Esma Gulten Named NRW State Winner and National Semi-Finalist

In 2026, Gizil Founder and CEO Esma Gulten was recognized as the winner of the Female Founder Award in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), one of Germany's leading initiatives celebrating innovative female entrepreneurs and high-growth businesses.

Selected among a highly competitive group of founders, the recognition highlighted Gizil's vision of transforming how industrial organizations understand, manage and modernize existing infrastructure through Virtual Plant® and Brownfield Infrastructure Intelligence.

The achievement also advanced Esma Gulten to the national semi-final stage, providing an opportunity to showcase how engineering expertise and digital innovation can help address some of the most pressing challenges facing industry today, including energy transition, workforce transition and infrastructure modernization.

Empowering the Next Generation of Industrial Innovation

The award reflects not only entrepreneurial achievement but also the growing importance of industrial technology in shaping a more resilient and sustainable future.

As industrial organizations navigate increasingly complex transformation journeys, solutions that bridge engineering, operations and digitalization are becoming essential. Through Gizil and Virtual Plant®, Esma Gulten continues to advocate for practical, engineering-driven approaches that help organizations unlock the full potential of their existing infrastructure.

The recognition reinforces Gizil's mission to support industrial transformation while contributing to greater diversity, innovation and leadership within the technology and industrial sectors.