Güler Sabancı ranks 2nd in global list

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Sabancı was voted as number two businesswoman by Financial Times. AA photo

The Financial Times has chosen Sabancı Holding Chairwoman Güler Sabancı as No. 2 on its 2011 top 50 businesswomen leaders of the world list.

Kraft Foods Chairwoman Irene Rosenfeld took the top spot in the list revealed over the weekend in a supplement of the daily.

“My friends call me a pacesetter. Sometimes I am impatient, I think, but you must be fast and flexible in business because uncertainty is the only certainty in life,” Sabancı said in an interview with the Financial Times last year.

Not only did the Financial Times mention Sabancı’s success as a businesswoman, it also focused on her civic contributions, including her many international awards and honors. These included the Clinton Global Citizen Award from the former U.S. president’s business philanthropy group for her “leadership in the corporate sector.” Sabancı is also the chairwoman of the Sabancı Museum and president of the board of the Hacı Ömer Sabancı Foundation, which has invested $1.5 billion in social programs since 1974, the Financial Times said.

Sabancı Holding is one of Turkey’s top family conglomerates active in financial services and the tire, cement, energy and retail sectors. The company was founded by Sabancı’s grandfather Hacı Ömer in the early part of the 20th century and started out as a cotton and textile trading business.