Vehbi Koç

Vehbi Koç (20 July 1901, Çoraklı, Ankara, Ottoman Empire – 25 February 1996) was a Turkish entrepreneur and philanthropist. He founded the Koç Group, one of Turkey’s largest groups of companies. During his lifetime he came to be one of Turkey's richest citizens.

Early life

Vehbi Koç was born in 1901 in Çorakalı, a predominately Muslim neighborhood in Ankara. Vehbi Koç then lived in a vineyard estate located in the Keçiören district near Ankara. Purchased by his father in 1923, the property, which was left vacant after the Kasapyan family escaped the Armenian Genocide, was later acquired by Koç and became the Vehbi Koç museum in 1944 after a thorough renovation.

Career

Koç began his working career in 1917 at the small grocery store his father opened in Ankara for him. The first firm he established was "Koçzade Ahmet Vehbi" and was registered in 1926 at the Ankara Chamber of Commerce. While dealing with commerce, he became the local representative of Ford Motor Company and Standard Oil (presently Mobil) in 1928. When Ankara became the capital of young Turkish Republic, construction activities increased and Vehbi Koç began trading in construction materials, building supplies and hardware. Following establishment of branch offices in Istanbul and Eskişehir in 1938, Koç gathered its enterprises under the company Koç Ticaret A.Ş.