memberships. The customer base is a long tail of international universities and educational institutions. The company is founder/management-led under General Director Deniz Akar with a lean 7-person core team and no disclosed external investors.

Name

IEFT

Legal name

IEFT

Website

https://ieft.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Short description

IEFT is a privately held Turkish student recruitment fair operator that runs semi-annual in-person education fairs across Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir, connecting 200+ international universities from 30+ countries with approximately 15,000-20,000 Turkish students and parents per event, complemented by webinars, a magazine, and counselor workshops.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Recruitment Services

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Virtual Recruitment Events, Fairs & Webinar Platforms (EDAIACAF)

Keywords

• Student recruitment fairs
• International education events
• Study abroad exhibitions
• Education marketing services
• University recruitment fairs

Headquarters

HQ city

Taksim

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Fair Participation Fees: Universities and educational institutions pay registration fees to participate in IEFT student recruitment fairs in Turkey. The fairs are held semi-annually in major Turkish cities.
2. Additional Recruitment Services: Premium services including Turkish High School Counsellors Workshop (3,500 Euros), high school visits, VIP visitor entrance programs, and on-site seminars (1,000 Euro per seminar)
3. IEFT Talks Webinars: Online webinar sessions for institutions to promote themselves to Turkish students, priced at 1,000 Euros per session
4. Turkish Student Magazine Advertising: Print and digital advertising in Turkish Student Magazine, published twice yearly with 20,000 copies per issue distributed throughout Turkey
5. Web Banner Advertising: Web advertising on turkishstudent.com.tr website with corporate membership options
6. Program-Based Marketing: Marketing services highlighting popular fields such as psychology, engineering, IT, business and law for Turkish visitors

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

IEFT organizes semi-annual student recruitment fairs in Turkey that connect international universities with prospective Turkish students. The organization operates companion digital platforms (IEFTAPP, IEFTONLINE, and IEFT Talks) that extend engagement beyond the physical events.

Product overview

IEFT is the leading international student recruitment fair company in Turkey and the Middle East, operating for over 20 years. The core offering is the IEFT Fairs - semi-annual in-person recruitment events spanning multiple Turkish cities (Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir) with 200+ exhibiting institutions and 15,000+ student attendees per event. This is complemented by the IEFT Talks Webinars online platform (2,000+ sessions delivered), Turkish Student Magazine (20,000-copy bi-annual publication), Country Villages pavilions for country-specific networking, the IEFTApp smart data collection tool, IEFTONLINE portal with DreamApply integration, Turkish High School Counsellors Workshop, on-site seminars, and advertising services. The portfolio operates as a unified student recruitment ecosystem connecting international universities with the Turkish education market.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Turkish Student Magazine: A magazine published twice a year in Turkish language addressing questions students have when investigating study abroad options. Distributed to Turkish high schools, universities, IEFT education fairs, and other distribution channels.
• IEFT Online
• IEFT Talks Webinars
• Turkish High School Counsellors Workshop (THSCW)

Products and services

• IEFT Student Recruitment Fairs Semi-annual physical education fairs held in Turkey where international universities exhibit and recruit prospective Turkish students for study-abroad programs.
• IEFTAPP Mobile application supporting IEFT's fair ecosystem, used by students and universities to engage around recruitment events.
• IEFTONLINE Online platform extending IEFT's fair offerings into a digital environment for year-round student-university engagement.
• IEFT Talks Content/talk programming component associated with IEFT's fairs and digital platforms.

Quantifiable outcome

• Approximately 15,000 students and parents per fair event
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Hilton Istanbul BosphoruscoreOthers · 1 October 2026Premium venue partner for IEFT October 2026 fairs and Turkish High School Counsellors Workshop, providing prestigious location in Istanbul for events
• YEDAB Association of Study Abroad CounselorscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration for EuroAsia Agent Workshop, joining forces to connect international universities with Turkish study abroad counselors
• Hurriyet NewspapercoreGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership for International Education Supplement in Hurriyet newspaper, providing additional marketing reach for fair exhibitors
• Turkish Student Magazine Distribution PartnerscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDistribution network including cultural centers (Fulbright, British Council, Campus France, Cervantes, Aiesec), language schools (250+), education counselling agencies (250+), and international offices at Turkish universities
• Ege Palas Business Hotel (Izmir)minorOthersVenue partner for IEFT October 2026 fair in Izmir
• Sheraton Hotel (Ankara)minorOthersVenue partner for IEFT October 2026 fair in Ankara
• Hilton Kozyatagi (Istanbul Asian Side)minorOthersVenue partner for IEFT October 2026 fair on Istanbul Asian Side

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• EducationUSA: EducationUSA is a U.S. Department of State network of advising centers and college fairs that recruits international students — including Turkish students — for U.S. universities, overlapping IEFT's role as a Turkish-market access channel for American institutions.
• IDP Education: IDP is a publicly-listed global education services company that operates international student placement, IELTS testing, and a portfolio of in-market recruitment events for universities, directly overlapping IEFT's fair-plus-advisory model at much broader geographic scale.

Emerging players

• Studyportals: Studyportals is a digital discovery platform where international students search and compare programs and where universities pay for qualified leads — competing with IEFT's IEFTONLINE portal in the Turkish market but without physical fairs, making it the most relevant digital-disruption adjacency.

Others

• Navitas: Navitas is a global education provider that runs pathway/foundation programs in partnership with universities, often sourcing students via in-country recruitment events and agents in markets like Turkey — adjacent to IEFT as both compete for the Turkish student funnel but via different monetization.
• INTO University Partnerships: INTO partners with universities globally to recruit international students (including from Turkey) into pathway and direct-entry programs, often participating in fairs like IEFT as an exhibitor and operating parallel digital recruitment channels.

Direct peers

• QS Quacquarelli Symonds: QS organizes the QS World University Tour, QS World Grad School Tour, and regional QS-MAP fairs targeting prospective international students in dozens of countries — the closest global analogue to IEFT's in-person student recruitment fair model with universities paying booth and sponsorship fees.
• World Education Fairs: World Education Fairs runs a network of in-person international student recruitment fairs across Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America using the same revenue model (university booth fees, premium workshops, webinars) and customer segment (international universities recruiting students) as IEFT.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@ieftfuarlari
• Facebookfacebook.com/ieftfairsturkey
• Xx.com/IEFTurkey

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about IEFT