Jozef Maria Damiaan "Jef", Baron Colruyt (born 18 October 1958, Halle) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

businessman. In 1994 he succeeded his father

Jo Colruyt Joseph Alphonse Marie Colruyt (2 August 1928, Uccle - 6 October 1994, Puget-Théniers) was a Belgian business owner. He was the son of Franz Colruyt, founder of the Colruyt company. Under his leadership, the company began the Colruyt retail chain ...

as head of

Colruyt Colruyt Group is a Belgian family-owned retail corporation that is managing the Colruyt supermarkets and other subsidiaries such as OKay, Bio-Planet, DATS 24, DreamLand, DreamBaby, and more. Founded in 1928 by Franz Colruyt, the group today i ...

, a company with more than 26,000 employees. With an estimated fortune of 2.521

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is its only current meaning in English. * 1,000,000,000,000, i.e ...

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

, he is one of the wealthiest people of Belgium.

Career

After his studies, Jef Colruyt became a representative at

Dexion Dexion is a company name and brand particularly associated with the development of the "Dexion" slotted angle steel strip construction system, widely used since the 1950s for domestic and commercial shelving, storage racking, exhibition stands ...

in 1985, a German company for logistic systems. In 1986 and 1987 he was a representative at

Marchal Systems Marchal is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: * André Marchal (1894–1980), French organist and teacher * Arlette Marchal (1902–1984), French film actress *Élie Marchal (1839–1923), Belgian botanist and mycologist *He ...

, a company for chemical pumps. In 1987, Jef Colruyt started working in the family business. When his father Jo Colruyt deceased unexpectedly in 1994, Jef Colruyt took over the operational management of the company at 36 years old. Under his leadership, the French market was entered into and new store formulas were developed, such as the local shop OKay, baby specialist DreamBaby, toys and gaming specialist DreamLand and the organic supermarket Bio-Planet. In 2003, Spar was also added to this. Under the leadership of Jef Colruyt, Colruyt Group also started to pay more attention to sustainable entrepreneurship and social responsibility projects. The Collibri foundation for education, the transport charter, the charter concerning child labour and working conditions are examples of this. Also the participation in the wind farm Northwind is testimony to this.

Personal life

Jef is the son of Jo Colruyt and grandson of

Franz Colruyt François Jean Baptiste Marie "Franz" Colruyt (14 December 1901, Lembeek - 4 November 1958, Halle) is the founder of the Colruyt family business. Under his leadership, a business in colonial goods evolved into a wholesale business in dry food. Fa ...

, the founder of the Colruyt company. He was elected Manager of the Year by Trends magazine in 2002, ten years after his father Jo. Jef Colruyt was made honorary citizen of the municipality of Beersel in 2008. In 2012, he was ennobled by

King Albert II of Belgium , house = Belgium , father = Leopold III of Belgium , mother = Astrid of Sweden , birth_date = , birth_place = Stuyvenberg Castle, Laeken, Brussels, Belgium , death_date = , death_place = , signature = Albert II of Belgium Signa ...

. Since then, he may call himself baron. Jef Colruyt is highly interested in spirituality and eastern philosophies. After a heart attack in 2007, he went to a Hindu monastery in Bali to revitalise body and mind.

References

Sources

A Belgian Family Business

De rijkste families in Vlaams-Brabant
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colruyt, Jef 1958 births Living people Belgian businesspeople People from Halle, Belgium

Jef Jef is a Dutch-language masculine given name primarily used in Belgium. It is a short form of Jozef/ Josef, used also in Breton. People with the name include: *Jef Billings (born 1945), American figure skating costume designer * Jef Boeke (born ...