Vehbi Koc

What drives Vehbi Koç in establishing his businesses? What motivates him?

As Vehbi was growing he always saw differences among the children of poor and rich. he wanted to be one of those horse riders instead of riding a donkey. The desire to be rich motivated Vehbi in establishing his own business.

He started with a small grocery store and then started looking for new opportunities.

He diversified his business rapidly and by 1960's had 93 businesses under his umbrella.

What were the most important factors for Vehbi Koç to initially develop his businesses up to the 1950s?

* Emergence of new business opportunities in Ankara as it became the capital of modern turkey.

* Since Vehbi had little knowledge of the new business he was going to set up he would hire professionals in those business. e.g. when he started the leather business he hired Hiya Elmalaki.

* In 1923 the republic of turkey wanted to create a secular and modern state that changed many laws and organized efforts were made to create a business class. The government gave tax allowances and exemptions and also gave custom exemptions thus promoting businesses in turkey. Government provided several types of financial incentives, assigned profitable sectors to private business. The Turkish government promoted the settlement of business at that time.

* Government was promoting the next generation of entrepreneurs.

How did Vehbi Koç build his business group after the 1950s? How does his business group grow so much?

After 1950 the democrat party came in power and the Turkish economic policies became more liberal.

While the government did own some sectors it relied heavily on private firms to drive growth. Incentives were offered by the government and no foreign investors were allowed to promote local business to grow.

All these policies and also his good relationships with the government helped him grow during this period.

Apart from this Vehbi travelled to US in 1946 to establish relationships with multinational firms such as GE and US rubber to bring new business to turkey.

He always remained ready to grab the any new opportunities and he diversified his business largely.

Is this a sustainable business model as Turkey liberalized from the 1980s?It is not a sustainable business model.

As the Turkish government liberalizes it would be difficult for company to clear FDI for western companies as business is dependent on the partnerships of those companies. The Turkish government abolishes various laws and foreign firms could enter the state.