Vehbi Koç
Encyclopedia
Vehbi Koç born in Çoraklı, Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....

, Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

, was a Turkish entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

 and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...

. He founded the Koç Group
Koç Holding
Koç Holding A.Ş. is the top industrial conglomeratein Turkey. The Koç family, one of Turkey's wealthiest families, controls the company with its headquarter in Nakkaştepe, Istanbul...

, one of Turkey’s largest and most prestigious group of companies. During his lifetime he came to be one of Turkey's richest citizens.

Vehbi Koç was a very active businessman in industrialization, institutionalization, professional administration and, through his charitable foundations, in education, health, and social services.

Career

Vehbi Koç began his working career in 1917 at the small grocery store his father opened in Ankara for him. His first firm called "Koçzade Ahmet Vehbi" was registered in 1926 at the Ankara Chamber of Commerce. While dealing with commerce, he became the local representative of Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

 and Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...

 (presently Mobil
Mobil
Mobil, previously known as the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, was a major American oil company which merged with Exxon in 1999 to form ExxonMobil. Today Mobil continues as a major brand name within the combined company, as well as still being a gas station sometimes paired with their own store or On...

) 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
Eskisehir
Eskişehir is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. According to the 2009 census, the population of the city is 631,905. The city is located on the banks of the Porsuk River, 792 m above sea level, where it overlooks the fertile Phrygian Valley. In the nearby...

 in 1938, Koç gathered its enterprises under the company Koç Ticaret A.Ş.

Having convinced General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

, he signed an agreement in 1948 to build a light bulb factory, which opened in 1952. Koç took important steps in industry in the 1950s and manufactured automobiles, household appliances, radiators, electronic devices, textiles and matches. Factories like Bozkurt Mensucat, Arçelik
Arçelik
Arçelik A.Ş. is a household appliances manufacturer in Turkey. The Company engages in the production and marketing of durable goods, components, consumer electronics and after-sale services...

 (1955), Demir Dokum (1954), Turkay, Aygaz
Aygaz
Aygaz is the largest liquefied natural gas distributing company in Turkey and the second largest in Europe with 1,356 cylinder gas dealers and 536 gas stations.-External links:*...

 (1962), Gazal, Turk Elektrik Endustrisi and a joint cable factory with Siemens
Siemens AG
Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....

 were founded. In addition tractor production started under the Fiat
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...

 license. The first initiative by Koç in the automotive sector turned eventually to a full-scale industry. Following an agreement with Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

 in 1959 to assemble trucks, today’s prominent automotive company Otosan came to life. Following the production of the first domestic mass-production car Anadol
Anadol
Anadol was Turkey's first domestic mass-production passenger vehicle, and the second Turkish car after the ill-fated Devrim sedan of 1961.Anadol cars and pick-ups were manufactured by Otosan Otomobil Sanayii in Istanbul between 1966 and 1991....

 in 1966 and in line with improving economic activities in Turkey, Vehbi Koç collaborated with the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 company FIAT
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...

 to establish Tofaş
Tofas
Tofaş is a Turkish automaker, based in Bursa, Turkey, where also a plant of the company is located. It builds Fiat models under license and also some locally-designed vehicles...

 in 1968 resulting in the production of the second domestic car Murat in 1971. Today's giant automotive industry and the supporting industries all stemmed from the tiny spark initiated by Vehbi Koç.

Vehbi Koç collected all of the companies bearing his name under the same roof in 1963 and founded Koç Holding A.Ş. achieving a major step in the economic life of Turkey. The new companies strengthened the Holding. The holdings era in Turkey started with this step by Vehbi Koç and a great number of businessmen followed him. The group also has international partnerships with well-known companies such as Fiat, Ford Motor Co., Yamaha
Yamaha Motor Company
, is a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company. Yamaha Motor is part of Yamaha Corporation and its headquarter is located in Iwata, Shizuoka. Along with expanding Yamaha Corporation into the world's biggest piano maker, then Yamaha CEO Genichi Kawakami took Yamaha into the field of motorized...

 and Allianz
Allianz
SE is a global financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core business and focus is insurance. As of 2010, it was the world's 12th-largest financial services group and 23rd-largest company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine.Its Allianz Global Investors...

.

In his 76-year career, he created an immense organization with more than 108 companies in the Koç Group, all of which are specialized in different sectors such as food, retailing, finance, energy, automotives, tourism and technology. The Koç Group has 80,000 employees, ca.$40 billion turnover, $900 million of exports and $500-600 million of investment annually. Today, it is one of the world's 200 largest enterprises.

Vehbi Koç retired in 1984 to devote more time to social activities. His son Rahmi Koç took over the leadership of the Koç Group companies.

Social activities

Vehbi Koç, after handing over his work in the Holding to professional executives, began to deal with social and charitable foundation services. He founded an Eye Bank at the Faculty of Medicine of Ankara University
Ankara University
Ankara University is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in the Turkish Republic....

, a Cardiology Institute at the Faculty of Medicine of Istanbul University
Istanbul University
Istanbul University is a Turkish university located in Istanbul. The main campus is adjacent to Beyazıt Square.- Synopsis :A madrasa, a religious school, was established sometime in the 15th century after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. An institution of higher education named the...

, the Turkish Education Foundation (Türk Eğitim Vakfı), and the Vehbi Koç Student Dorm at ODTÜ (METU) .

He also established the Vehbi Koç Foundation on January 17, 1969 to promote activities in the field of education, health and culture. Vehbi Koç donated the Atatürk Library in Taksim
Taksim
Taksim was the objective of Turkish Cypriots who supported a partition of the island of Cyprus into Turkish and Greek portions, a concept declared as early as 1957 by Dr. Fazil Küçük...

, Istanbul to the Municipality of Istanbul in 1976 and in 1980 opened Turkey’s first private museum, the Sadberk Hanim Museum
Sadberk Hanim Museum
The Sadberk Hanım Museum is a private museum located at the Bosporus in Büyükdere neighborhood of Sarıyer district in Istanbul, Turkey, which was established by the Vehbi Koç Foundation in memory of Vehbi Koç’s deceased wife Sadberk. The museum is open every day except Wednesdays.-Buildings:The...

 in memory of his deceased wife Sadberk Koç.

Vehbi Koc
Vehbi Koç
Vehbi Koç , born in Çoraklı, Ankara, Ottoman Empire, was a Turkish entrepreneur and philanthropist. He founded the Koç Group, one of Turkey’s largest and most prestigious group of companies...

 was the honorary chairman for Gençlerbirliği S.K. in Ankara. http://futbol.turksportal.net/futbolhaber/8829/ilhan-cavcav-tarihe-gecti.htm

Vehbi Koç Vakfı Koç Özel Lisesi (The Koç High School) was opened in 1987, and Koç University
Koç University
Koç University is a private, non-profit institution, founded in 1993 and located in Istanbul, Turkey. One of the top universities in Turkey, it is supported by the financial resources of the Vehbi Koç Foundation, set up by Vehbi Koç, a leading Turkish businessman, “to serve humanity by increasing...

 opened its classroom doors in 1993.

Understanding the importance of family planning in Turkey, Vehbi Koç established the Türkiye Aile Sağlığı ve Planlaması Vakfı (The Turkish Family Health and Planning Foundation) and functioned as the president of the foundation until his death.

Death

Vehbi Koç died due to heart failure on February 25, 1996 at 18:33 local time in a hotel in Antalya
Antalya
Antalya is a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey. With a population 1,001,318 as of 2010. It is the eighth most populous city in Turkey and country's biggest international sea resort.- History :...

, where he was with his daughter Sevgi and son-in-law for celebrating a religious holiday. His corpse was transported the same evening to Istanbul by the Koç Holding
Koç Holding
Koç Holding A.Ş. is the top industrial conglomeratein Turkey. The Koç family, one of Turkey's wealthiest families, controls the company with its headquarter in Nakkaştepe, Istanbul...

's business jet
Business jet
Business jet, private jet or, colloquially, bizjet is a term describing a jet aircraft, usually of smaller size, designed for transporting groups of up to 19 business people or wealthy individuals...

. On February 27, 1996, after funeral service held at the holding's headquarter and later in Fatih Mosque
Fatih Mosque
The Fatih Mosque or Conqueror's Mosque in English) is an Ottoman imperial mosque located in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. It was one of the largest examples of Turkish-Islamic architecture in Istanbul and represented an important stage in the development of classic Turkish...

, he was laid to rest at the Zincirlikuyu Cemetery
Zincirlikuyu Cemetery
The Zincirlikuyu Cemetery is a modern burial ground at the European part of Istanbul, Turkey. It is administered by the Metropolitan Municipality. Many prominent figures from the world of politics, business, sports and arts rest here....

.
He is succeeded by his son Rahmi Koç
Rahmi Koç
Rahmi Mustafa Koç is a Turkish businessmanBorn in Ankara as the only son of one of Turkey's wealthiest man Vehbi Koç, he attended high school at Robert College in Istanbul after his primary education in Ankara. Rahmi Koç then studied at the Johns Hopkins University in the U.S. and received his B.A...

 (1930), and his daughters Semahat Arsel (1928), Sevgi Gönül (1938–2003) and Suna Kıraç (1941).

Snatching of his body

On October 24, 1996, the corpse of Vehbi Koç was snatched from his grave. After some time, the body snatchers called the Koç family
Koç family
The Koç family is a Turkish dynasty of business people founded by Vehbi Koç, one of the wealthiest self-made people in Turkey. His grandsons, the third generation of the Koç family, today run Turkey’s largest and prestigious group of companies....

 and demanded a ransom
Ransom
Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved.In an early German law, a similar concept was called bad influence...

. As the family refused to pay, they applied to the TV channel Kanal D
Kanal D
Kanal D is a nation-wide television channel in Turkey and part of Doğan Holding which is owned by the Turkish media tycoon Aydın Doğan.Kanal D also runs an international channel, Euro D which is available online....

, owned by Aydın Doğan
Aydin Dogan
Aydın Doğan is a Turkish entrepreneur and businessman.-Biography:Born in 1936 as a member of a well-known family in Kelkit, Aydin Dogan got his elementary and secondary school education in Kelkit and finished high-school in Erzincan...

, demanding 20 billion TL (around US$210,000 at that time). Since Kanal D showed no interest, the body snatchers called the TV channel InterStar, owned then by Cem Uzan
Cem Uzan
Cem Cengiz Uzan is a Turkish businessman and politician of Bosnian ancestry involved in the media and banking industries, while also chairing the right-populist Young Party. His family's media empire includes both television stations and print media...

, and reached an agreement to release the corpse against 25 billion TL (around US$260,000). Informed by the TV channel, the police captured two suspects, who came to the meeting point in a stolen car. Later, three other accomplices, including a woman and a hotel owner, were also arrested. Vehbi Koç's corpse was found in another grave at the same cemetery not far from his resting place.

At the request of the public prosecutor, the remains were taken to the city forensic medicine laboratory for identification by DNA profiling. Finally, the remains were reinterred in the presence of the family members.

Awards

The International Chamber of Commerce
International Chamber of Commerce
The International Chamber of Commerce is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. Its hundreds of thousands of member companies in over 130 countries have interests spanning every sector of private enterprise....

 declared Vehbi Koç "The Businessman of the Year" in 1987, and he received a plaque in New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

 from the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n prime minister Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Ratna Gandhi was the sixth Prime Minister of India . He took office after his mother's assassination on 31 October 1984; he himself was assassinated on 21 May 1991. He became the youngest Prime Minister of India when he took office at the age of 40.Rajiv Gandhi was the elder son of Indira...

.

In 1994, the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 awarded him as president of The Turkish Family Health and Planning Foundation for the successful work of the foundation. Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1992 to December 1996...

 presented the "World Family Planning Award" to Vehbi Koç on June 14, 1994.

Publications

  • "Hayat Hikayem" (Story of My Life), 1973 (Turkish and English)
  • "Hatıralarım, Görüşlerim, Öğütlerim" (My Memories, Visions, Advices), 1987 (Turkish and English)

Quotes

In "Targets and Principles", a document published for employees working in his companies, he states, "My constitutional law is this: I exist if my country and my state exists. We all exist if there is democracy. We must put in our best efforts into strengthening the economy of our country. As our economy strengthens, democracy will take a stronger hold and our credibility in the world will increase".

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK