Ömer Sabancı (born 1959) is a Turkish businessman and a member of the Turkey's second-wealthiest

Sabancı family The Sabancı family is one of the wealthiest families in Turkey according to the Forbes billionaires list of 2016, with an estimated fortune ranging between $20–30 billion. The family's main business entity was founded by Hacı Ömer Sabancı in ...

in third generation. He is the ex-chairman of the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TÜSİAD). Due to the shares he still possesses at several companies under

Sabancı Holding Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding A.Ş., commonly abbreviated as Sabancı Holding, is an industrial and financial conglomerate with headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey. The company's primary activities are in financial services, energy (electricity generat ...

and the holding he founded, Densa Holding, his net worth is estimated to be $3 billion, which makes him one of the richest people in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

Biography

He was born 1959 in

Adana Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million. Adana lies in the heart of Cilicia, wh ...

as the first son of

Hacı Sabancı Hacı Sabancı (25 June 1935 – 26 June 1998) was a Turkish businessman and philanthropist, and a member of the second generation of the renowned Sabancı family. He was born in the Akçakaya village of Kayseri Province as the third son ...

(1935–1998), son of

Hacı Ömer Sabancı Hacı Ömer Sabancı (1 January 1906 – 2 February 1966) was a Turkish entrepreneur, who founded a number of companies, which later formed the second largest industrial and financial conglomerate of Turkey, the Sabancı Holding. He initiate ...

(1906–1966), the founder of Turkey's second-largest industrial and financial conglomerate

. After finishing the high school at Tarsus American College in Tarsus, province Mersin, he was educated in Economics at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 ma ...

Newark, Delaware Newark ( )Not as in Newark, New Jersey. is a small city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It is located west-southwest of Wilmington. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city is 31,454. Newark is home to the Uni ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Ömer Sabancı worked first in a number of family-owned companies in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. Upon returning to Turkey, he was promoted to the top management in SaSA, and held this position for 15 years. In 2000, he initiated a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

with DuPont for polyester fabric production, and became president of the newly founded DupontSA. Ömer Sabancı was elected chairman of the Turkish Businesspeople Association (TÜSİAD) on January 22, 2004, and his term ended in January 2007. He is also president of the European Association of Synthetic fibers Industrialists (CIRFS), headquartered in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. He has left his duties in the

, the family business, but is still a major shareholder. He has started his own businesses. He has made partnerships with Demir Sabanci and Yalcin Sabanci. They have founded Doysa VIP Air, Inc., a private jet charter company. He has shares in Odesa Polymer, a company which produces and exports Turkey's only recyclable foldable crates. They are manufactured at Odesa Polymer's plant, located at Duzce Industrial Zone, directed by Dr. Naim H. Alemdaroglu. Furthermore, he owns an electronic retailing company, Electroworld Turkey. He has been listed as a billionaire by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

''. The majority of his wealth comes from his stakes in the family company

and its subsidiary, the largest private bank in Turkey,

Akbank Akbank T.A.Ş. is one of the largest banks in Turkey. Founded in 1948, , it had revenues of nearly TL 13.7 billion. Listed on the Borsa Istanbul, its largest shareholders are members of the Sabancı family. Akbank is a bank that offers vehicle ...

. He also has stakes in several subsidiaries of Sabancı Holding. He married Arzu in 1986 and has three children; Hacı Sabancı (born 1987), Hakan Sabancı (born 1991), and Kerim Sabancı (born 1996). Hacı, after finishing Saint-Benoit French high school, continued education at Tufts University in the US and achieved his bachelor's degree in economics. He is the elder brother of the late

Mehmet Sabancı Mehmet Sabancı (April 25, 1963 – November 9, 2004), a member in third generation of the renowned Sabancı family in Turkey, was a businessman. Mehmet was born on April 25, 1963 in Adana as the third child and the second son of Hacı Sabancı ...

and Demet Çetindoğan.

References

Biography in Economic Research Forum
* NetHaber.com
''Brief biography of Ömer Sabancı''
Ömer Sabancı, TÜSİAD’ı bırakıyor. 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sabanci, Omer 1959 births Living people Businesspeople from Adana Tarsus American College alumni Omer Sabanci Turkish billionaires Turkish expatriates in the United States University of Delaware alumni