Ahmet Calik is a Turkish businessman with an estimated net worth of $1.45 billion as of April 2016 according to Forbes. He was the 882nd richest person in the list of World Billionaires. His business career began when he established Ortadogu Tekstil Ticaret ve Sanayi A.Ş. in 1981. He is a member of a family that operates in the textile business since the 1930ès. He began building his holdings when he established Gap Guneydogu Tekstil, one of the world’s top 10 denim producers. It sells products to Diesel, Levi’s, Gap and other Western brands. Today, it accounts for less than 5% of the total company revenues. His first international investments were made in the Central Asian countries.

Calik has also invested in energy, telecommunications, financial services, construction, media, textiles and trade since 1993. In 1997, he founded Calik Holding with the purpose of bringing all group companies together under the same roof. Today, it focuses on renewable energy and energy distribution. It has won contracts to build power plants in Iraq, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

Ahmet Calik also owns Aktifbank in Turkey and BKT bank. He has been developing billion-dollar real estate projects in Istanbul. He has attended The World Economic Forum this year in Davos in order to elevate the presence of Turkey in high-level European affairs.

In 1999, Calik is a recipient of the Turkish State Medal of Distinguished Service. In 2002, he was given the Turkish Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs Distinguished Service Medal. In 2006, he received the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) Distinguished Service Price.