Şarık Tara

Şarık Tara (born Šarik Hadžihamzić; 22 April 1930 – 28 June 2018) was a Turkish billionaire who founded Enka İnşaat ve Sanayi A.Ş., one of Turkey's largest construction company, with Sadi Gülçelik, in 1957. As well as being an international engineer, contractor, industrialist, he was known for his philanthropy.

Personal life Early life and education Tara was born in Skopje, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (now North Macedonia) but emigrated with his family to Turkey in 1942 when he was 12 due to World War II. His father Fevzija Hadžihamzić, an ethnic Bosniak, was from Priboj, a town in the Sandžak region of Serbia, where his family moved from Nikšić. His mother Mahmura Kumbaradži was born in a wealthy Macedonian Turk family from Skopje. Upon arrival to Turkey, his father changed their surname to Tara, in reference to river Tara which flows mainly through Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. The family's extremely reduced circumstances required Tara to start working when he was young. His knowledge of foreign languages help him secure night work as a translator at a textile factory while he was still attending Şişli Terakki High School.

Tara graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from Istanbul Technical University in 1954.

Marriage and children Tara married Lale Ataman in 1956.

Career

Business Between 1954 and 1957, Tara worked as a site manager on various construction projects. In 1957, with his brother-in-law, Sadi Gülçelik, he established ENKA contracting company.

Today Enka İnşaat ve Sanayi A.Ş. is a global company in the construction sector with large scale road, tunnel, power plant, and real estate projects. To date, it has completed 396 projects in 45 countries with a total contract value of US$40 billion. Domestically, it has completed 124 projects in Turkey with a total contract value of US$7 billion.

ENKA is also known for constructing U.S. embassy buildings; 36% ($887 million) of ENKA's revenue during the first nine months of 2017 came from the construction of U.S. embassy buildings in various countries. and Tara becoming the chair of the Turkish-Greek Business Council.

Schools ENKA Schools opened their doors in 1996.

Sports The ENKA foundation's sports complex trains athletes for national and international competition in the following sports: Track and Field, Tennis, Swimming, Water Polo, Volleyball, Basketball, Triathlon, Skiing. Established in 1983, the club is currently composed of 1,087 licensed athletes and 79 professional trainers.