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

Sabancı family The Sabancı family is one of the wealthiest families in Turkey. The family's main business entity was founded by Hacı Ömer Sabancı in the 1930s. Hacı Ömer Sabancı, the progenitor of the Sabancı family, moved from his native Kayseri to Ada ...

in third generation in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Biography

He was born 1959 in

Adana Adana is a large city in southern Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province, Adana province, and has a population of 1 81 ...

as the first son of Hacı Sabancı (1935–1998), son of Hacı Ömer Sabancı (1906–1966), the founder of Turkey's second-largest industrial and financial conglomerate

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 genera ...

. After finishing 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 known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

Newark, Delaware Newark ( )Not as in Newark, New Jersey. is a 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. The University of Delaware is ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. 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 risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

with

DuPont Dupont, DuPont, Du Pont, duPont, or du Pont may refer to: People * Dupont (surname) Dupont, also spelled as DuPont, duPont, Du Pont, or du Pont is a French surname meaning "of the bridge", historically indicating that the holder of the surname re ...

for

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain one or two ester linkages in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include some natura ...

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 fiber Synthetic fibers or synthetic fibres (in British English; see spelling differences) are fibers made by humans through chemical synthesis, as opposed to natural fibers that are directly derived from living organisms, such as plants like cott ...

s Industrialists (CIRFS), headquartered in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. He has left his duties in the

, the family business. 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 founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

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

and its subsidiary, the largest private bank in Turkey, Akbank. 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 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