(July 20, 1901 – February 25, 1996), born in Coraklı, Ankara, Turkey, was a Turkish entrepreneur and philanthropist. He founded the Koc Group,one of Turkey’s largest and most prestigious group of companies. He was once one of the wealthest person in Turkey.

Vehbi Koç was a very active businessman in industrialization, institutionalization, professional administration and, through his charitable foundations, in education, health, and social services. He died on February 25, 1996 in Istanbul and was laid to rest at the Zincirlikuyu Cemetery. He is succeeded by his son Rahmi Koc (1930), and his daughters Semahat Arsel (1928), Sevgi Gönül (1938-2003) and Suna Kırac (1941).

Vehbi Koc started his working career in 1917 at the small grocery store his father opened in Ankara for him. His first firm called "Koczade Ahmet Vehbi" was registered in 1926 at the Ankara Chamber of Commerce. While dealing with commerce, he became the local representative of Ford Motor Company and Standard Oil (presently Mobil) in 1928. When Ankara became the capital of young Turkish Republic, construction activities increased and Vehbi Koc began trading in construction materials, building supplies and hardware. Following establishment of branch offices in Istanbul and Eskisehir in 1938, Koc gathered its enterprises under the company Koc Ticaret A.S.

Having convinced General Electric, he signed an agreement in 1948 to build a light bulb factory, which opened in 1952. Koc took important steps in industry in the 1950s and manufactured automobiles, household appliances, radiators, electronic devices, textiles and matches. Factories like Bozkurt Mensucat, Arcelik (1955), Demir Dokum (1954), Turkay, Aygaz (1962), Gazal, Turk Elektrik Endustrisi and a joint cable factory with Siemens were founded. In addition tractor production started under the Fiat license. The first initiative by Koc in the automotive sector turned eventually to a full-scale industry. Following an agreement with Ford Motor Company in 1959 to assemble trucks, today’s prominent automotive company Otosan came to life. Following the production of the first domestic mass-production car Anadol in 1966 and in line with improving economic activities in Turkey, Vehbi Koc collaborated with the Italian company FIAT to establish Tofas in 1968 resulting in the production of the second domestic car Murat in 1971. Today's giant automotive industry and the supporting industries all stemmed from the tiny spark initiated by Vehbi Koc.

Vehbi Koc collected all of the companies bearing his name under the same roof in 1963 and founded Koc Holding A.S. achieving a major step in the economic life of Turkey. The new companies strengthened the Holding. The holdings era in Turkey started with this step by Vehbi Koc and a great number of businessmen followed him. The group also has international partnerships with well-known companies such as Fiat, Ford Motor Co., Yamaha and Allianz.

In his 76-year career, he created an immense organization with more than 108 companies in the Koc Group, all of which are specialized in different sectors such as food, retailing, finance, energy, automotives, tourism and technology. The Koç Group has 80,000 employees, ca.$40 billion turnover, $900 million of exports and $500-600 million of investment annually. Today, it is one of the world's 200 largest enterprises.

Vehbi Koc retired in 1984 to devote more time to social activities. His son Rahmi Koc took over the leadership of the Koc Group companies.