Roots in the Congo

Marc Gielissen was born in Leopoldville in 1957 (the current Kinshasa), the son of a Danish mother and Belgian father. Marc has an adventurous spirit; he is a former racing driver, team owner, aviator, sailor and businessman. He has an MBA from the University of Liverpool. Marc had businesses in DR Congo and Belgium and worked as a managing director for multinational corporations. Although he was active in Central, South and West Africa, he also worked and lived for a short period in Asia, with a base in Hanoi (Vietnam). Marc witnessed all the essential changes leading to the current Democratic Republic of the Congo. From the former Belgian Congo to the Independence Day, the Mobutu regime, his fall and the rise of Laurent Kabila, his assassination, the replacement by his son Joseph Kabila, and the violent confrontation between the latter and vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba in the city centre of Kinshasa. Marc was also involved in providing the telecommunication centre used during the first democratic elections in the DRC Congo