An interview with Marc Smet, by Steve Jordan.
It was back in the 1930s that Vivet Gosselin acquired a moving truck and set up a company in Belgium in his own name. 90 years on, that company is one of the world’s largest and most successful in the industry, employing over 850 people and represented in 34 countries.
As Vivet’s company began to grow he employed his nephew, Dolf, to work with him and expand the business. Flor Smet was one of Dolf’s neighbours, the son of a dairy farmer. During the 1960s the dairy industry was going through a hard time, so Flor decided he’d had enough of farming and, in 1968, took a job with Dolf. He became the company’s operations manager.
Just eight years later Flor’s son, Marc, joined the company. “We had 25 people and one warehouse,” said Marc. “By 1983 we had doubled the size of the business. That’s when Dolf offered me the chance to become a partner in the business.” The Belgian government, at that time, was offering incentives to new companies, so Marc set up a new organisation called Gosselin Worldwide Moving. It would handle the sales and administration while the old company would handle operations ...
Photo: Marc Smet
Click here to read the full story in The Mover magazine.