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Paul Carl Rijkens
Paul Carl Rijkens (1888-1965) also known as Paul Rijkens, was a Dutch businessman best known as one of the founding chairmen of Unilever.
Early life and education
Paul Carl Rijkens was born to Luppo Rijkens (a margarine manufacturer) and Franzisca Tenbult in 1888. Rijkens had a difficult childhood due to child paralysis on one leg, the worst of which was overcome by surgical intervention. After completing his HBS in Rotterdam, he quickly obtained the MO deed in accounting. The family business of Rijkens Sr. enjoyed a close business relationship with Van den Bergh's Fabrieken NV, eventually merging with the larger company.
Career
Paul started working in the margarine business in 1910, where he first worked at the Cost department, after which he was temporarily sent to Paris and London. He returned from London to Rotterdam in 1914 and was appointed as a proxy holder in 1916 as secretary to the management. By 1919 Paul was appointed director of the Company. In this capacity, he made a powerful contribution to the initially extremely difficult merger between the two large Dutch margarine factories of Van den Bergh and Jurgens. In 1922 he was also appointed director of the N.V. Hollandsche Vereeniging for Exploitation of Margarine factories "Hovema", Rotterdam. He was subsequently appointed director or supervisory director of numerous other related companies.
When the years-long merger between Van den Bergh and Jurgens was finally complete in 1927, Paul Rijkens became director of Margarine Union Ltd. in London and of the N.V. Margarine Unie in Rotterdam, the two legal entities that shaped the new commercial unit. Already two years later, partly due to Rijkens' decisiveness, a second major merger came about, that of the Margarine Unie with the related English company Lever Brothers.
Rijkens was appointed to the Board of Directors of the two newly established companies, Unilever Ltd. in London and Unilever N.V. in Rotterdam. Finally, in 1937 a merger with Lever Brothers changed the name of the Company to Lever Brothers & Unilever N.V. and became chairman of the Board of Directors.
He spent the war years in London and then fully committed to the Dutch cause. He was a member of the Extraordinary Advisory Board of the Dutch Government in Exile and Chairman of a Dutch Study Group on Reconstruction Issues. After the war he resumed the presidency.
He returned to the Netherlands in 1954 but withdrew from the day-to-day management of the company due to his retirement age, resigned from his board posts at the end of 1955Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name (see the help page). and continued to perform special activities for the group until 1958.
He has held many other positions, including his role in the preparation of the first so-called Bilderberg conference in 1954, "Rijkens Group", see that after 1952 he endeavored to improve the relationship between Indonesia and the Netherlands.
Awards
- Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau
- Prof. Honoris Causa in Economic Sciences at the Dutch Economic College in Rotterdam
References
- "Paul Rykens (1888-1965), Dutch founding chairman of Unilever". National Portrait Gallery. [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp55292/paul-rykens]. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
- GB1752.LBC/643 (1937-1938). 'De Zakenwereld - British Empire No.' - Item
- GB1752.UNI/RM/OC/5/923 (1952). '"Agenda: Mr P. Rykens. Mr S. Van Den Bergh to Malaya" - Item
- GB1752.UNI/RM/OC/2/2/96/10 (1952). 'Ceylon Visit Report' - Item - GB1752.UNI/RM/OC/2/2/47/23 (1953). 'Indonesia Visit Reports' - Item
- GB1752.UNI/GF/LG/1/4/2384 (1925). 'Legal Worldwide File "Hovema and Van den Bergh (and Others) - Shareholding Agreement"' - Item
- GB1752.UNI/GF/LG/1/4/450 (1933-1936). 'Legal Worldwide File "Discussions -Mr D'arcy Cooper, Mr Rykens with Hitler 24.10.33"' - Series
- GB1752.UNI/GF/LG/1/4/185 (1925). 'Legal Worldwide file "Van den Bergh's declarations"' - Item
- GB1752.UNI/GF/LG/1/4/23 (1919). 'Legal Worldwide file "Van den Berghs Limited and Paul Rykens Power of Attorney'' - Item
- GB1752.UNI/GF/LG/1/1/830 (1952-1961). 'Unilever PLC legal file "Directors Appointments and Resignations" 1952 - 1961' - Item
- GB1752.UNI/GF/LG/1/1/505 (1950-1952). 'Unilever PLC legal file "Lever Brothers & Unilever N.V.", 1950-1952' - Item
- GB1752.UNI/GF/LG/1/1/355 (1951-1952). 'Unilever PLC legal file "Annual General Meeting 1951. Chairman's Speech", 1951-1952' - Item
- GB1752.UNI/GF/CR/GC/2/1/5 (1955). 'Unilever Press Releases 1955' - Item
- GB1752.UNI/GF/CR/5/26/14 (1926-1949). 'USA - Lever brothers company - Cambridge - Visitors' - Item
- GB1752.UNI/GF/CR/5/9/70 (1954). 'Unilever Research Isleworth, Visitors, Opening, Production Development Unit' - Item
- GB1752.UNI/GF/CR/5/4/344 (1945-1953). 'Portraits, Rykens, P.' - Item
- GB1752.UNI/GF/CR/5/4/281 (c1931-1954). 'Portrait, Jurgens, A.' - Item
Category:1888 births Category:1965 deaths Category:Dutch businesspeople Category:Businesspeople Category:Unilever Category:Unilever people Category:Margarine brands Category:Order of Orange-Nassau Category:Knight of the Dutch Lion