Jean Pierre Thumba
Chief Executive Officer
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Biography
Born in Kambove, in the province of Haut Katanga, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I am the son of Martin Hubert Thumba and Agnès Kabila Sykiala. I am now married and have six children of my own.
As the product of an upbringing driven by rigour and the constant demand for good results, I have kept these values passed on to me by my parents and family, making it a priority to do well and constantly strive to improve.
Always driven by curiosity and a desire to learn, I soon realised that I would have to be self-taught in many areas. From an early age, I was fascinated by my older brothers, who cultivated the soil with a tractor from my father's Kamatanda farm and Saint-Martin orchard. My father was both a worker of the land, as a farmer, and a worker of the spirits, as the creator of a school complex in Goma, known as "La Colombe".
During my holidays, this opportunity in the world of education helped me to familiarise myself with some of the machines used in the school secretariat, such as a typewriter or a scanner. This naturally led me to the South Kivu bar, as a secretary. My secondary education culminated in an A2 diploma in electrical engineering.
I decided to continue my studies at the University of Lubumbashi, in the Faculty of Law, and then at the Protestant University, in the Faculty of Computer Science. Unfortunately, I had to interrupt my studies before obtaining any qualifications, due to my parents' financial difficulties following the eruption of Nyiragongo, the lava flow having buried all their belongings and wiped out their financial investment in the school complex of their dreams.
In a country where you can't rely on the state or financial institutions to intervene, a disaster like this prevented my parents from getting back to business.
Thanks to my command of the English language, which I learnt at a very young age in Goma, I was able to overcome these difficulties and move on to various large international companies, such as Mutunda Mining, Kamoto Copper Company, Glencore DRC...
This enabled me to become a digital consultant in the office of the Managing Director of Migration/DGM.
These professional experiences, both beneficial and enriching, have not killed off the entrepreneurial spirit inherited from my father. So, before 2021, I started developing an agro-tourism site in Mpumba, while opening the offices of Expatman Sarlu in the same year and Expatman LLC in 2022, both companies incorporated under American law.
Driven by my unwavering determination to go further and further, and moved by a positive and constructive patriotism, I remain convinced that the DRC is an opportunity in many respects. My wish is to continue to invest myself and my teams in the service of my country and its compatriots, for the good of all.
Experience
Personally, I have 18 years' experience of dealing with foreign nationals in the DRC. My experience in the field and my theoretical training enable me to understand all aspects: residence visas, work permits, resident permits, etc.
This highly complex subject is not taught in our schools, let alone in our universities. It takes a lot of time to understand, and a lot of experience in the field to grasp all the multifactorial dimensions and risk factors involved.
I started out as a protocol officer in the travel office of SBS, before progressing through the ranks. This led to the position of Visa Officer at The Icon Group on the Mutandamining mine site. Thanks to constant hard work and a rigorous approach, I was able to reduce the risks associated with expatriates working at this mine in the DRC. That's why one of the Glencore Group companies asked me to carry out the same mission.
On the strength of this experience, I ended up as 'Visa Team Manager' in Kamoto Copper Company's legal department. I made a major contribution to the growth of my team within the company, working in particular on visas, work permits and residence permits. On seeing these advances, the Glencore group decided to set up a company called MKS, in order to entrust me with the same mission on behalf of Mutanda Mining and KCC, two subsidiaries of the Glencore group based in the DRC. I worked as Group Visa Coordinator for MKS, before taking up the same position with Glencore DRC.
When the new Director of the DGM arrives in 2019, my teams and I will be working on a proposal to introduce an electronic visa system. My aim was to put in place best practices to facilitate the granting of visas and to shorten the time taken to issue ordinary flying visas. The DGM's commitment to digitisation, under the leadership of its new Director General, enabled us to rapidly validate our approach. The promise was such that the newly elected Head of State of the DRC supported the project, mentioning it in one of his speeches at the digital forum. A few months later, the e-visa became a reality, and to this day the project remains one of the most concrete digital success stories since the DRC's independence. It also enabled me to join the cabinet of the Director General of the DGM as a consultant, where I was responsible for working on and thinking about future innovations.
For personal reasons, I left Glencore DRC in 2021 and set up Expatman Sarlu. I currently work there as Managing Director, managing a young team that is both motivated and talented. Our aim is to offer our customers a comprehensive, secure and efficient service for the residence of foreign nationals, while providing simple solutions based on best practice in terms of compliance and efficiency.
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