Kemal Şahin

Kemal Şahin

Kemal Şahin is a Turkish–German entrepreneur, a textile tycoon, and founder and CEO of Şahinler Holding.[1] He is also an environmental activist against erosion.

Early life

Şahin (which means falcon in Turkish) was born in 1955 to a poor family in the village of Taşlıpınar in the Beyşehir district of Konya Province, Turkey.[2][1][3]

He finished primary school in his village, secondary school in Beyşehir and high school in Konya.[2][3] Sahin then went to Germany on a scholarship in 1973, to study metallurgical engineering at RWTH Aachen University[2][3][4] for Etibank, a large state-owned mining company.[1] He completed a German-language course,[citation needed] then graduated in 1982, with a Diplom degree.[2]

Entrepreneur

As a student, Şahin was interested in trade. After finishing university, he established his own textile-importing company, Santex Moden,[3] in 1982, with a starting capital of 5,000 DM.[2] Part of the reason he started the company was to avoid deportation from Germany after he graduated.[4] Within three or four years, he became a German millionaire before his 30th birthday.[2]

Today, he owns 27 production and trading companies, integrated facilities from cotton to cloth, 18 of which are united under Şahinler Holding in Turkey.[citation needed] One of the biggest exporters in Turkey, the group also has its own steam and electric power station, a catering company, a building contractor and a holiday resort in Antalya Province, Turkey.[citation needed] The worldwide Şahinler corporation, with a turnover of one billion Euros,[3][4] consists of two companies in Germany and one each in the Netherlands, Austria, France, Switzerland, Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, United Kingdom, the U.S., and Turkey.[citation needed] The group has about 10,000 employees.[3][4] Santex Moden ranks 25th in Germany and is among the 100 largest companies in Europe.[citation needed]

Şahin also owns several hotels in the Antalya area through his company.[5]

Awards

Other activities

Besides his entrepreneurship, Sahin has been:

  • President of the Sahinler Foundation, which is active in education, health, and welfare and provides scholarships to 450 orphan or indigent secondary and high school students.[citation needed]
  • President of the TEMA Foundation in Aachen, Germany, an international foundation fighting erosion and favoring restocking and nature conservation.[citation needed]
  • Chairman of the Association of Turkish Businesspeople in Europe.[citation needed]
  • Founder and chairman of the Turkish-German Association of Textile and Clothing.[citation needed]
  • Chairman of the German-Turkish Chamber of Commerce.[citation needed]
  • Honorary member of Euro-Türk (liberal Europe-Turkey alliance of friendship).[citation needed]

Books

  • Zirvedeki Şahin: Hayatım ve Fikirlerim (The Falcon at the Summit: My Life and My Thoughts) 2000, 280 pp., Autobiography in Turkish, ISBN 975-8243-90-X[3]
  • Der Falke in der Fremde (The Falcon Abroad) 2002, 240 pp., Autobiography in German, ISBN 3-430-17887-8[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Tekstil kralı". Aksam Online (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 16 January 2005.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Kemal Şahin (1955)". www.biyografi.net (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2021-03-07. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Kemal Şahin". Şahinler Holding. Archived from the original on 2021-07-27. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  4. ^ a b c d STEINBORN, DEBORAH (2011). "Unsung Heroes". World Policy Journal. 28 (4): 100–108. ISSN 0740-2775. Archived from the original on 2021-07-27. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  5. ^ Duran, Aram Ekin (29 April 2021). "COVID: Turkey's tourism sector pins hope on strict lockdown". Deutsche Welle Akademie. Archived from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.