Moïse Katumbi Chapwe is a Congolese businessman and politician. He is the governor

Governor

A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

 of the Katanga Province

Katanga Province

Katanga Province is one of the provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Between 1971 and 1997, its official name was Shaba Province. Under the new constitution, the province was to be replaced by four smaller provinces by February 2009; this did not actually take place.Katanga's regional...

, located in the southern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...

. He was the first elected governor of the province and he voted for the first time (at age 42) during that election.

Katumbi is the younger brother of Raphael Katebe Katoto, also a Congolese businessman, now living in Belgium.

In the year he became governor, Katumbi began discussions to resolve the Kalukundi Mine

Kalukundi Mine

Kalukundi Mine is a copper and cobalt mine being developed in Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo by Africo Resources, a Canadian company...

 ownership dispute of Africo Resources, Ltd., a Canadian mining company with a significant presence in the Katanga province.

Early life

Born to a Jewish father, Nissim Soriano, one of the many Sephardic Jews who emigrated to the Congo from the Greek Rhodes Island (then under Italian rule) and a Congolese women, young Moise had to change his last name to that of his great grandfather on his mother’s side during the reign of Congo’s dictator Mobutu. Governor Moïse Katumbi has often been affectionately dubbed by his admirers as Africa’s Obama. He was a self made man who made his first profit of $40 at the age of 13 by selling fish.