Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO of American yogurt producer Chobani, won the Ernst & Young Global Entrepreneur of the Year award. The Turkish-born businessman has made his US-based global company successful in less than a decade.
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| Hamdi Ulukaya |
America’s favorite yogurt employs 3,000 people
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Józef Sandor was the Hungarian candidateThe Ernst & Young International Entrepreneur of the Year Awards ceremony was held on Saturday evening in Monte Carlo. 49 countries participated in the international competition this year. This year’s grand prize winner in the Hungarian final was Józef Sandor, CEO of Fémalk Zrt. |
The Turkish-born businessman founded his company in New York state in 2005. He began producing Greek yogurt two years later. Today, Chobani is the best-selling yogurt in the United States, with annual sales reaching $1 billion. The company, which owns the world’s largest yogurt factory, now employs three thousand people. In addition to the United States, its products are sold in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
“The fact that the US economy is recovering more quickly from the recession is largely due to the fact that the American worldview is more imbued with the spirit of entrepreneurship. Hamdi Ulukaya is not only a worthy winner of the Ernst & Young Best Man Award,” said István Havas, CEO of Ernst & Young. works, but it is also an example of how the American dream is achieved even today.
Chobani achieving the American dream
Born in eastern Turkey, Hamdi Ulukaya moved to the United States in 1994 to study English and business. In the end, he did not complete his studies, and instead began producing feta cheese in 2002. Three years later, against the advice of his friends, he bought a previously closed yogurt factory and founded Chobani. The first major milestone in the company’s history was the 2009 supplier contract signed with the American retail chain Costco. Today, the company has become a global company with annual sales of one billion dollars.
As an immigrant, Hamdi Ulukaya is a committed believer in the development of local communities. With this in mind, 10 percent of the company’s profits are donated to the Sheperd’s Gift Foundation, a charity the company establishes every year. The company is also the official sponsor of the US Olympic Team.
