He was the head of Turkey's largest business conglomerate and 147th richest man on the Forbes list of the world's top billionaires in 2004. Sakıp Sabancı described himself as such: "I get angry when someone calls me only rich; I am happy with my social personality and my generosity."

Sabancı was among the most colorful personalities in the Turkish business world. After taking over the family business, with his energy, initiative and courage alongside the assistance of his brothers, he carried the Sabancı Group among the world's top companies starting in the 1980s. In fact, from its very beginning Sakip Sabanci, and his brothers engaged in international business. The first business relations that Sakip Sabanci had with other firms started with his father, Hacı Ömer Sabancı, who exported cotton from Adana and needed machinery to create finished goods. Sabanci had textile goods sent to both Italy and Germany for printing in the 1970s.