The Most Famous
BUSINESSPEOPLE from Türkiye
This page contains a list of the greatest Turkish Businesspeople. The pantheon dataset contains 847 Businesspeople, 10 of which were born in Türkiye. This makes Türkiye the birth place of the 12th most number of Businesspeople behind Switzerland, and Spain.
Top 10
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Turkish Businesspeople of all time. This list of famous Turkish Businesspeople is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Turkish Businesspeople.
1. Aristotle Onassis (1906 - 1975)
With an HPI of 77.44, Aristotle Onassis is the most famous Turkish Businessperson. His biography has been translated into 58 different languages on wikipedia.
Aristotle Socrates Onassis (, US also ; Greek: Αριστοτέλης Ωνάσης, romanized: Aristotélis Onásis, pronounced [aristoˈtelis oˈnasis]; 20 January 1906 – 15 March 1975) was a Greek and Argentine business magnate. He amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and was one of the world's richest and most famous men. He was married to Athina Mary Livanos, had a long-standing affair with opera singer Maria Callas and was married to American former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Onassis was born in Smyrna in the Ottoman Empire to Greek parents and fled the city with his family to Greece in 1922 in the wake of the burning of Smyrna. He moved to Argentina in 1923 and established himself as a tobacco trader and later a shipping owner during the Second World War. Moving to Monaco, Onassis fought Prince Rainier III for economic control of the country through his ownership of SBM and its Monte Carlo Casino. In the mid-1950s, he sought to secure an oil shipping arrangement with Saudi Arabia and engaged in whaling expeditions. In the 1960s, Onassis attempted to establish a large investment contract—Project Omega—with the Greek military junta and he sold Olympic Airways, which he had founded in 1957. He was greatly affected by the death of his son, Alexander, in 1973 and died two years later.
2. Calouste Gulbenkian (1869 - 1955)
With an HPI of 70.05, Calouste Gulbenkian is the 2nd most famous Turkish Businessperson. His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.
Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (, Western Armenian: Գալուստ Սարգիս Կիւլպէնկեան, romanized: Kalousd Sarkis Giulbêngean; 23 March 1869 – 20 July 1955), was an Ottoman-born British Armenian businessman and philanthropist. He played a major role in making the petroleum reserves of the Middle East available to Western development and is credited with being the first person to exploit Iraqi oil. Following the "Red Line Agreement" (said by some accounts to have been drafted by himself), a fixed 5% of the shares of the Turkish Petroleum Company (later renamed the Iraqi Petroleum Company) were to be consistently owned by him, for which he earned the nickname "Mr. Five Per Cent". Gulbenkian travelled extensively and lived in a number of cities including his birth city of Constantinople and later London, Paris, and finally Lisbon. Throughout his life, Gulbenkian was involved with many philanthropic activities including the establishment of schools, hospitals, and churches. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, a private foundation based in Portugal, was created in 1956 by his bequest and continues to promote arts, charity, education, and science throughout the world. It is now among the largest foundations in Europe. By the end of his life he had become one of the world's wealthiest people and his art acquisitions one of the greatest private collections.
3. Basil Zaharoff (1849 - 1936)
With an HPI of 64.85, Basil Zaharoff is the 3rd most famous Turkish Businessperson. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Basil Zaharoff (born Zacharias Basileios Zacharoff; 6 October 1849 – 27 November 1936) was a Greek arms dealer and industrialist. One of the richest men in the world during his lifetime, Zaharoff was described as both a "merchant of death" and a "mystery man of Europe". His success was forged through his cunning, often aggressive and sharp, business tactics. These included the sale of arms to opposing sides in conflicts, sometimes delivering fake or faulty machinery and skilfully using the press to attack business rivals. Zaharoff maintained close contacts with many powerful political leaders, including British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos and Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
4. Uğur Şahin (b. 1965)
With an HPI of 58.79, Uğur Şahin is the 4th most famous Turkish Businessperson. His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.
Uğur Şahin (Turkish: [uˈuɾ ʃaː.hin]; born 19 September 1965) is a German oncologist and immunologist. He is the co-founder and CEO of BioNTech, which developed one of the major vaccines against COVID-19. His main fields of research are cancer research and immunology. Şahin's family, originally from Turkey, moved to Germany when he was four years old. He grew up in Cologne and studied medicine at the University of Cologne, completing a doctoral thesis there in cancer immunotherapy. He initially remained in academia, in patient care as an oncohematology physician and conducting research at university hospitals in Saarland and Zürich. He founded a research group at the University of Mainz in 2000 and became a professor of experimental oncology in 2006. In 2001, while maintaining his position at the University of Mainz, Şahin began to engage in entrepreneurial activities, co-founding two pharmaceutical companies, in 2001 and 2008, with his partner and spouse Özlem Türeci. The second of these companies, BioNTech, together with Pfizer Inc, developed one of the major vaccines used to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. As a result of the company's increase in value, Şahin and Türeci became the first Germans with Turkish roots among Germany's 100 wealthiest people.
5. Dieter Zetsche (b. 1953)
With an HPI of 58.00, Dieter Zetsche is the 5th most famous Turkish Businessperson. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Dieter Zetsche (German pronunciation: [ˌdiːtɐ ˈtsɛtʃə]; born 5 May 1953) is a German engineer and business executive. He serves as the chairman of TUI AG. Zetsche was the chairman of the board of management at Daimler AG and the head of Mercedes-Benz until 22 May 2019, a position he held since 2006. Additionally, he had been a member of Daimler's board since 1998.
6. Güler Sabancı (b. 1955)
With an HPI of 53.82, Güler Sabancı is the 6th most famous Turkish Businessperson. Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Güler Sabancı (born 1955) is a Turkish businesswoman, a third-generation member of the Sabancı family, and the chairperson of the family-controlled Sabancı Holding, the second-largest industrial and financial conglomerate in Turkey. As of 2023, she was listed as the 77th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes, which first recognized her in 1999.
7. Salt Bae (b. 1983)
With an HPI of 53.74, Salt Bae is the 7th most famous Turkish Businessperson. Her biography has been translated into 31 different languages.
Nusret Gökçe (Turkish: [nusˈɾet ɟœcˈtʃe]; born 1983), better known as Salt Bae, is a Turkish butcher, chef, and restaurateur. Gökçe's technique for preparing and seasoning meat became an internet meme in January 2017. He founded Nusr-Et, a chain of luxury steak houses. As of 2021, Nusr-Et has branches in Turkey, Greece, the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. The name of the restaurant chain comes from his own name and et, which means "meat" in Turkish.
8. Acun Ilıcalı (b. 1969)
With an HPI of 52.69, Acun Ilıcalı is the 8th most famous Turkish Businessperson. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Ali Acun Ilıcalı (Turkish pronunciation: [aˈdʒun ɯˈɫɯdʒaɫɯ]; born 29 May 1969) is a Turkish broadcaster, entrepreneur, international TV producer, and businessman. He is the owner of the TV channels TV8 and TV8.5, Turkey's digital platform Exxen. He is the founder and director of ACUNMEDYA, an international television production company. Several documentaries and programs have been made about Ilıcalı's life, covering his career from sports reporter to media mogul. From 2018 to 2021, he was listed among the 500 most influential businessmen in the media and entertainment sector by Variety magazine.
9. Selçuk Bayraktar (b. 1979)
With an HPI of 49.73, Selçuk Bayraktar is the 9th most famous Turkish Businessperson. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Selçuk Bayraktar (born 7 October 1979) is a Turkish pilot, engineer and businessman. He is the chairman of the board and the chief technology officer of the Turkish technology company Baykar. He is also known as the architect of Turkey's first indigenous unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) Bayraktar TB2 and first unmanned fighter jet Bayraktar Kızılelma. Bayraktar is also the founding chairman of the Turkish Technology Team Foundation.
10. Fikret Orman (b. 1967)
With an HPI of 45.20, Fikret Orman is the 10th most famous Turkish Businessperson. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Fikret Orman (born 4 November 1967) is a Turkish businessman and sports executive.
People
Pantheon has 10 people classified as Turkish businesspeople born between 1849 and 1983. Of these 10, 7 (70.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Turkish businesspeople include Uğur Şahin, Dieter Zetsche, and Güler Sabancı. The most famous deceased Turkish businesspeople include Aristotle Onassis, Calouste Gulbenkian, and Basil Zaharoff. As of April 2024, 2 new Turkish businesspeople have been added to Pantheon including Acun Ilıcalı, and Selçuk Bayraktar.
Living Turkish Businesspeople
Go to all Rankings
Uğur Şahin
1965 - Present
HPI: 58.79
Dieter Zetsche
1953 - Present
HPI: 58.00
Güler Sabancı
1955 - Present
HPI: 53.82
Salt Bae
1983 - Present
HPI: 53.74
Acun Ilıcalı
1969 - Present
HPI: 52.69
Selçuk Bayraktar
1979 - Present
HPI: 49.73
Fikret Orman
1967 - Present
HPI: 45.20
Deceased Turkish Businesspeople
Go to all RankingsAristotle Onassis
1906 - 1975
HPI: 77.44
Calouste Gulbenkian
1869 - 1955
HPI: 70.05
Basil Zaharoff
1849 - 1936
HPI: 64.85
