Hamdi Akin got a start in Business while he was in his third year of university and manufactured water storage, fuel storage and heating boiler in his father's workshop. Akin’s first commission was to manufacture the heating boiler of Ankara Emek Camii (Mosque). Later on, he opened up a shop for construction goods in Ankara, on Rüzgarlı Street. In 1976, he became a contractor in the construction Business and founded Akfen Holding. In the 1980s, he mainly dealt with infrastructure projects, besides hospitals and school buildings construction. In 1986, he developed his first public infrastructure investment project, the Antalya Airport Terminal Building, which came to life with the ‘Build – Operate – Transfer’ model. He also contracted the Kayseri Erkilet Airport, the Çarşamba Airport, the Isparta Airport, the General Directorate of State Airports Authority and Bursa Natural Gas.