Industry and philanthropy: an example from Turkey

ANKARA – Turkish television is currently airing an unusual advert. The advert celebrates the first hundred years of the country’s most important company: Koç Holding. Over the course of a century, the company has transformed itself from a grocery shop in a suburb of Ankara into a world-class industrial and financial group. A story, the reader might think, similar to that of other European companies. Yet what is striking is the company’s philanthropic commitment, which is so extraordinary that it softens the image of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey that currently prevails in Europe.

The history of Koç Holding is worth a brief summary. The company was founded by Vehbi Koç in 1926, three years after Mustafa Atatürk established the republic. It is currently run by the third generation. A brochure explains that the company is Turkey’s largest industrial group. It is also the only Turkish company to feature in the Fortune Global 500 list. It employs 120,000 people across 60 countries.

In Ankara in June, the chairman of the board of directors, Ömer Koç, reiterated the company’s philosophy: ‘Throughout its history, our group has developed hand in hand with our Republic’s commitment to the country’s economic and social progress’. “We have never defined growth solely in numerical terms. We believe that true success lies in strengthening our country’s industrial capabilities and supporting human capital.”

The film celebrates the company’s role in the modernisation of the country, from the arrival of the first cars and tractors, thanks to numerous international agreements. Above all, it highlights the philanthropic commitment of the Vehbi Koç Foundation, which since 1969 has been putting the founder’s motto into practice: ‘I live and prosper alongside my country’.

In 1988, the Koç Foundation established the Koç High School in Istanbul, which is now one of the most renowned in the country. Five years later, it founded a university in the same city – the ancient Constantinople – which is ranked as the top university in Turkey in global rankings. In 1998, to mark the 75th anniversary of the Republic, the Koç Foundation opened 13 primary schools across the country. Today there are 21. In the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, the Atatürk Library was funded by the Koç Foundation and now holds 500,000 volumes.