5 Belgian companies that conquer the world
Belgium is a small, multilingual European country, a co-founding member of the Eropean Union whose capital houses its main institutions, center of trade and culture localized in the heart of one of the most industrialized regions of the world. Small but with great talent, creativity and business vision to create companies that in many cases have become market leaders in their sector and are treading strong on the world trade.
1. Anheuser Busch Inbev
As Belgium is the country of beer, there is the largest beer factory in the world. In 2004, AB-Inbev was formed as a fusion of a Belgian beer company and a Brazilian company, becoming a multinational beverage and brewing company with global headquarters in Leuven and offices in USA and Latin America. It is also the Belgian biggest company according to Forbes and the first on the BEL 20.
2. Jan De Nul Group
It is a world leader dredging industry specialized in dredging, marine services and civil engineering. Its founder Jan De Nul started as a small contractor and took its first dredging work in 1951, before expanding its activities. It wouldn’t have become the giant it is now if it were not for the continuous innovation and investment in new equipment, professionals and enterprises.
3. Bekaert
Is an international company which head offices are in Belgium, occuppied in steel wire transformation and coatings founded in 1880. It was born as a barbed wire bussiness, an idea from Leo Leander Bekaert to prevent the cattle grazing out of their fields and occupying neighboring properties. Today, it employs almost 30,000 people all over the world and has a global presence in Europe, Middle-East, Africa, America and Asia Pacific.
4. Solvay S.A.
It is a Belgian chemical company with headquarter in Brussels. It was founded in 1863 after a technological breakthrough, the ammonia-soda process set up by Ernest Solvay and some of his relatives. On the XXth Century, the 95% of the soda consumed in the world was produced by this process what made of Solvay a successful enterprise. Nowadays is making radical changes like the disvestment of the pharmeceutical pillar, the acquisition of Rhodia and the creation of a new Solvay.
5. Option N.V.
It is a technology company specialized in wireless solutions and portable computers with headquarter in Leuven. It got a good reputation after developing a series of ingenious new products that enhanced the performance of wireless communication and its possibilities. It was awarded with the 2015 IoT Evolution Smart Machines Innovation Award for LuvitRed, its latest enhancement to the CloudGate Solution.
