Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya builds 400-company network to help refugees find jobs

Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO of Chobani, reacts during the Clinton Global Initiative 2026 Annual Meeting in New York City, US, September 23, 2026. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon When Hamdi Ulukaya arrived in the United States in 1994, he was a young student from Turkey who spoke no English and knew no one. Years later, after buying a shuttered yogurt factory and building Chobani into a major business, he began hiring refugees and migrants, helping hundreds find work in the company’s plants. That experience inspired Tent, a business network Ulukaya founded in 2016 to encourage employers to hire refugees. The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, says Tent now connects with more than 400 companies across the Americas and Europe. Its work includes training, hiring guides and job fairs designed to help newcomers overcome barriers to employment. Ulukaya’s own journey, reported by CBS News, helps explain why he sees a first job as a vital step towards belonging.Starting over in a new countryUlukaya arrived in the US at 22, with little money and no English, according to a CBS News profile. He had left Turkey after facing questioning over his writing in support of Kurdish rights. In upstate New York, he spent ...