Hamdi Ulukaya

In Chobani, the reluctant businessman developed a taste for entrepreneurship. Here's his recipe for success.

-  Christine Lagorio-Chafkin

HAMDI ULUKAYA WAS born to nomadic dairy farmers in eastern Turkey's Erzincan Province and immigrated to the U.S. for college. In time and with the help of a Small Business Administration loan, he purchased a struggling Kraft plant in New Berlin, New York. He would call the strained yogurt he'd make there Chobani, after the Turkish word for shepherd, çoban, and within four years of shipping its first product in 2007, it was America's leading yogurt brand. In 2012, Chobani was No. 117 on the Inc. 5000, eclipsing $1 billion in annual revenue. Today, Ulukaya, 51, insists he never wanted to be a businessman; he aimed to make healthy food and revive a woebegone town, which was also home to many fellow immigrants. Along the way, he embraced entrepreneurship and gleaned a few notions on what it takes to succeed.

1 WALK INTO UNKNOWNS