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.

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]

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]

• 1997 "Manager of the Year" by the Schitag Ernst & Young management consulting firm and by Manager magazine for entrepreneurial achievement.^{[citation needed]}
• 1997 Germany "Businessman of the Year" Award^[3]
• 1998 "Honorary Investor of Europe" by the Club of Europe.^{[citation needed]}
• 2000 Order of Merit of Turkey for his extraordinary activities, by President Süleyman Demirel.^{[citation needed]}
• 2000 Honorary doctorate by the Selçuk University of Konya for his achievements in education.^[3]

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]}

• 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]