Marc Gielissen

Roots in the Congo Marc Gielissen

Marc Gielissen was born in Leopoldville in 1957 (the current Kinshasa), son of a Danish mother and Belgian father. He has an adventurous spirit; a former racing driver, team owner, aviator, sailor and business man. He has an MBA from the University of Liverpool. Marc had businesses in the DR Congo and Belgium and worked for multinational corporations as managing director. Although his experience was mostly acquired in Central, South and West Africa, he also worked and lived for a short period in Asia, with a base in Hanoi (Vietnam). He currently lives on his sailing yacht "Atlantis."He witnessed all the important changes which would lead 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 center of Kinshasa. Marc was also involved in providing the telecommunication center used during the first democratic elections in the DRC Congo