Forrest Group - Early History

Early History

Malta Forrest launched l'Entreprise Générale Malta Forrest (EGMF), a transport company, in 1922 in Katanga Province in the south of the Belgian Congo. Starting in 1933, the company moved into mining gold, copper and manganese in the Kolwezi, Musonoi and Kasekelesa mines. In 1951 the company undertook the mining and civil engineering works to open the Kisenge manganese mine. In the early 1950s it broadened out into public works and civil engineering, building the roads, sewerage system and airport for the mining city of Kolwezi. Around this time the firm began to focus on civil engineering in the western Katanga copper belt.

Victor Eskenazi-Forrest, the founder’s adoptive son, helped Malta Forrest to manage the company, starting in 1954. In 1968 the company took limited liability status. It was then involved in a series of large scale public works projects funded by international organizations such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank. Malta Forrest died in 1974, and Victor Eskenazi-Forrest and George Arthur Forrest, the founder's son, became Managing Directors. In 1986 George Arthur Forrest took full control.

The company undertook a major government contract to restore the road network in Lubumbashi, Likasi, Kolwezi and Kalemie. In 1990 EGMF undertook a large strip mining work for the state-controlled mining company Gécamines. In 1991 the country, now called Zaire, went through political upheaval and fell into a prolonged recession, bring the engineering works to a halt. In May 1995 EGMF helped fund Gécamines in mining the cobalt deposit of Kasombo 1, working as a private sector partner to the state-owned company. George Forrest created the George Forrest International Group that year.