Background Kayseri received notable public investments in the 1920s and 1930s. Sumer Textile and Kayseri Tayyare Fabrikasi (airplane manufacturer) were set up here during the post Republican Era with the help of German and particularly Russian experts. The latter manufactured the first aircraft "made in Turkey" in the 1940s. After the 1950s, the city suffered from a decrease in the amount of public investment. It was, however, during the same years that Kayseri businessmen and merchants became transformed into countrywide capitalists. Families such as Sabancı, Has, Dedeman, Hattat, Kurmel, Özyeğin, Karamanlargil and Özilhan who started out as small-scale merchants in the city of Kayseri became prominent actors in the Turkish economy. These families set up their headquarters in cities such as Istanbul and Adana, nevertheless often coming back to Kayseri to invest.
The Modern Day Thanks to the economic liberalization policies introduced in the 1980s, a new wave of entrepreneurs and industrialists from Kayseri have followed in the footsteps of their predecessors. This time around, many of these new industrialists have chosen to base their operations in Kayseri. There has been significant investment in, and improvement of infrastructures, which has allowed the city to achieve remarkable industrial growth since 2000, such that now it is considered to be the leader of a pack of "Anatolian Tigers", and seen as a favorable environment for commerical enterprise large and small.
The economy of Kayseri is based on manufacturing, but also has fast growing elements of tourism and medical tourism.