Billionaire businessman Victor Restis is regarded as one of the most important and influential shipping personalities worldwide and enjoys an extraordinary career spanning international business, politics and global philanthropy. Mr. Restis professional career began as a key management member at his family’s shipping company, Enterprises Shipping and Trading S.A. (EST). For more than a decade, Mr. Restis combined hard work, a fierce dedication to excellence and was named President of EST at the age of 36.
As owner and President, Mr. Restis exhibited intelligence, integrity and ethics to transform EST from a medium-sized company to one of the world’s most modern, diversified, and largest privately-owned bulk vessel and cargo shipping fleets. Applying a strategy of diversification by establishing long-term business relationships, EST today operates a fleet of more than 120 shipping vessels for world-wide transportation, serving international trade in a wide range of products and general cargo.
Continuing an innovative approach and applying keen business acumen, Mr. Restis expanded the company once again from shipping and trading to a diverse multinational and multicultural international business group. The company’s diverse, eclectic portfolio includes banking and financial services, (owning at one stage three fully licensed Banks in Europe), media, aviation, telecommunications, ship building/repairing, energy, hotels and hospitality services, leisure and global real estate.
Born in Kinshasa, Congo, Mr. Restis was educated in Belgium and is a graduate of the distinguished “Institut Catholique des Hautes Etudes Commerciales” (ICHEC – Belgian Management School). It was very early in his studies that Mr. Restis gravitated toward the idea that “the starting point of all achievement is desire.”
Mr. Restis’ storied career transverses the globe. From 2011 till 2013, Victor served as an Ambassador of the Republic of San Marino – one of the world’s oldest surviving republics. With business ventures worldwide, Mr. Restis has been recognized for excellence throughout his career and was awarded by Lloyd’s List as one of the “100 most influential people in shipping.”
Today, Mr. Restis serves in high-level directorships for various organizations worldwide, including Protection & Indemnity Clubs, ship-owners associations, classification societies and many non-profit organizations. With a noble commitment to promote the health and welfare of people and communities around the world, Mr. Restis is heavily involved with a wide range of humanitarian and relief effort causes.