Vehbi Koç was born in 1901 in Ankara’s Çoraklık district. Although like many of his generation he never knew his exact birthday, his mother used to say he was born when “the grapes started to ripen.” Consequently, he and his children decided to celebrate his birthday on July 20th, a date just before the traditional harvest time. Vehbi Koç attended the Ankara high school known as “Taş Mektep” located in what is now the Medical Faculty Specialist Hospital. He went into business after consulting with his father and grandfather, opening a shop called “Koçzade Hacı Mustafa Rahmi” with 120 lira of capital.

In the first week of 1926, he married Sadberk Hanım. His father Koçzade Mustafa Rahmi Efendi handed over his company, Koçzade Mustafa Rahmi, to Vehbi Koç in the same year. Thus, the Koçzade Ahmet Vehbi Company was established. Their original shop was demolished as a result of road construction, and in its place Vehbi Bey (the polite way of referring to a gentleman such as Vehbi Koç) built the Koç Han that still stands today. By then, Vehbi Bey was Vice-President of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce and his first child Semahat Koç (Arsel) was born. It was at approximately this time that he also became the Ankara representative of Ford and Standard Oil (Mobil), and went into the contracting business.

In 1937, Vehbi Bey opened the first branch of his company in Istanbul. The Vehbi Koç and Partners Collective Company started with capital of 100,000 Turkish Lira in the Fermenciler district. In 1938, he established the Koç Trade Joint Stock Company. By this time he had become one of the leading businessmen in Turkey. His son Rahmi Koç was born in 1930, followed by his daughter Sevgi Koç (Gönül) in 1938, and his daughter Suna Koç (Kıraç) in 1941.

After World War II, Vehbi Bey  traveled to the U.S. for the first time and was impressed with everything he saw in the 52 days he spent there. During this visit he initiated what was to become a long relationship with Ford Motor Company, and convinced General Electric to set up a bulb company in Turkey. Upon his return home, he joined the newly established Party Council of the Republican People’s Party at the insistence of President İsmet İnönü. In 1947, he embarked on his first industrial enterprise using his own capital, establishing the Ankara Oxygen Industry Company. A year later,  Vehbi Bey founded the General Electric Bulb Factory.

In 1954, he set up Arçelik as an iron furniture business. He made an agreement with the Israeli company, Amcor to buy compressors for use in refrigerator production. As the refrigerator business developed, Arçelik moved out of the iron furniture business and into electrical home appliances. Pursuant to an agreement with General Electric, the refrigerators produced by Arçelik were exported to the Near East under the General Electric brand. Subsequently, the Bozkurt Mensucat, Demirdöküm, Türkay, Aygaz, Gazal, Türk Elektrik Endüstrisi, and Siemens cable companies were established in different sectors and tractor production began under license from FIAT.

In 1956, Koç won a competition amongst the Ford agents in 34 Near East countries to become its Ankara agent. Ford was reluctant to form a joint venture with a Turkish company, so a determined Vehbi Koç garnered a loan from the Turkish Government to establish the automotive business. The new company and factory set up as a result of this agreement was called Otosan. To help the business succeed, Mr. Koç made the dealers for his cars partners in the factory, which began production on August 2, 1960.

In February 1966, following a 6-year effort to set up the manufacture of a locally branded automobile, the government gave its permission on the condition that production would yield results by the year-end and the vehicles would be sold for 26,800 Liras. Work proceeded at a frantic pace to meet the deadline. The name of the new Turkish brand car was “Anadol,” chosen as the result of a survey of 100,000 people. The efforts of the persistent Koç engineers and workers paid off; the Anadol went on sale by the end of that year.

In 1967, Vehbi Bey established Tat Konserve Sanayii (Tat Canned Foods). The following year, he reached an agreement with FIAT to set up a new car manufacturing facility in Turkey. The first factory opened on February 12, 1971. The new car was named “Murat” – the name chosen again as the result of a popular survey.

In 1972 Vehbi Koç set up Turkey’s first foreign trade company, Ram Dış Ticaret. Koç Investment and Marketing started trading publically that same year. Migros, one of the first supermarkets in Turkey, became part of the Koç Group shortly thereafter. Vehbi Koç established the first R&D unit in the Turkish private sector by establishing Koç AR-GE. In 1984, he transferred his duties as President of the Koç Holding Board of Directors to his son Rahmi Koç and retired from business life.

In 1987, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) elected Vehbi Koç “World Businessman of the Year”. He received his award from then-Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. In 1994, he received the United Nations World Population Planning Award for his work at the Turkish Family Planning Foundation from then-UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali .

Vehbi Koç was not only an example to others in business but also in philanthropy. He funded the Ankara University Vehbi Koç Student Dormitory in 1951. In 1960, he donated the building the Ankara Governorship was renting for use as a children’s hospital to the Treasury for continued use as a children’s hospital. The Ankara University Medical Faculty Vehbi Koç Eye Bank, Eskişehir Economic and Commercial Affairs Academy Vehbi Koç Library and Research Building, METU Vehbi Koç Student Dormitory, Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty Institute of Cardiology, Admiral Bristol Vehbi Koç Cancer Pavilion and the Taksim Atatürk Library are but a few examples the results of his philanthropic activities.

Rather than continue his philanthropic works on an ad hoc basis, Vehbi Bey decided to institutionalize them. In 1967, he led efforts to establish the Turkish Education Foundation in order to direct revenue from wreath donations (traditionally made at funerals in Turkey) to educational purposes. He established the Vehbi Koç Foundation in 1969 to support activities in education, health and culture.

Vehbi Koç understood Turkey’s profound population and family health problems, and in 1985 established the Turkish Family Health and Planning Foundation, serving as its chairman until his death. He was also the one of the founders of TEMA, the Turkish Foundation to Fight Erosion.

The activities of the Vehbi Koç Foundation are grouped under three headings: Healthcare, Education,  and Culture, and are described more fully below.

Healthcare: Investments in this area include the American Hospital, the Italian Hospital, MedAmerikan Polyclinic, the Nurse Fund, the Semahat Arsel Nurse Education and Research Center (SANERC), and Koç University’s Higher Education for Health.

Education: The Vehbi Koç Foundation supports many students and schools through scholarships, donations, and contributions. It also aims to contribute to better social standards through the creation of high quality educational institutions. This led to the founding of the Koç Private Primary School, High School and University. The Foundation also built 13 primary schools around the country and transferred them to the Ministry of National Education.  Koç support for these schools continues in accordance with the Foundation’s philosophy to “build, transfer and own”.

Culture: The Vehbi Koç Foundation gave Turkey the Sadberk Hanım Museum, the Suna-İnan Kıraç Mediterranean Research Institute AKMED, the Kaleiçi Museum, and the Vehbi Koç and Ankara Research Center (VEKAM). The Rahmi M. Koç Museum established by the Rahmi M. Koç Museum and Culture Foundation and supported by the Vehbi Koç Foundation, is the first and only industry and technology museum in Turkey.

Vehbi Koç’s accomplishments were enormous. Vehbi Bey led an amazingly successful life that spanned 95 years. He came to represent success for the Turkish people. In fact, his efforts introduced Turkey to the concepts of “firsts” and “modern”. He was an integral part and a dynamic participant in every phase of the economic development of his country during the Twentieth Century. He represents an “Oak Tree for our Republic”; one planted and cultivated in Turkish soil. While putting down his roots and extending his reach, he helped his country grow and develop. Vehbi Koç was a solid oak of a man who always said, “I exist so long as my State and country exist”.