Turkish-born man wins entrepreneur of year

MONACO

Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder of Chobani Greek Yogurt in the US, is awarded the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year 2013. Company photo

Turkish-born Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder, president and CEO of Chobani, which is based in the United States, was named the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year 2013 at an awards ceremony held in Monte Carlo. He was picked from among the 49 country finalists vying for the title across 47 countries. 

Ulukaya dedicated his award first to the fellowship of the Turkish and Kurdish peoples and the peace between them, and then to the U.S. “I have two homelands, one where I was born, my beautiful country, Turkey; the other is the U.S., where I could make my dreams come true,” Ulukaya said at the ceremony. 

He founded Chobani in New York in 2005 and launched Chobani Greek Yogurt two years later. Less than six years after its launch it is the best-selling yogurt brand in the U.S. with annual sales approaching $1 billion. Chobani has 3,000 employees and operates the largest yogurt factory in the world, selling its products to Australia and the U.K. as well as the U.S.

Ulukaya was born into a dairy-farming family in eastern Turkey, but he moved to the U.S. in 1994 to learn English and pursue business school. He never finished business school.