Heineken in Africa by Olivier van Beemen

Author:Olivier van Beemen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hurst
Published: 2019-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

#Heineken Too

Even at Head Office, being a woman is not always easy. According to insiders, the mood there was not unlike a student society, with late night drinking, boasting about female conquests and ‘testosterone in the air’. This is changing, thanks to increasing internationalisation. The appointment in 2015 of Laurence Debroux to the post of chief financial officer means that for the first time a woman sits on the two-member Executive Board.24

It is a different story in Africa. ‘When it comes to the relationship between the sexes, we are forty, fifty years behind Europe,’ says an influential former female member of staff. ‘Our societies consist of transactions. Sex is one of them, and yes, it happens at Heineken too.’

Across the continent, ambitious women must get intimate with the HR manager, usually a local member of staff, to get a job or secure a promotion. Expats at management level know this (or at the very least know the rumours) but do not consider it their priority to bring the issue to attention.

Wesseling says:

We knew that things were happening in Congo—former Zaire—that were beyond the pale. We had a very powerful HR manager who maintained a selection procedure that would not be accepted here. Women had to provide sexual services to get a job. Jean-François van Boxmeer knew about this, he has excellent knowledge of the country, after all. But he did not act when he was general manager there.

Heineken does not deny this.

One local source confirms: ‘Everybody knew this was going on; the manager has slept with dozens of women. I know about two of them who fought with him in his office, when they resisted. His nickname was “the sniper”.’

Expats themselves do not always set a good example. Whether or not a European has an African lover is a private matter, but you can certainly question the power relations that are the foundation of such a relationship, certainly in the light of the #MeToo debate.

And what happens when the boss’s sweetheart gets perks that the company is paying for? We have seen how Clémentine Vervelde benefited from her privileged position. The Rwandan girlfriend of a top manager in Congo became the fuel supplier for one of their breweries even though the previous one was cheaper and more reliable, according to those in the know. In Nigeria, an expat director gave secretarial jobs to two of his conquests, for which they were entirely unqualified, according to colleagues.

And one national director used his position of power in a truly remarkable fashion. Female staff whom he wanted for himself were first sent to the medical department.

To have an Aids test.

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