Today the Podcast Podcast Economy

The Forrest, Viceroys of Katanga

RFI broadcast this summer a summer series devoted to the great industrial sagas.
As discreet as it is powerful, the Forrest family built an economic empire in three generations in the rich province of Katanga in the DRC, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Back on this dynasty of New Zealand origin, become Belgian and Congolese.

Some men are pioneers and Malta Forrest was one of them. This New Zealander of Irish origin leaves his country in 1920 to try adventure in Africa. He goes to Katanga, attracted by the fabulous wealth of the Belgian Congo. Based in Kolwezi, he founded in 1922 a transport company, the General Enterprise Malta Forrest, as well as a family after having married Rachel.

In 1940, George comes into the world. The one who will be nicknamed many years later " the viceroy of Katanga " shares with his father the same passion for business. A passion that fate almost destroyed. Because in 1974, Mobutu Sese Seko began the " Zairianization " of the economy and nationalized private groups, including that of Malta Forrest. The patriarch will not recover, he dies some time later. But Mobutu's policy fails. The leopard of Kinshasa clears his spots, he returns to the two sons Forrest the company founded by their father. George Forrest, the most prominent of the two, will remember the lesson.

Paternalist entrepreneur

Throughout his life, he will strive to maintain the best relations with political leaders. This man, who speaks fluent Swahili, has a sense of human contact that pulls him from dirty situations. So, in 1978 when Kolwezi was invaded by rebels who slaughter civilians, George Forrest was saved by his employees.

The entrepreneur likes to relate this episode, as he likes to maintain his legend and his image as a paternalistic entrepreneur. It finances schools, hospitals, sports clubs, charitable foundations. The legend is also a convenient screen. If we know nothing about man's adventures, we know less about the thickness of his bank accounts, and the balance sheets of his companies that are not listed on the stock market.

If a contractor is measuring his ability to bounce, George Forrest is a stallion. Become sole master aboard the group in 1986, it becomes essential in the Katangan mines . But he will have to sell some of his finest assets to Chinese companies, after 2007, at the request of the authorities then on a honeymoon with Beijing. Forrest loses big, but does not complain. The bitter lesson received by his father under Mobutu is still alive.

Passage of relays

The 2000s are violent in the Congo. Is this the general mood? The paternalistic boss sometimes adopts brutal methods, and the NGOs have it in their sights. In 2009, Amnesty International denounced its bulldozers that destroyed hundreds of homes of artisanal miners. Pillage of Congo's resources, uranium trafficking, arms trafficking, many accusations will flourish on his account.

George Forrest will always come out unscathed. Today, he passed his hand to his son, David Malta. The Forrest saga continues, in an Africa in the process of globalization, David Malta aims to conquer new territories, such as Kenya, and new areas of activity such as energy. The Forrest say they have heart in the Congo, but their wallet is still domiciled in Belgium, home of the family holding.

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