Marc Ravalomanana

Marc Ravalomanana (born 12 December 1949) is a Malagasy politician who served as the sixth President of Madagascar from 2002 to 2009.

Born into a farming Merina family in Imerinkasinina, near the capital city of Antananarivo, Ravalomanana first rose to prominence as the founder and CEO of the vast dairy conglomerate TIKO, later launching successful wholesaler MAGRO and several additional companies.

Marc Ravalomanana was born on 12 December 1949 in the village of Imerinkasinina, 40 km east of Antananarivo in Manjakandriana District.

Ravalomanana's parents worked as peddlers before opening a small shop in a rural village in Tamatave Province.

Ravalomanana's family origins are Merina, the island's largest and most politically prominent ethnic group.

From age five he began attending Anjeva Gara public primary school, located 4 km from Imerinkasinina.

He walked this distance daily, often departing early with baskets of watercress to sell to train passengers at the nearby station.

He completed his upper primary private school in Ambohimalaza.

After completing his primary studies he attended the Swedish missionary-run technical secondary school in Ambatomanga.

Upon completing his studies, Ravalomanana returned to Manjakandriana District, where he and his family began making and selling homemade yogurts, a common artisanal product in the highlands region.

On his bicycle, he collected milk from farmers in neighboring towns, gradually increasing his production and clientele.

He opened his first yogurt and cheese production center in 1977 in Sambaina on land he named Rova-Tiko ("Tiko Palace"), where he would build the first Tiko factory several years later.

Ravalomanana solicited a loan from the Agence Française de Développement to further expand his business, but this request was denied, souring his view of France.

Early support in the 1980s came from the Supreme Counselor of the Revolution Manandafy Rakotonirina, then-Minister of Finance Rakotovao Razakaboana, and another minister, Justin Rarivoson.

His subsequent request to the World Bank for 1.5 million US dollars was approved, and in 1982 he founded the Tiko company.

The representative of the World Bank to Madagascar at the time, José Broffman, secured the loan with exceptionally favorable reimbursement conditions that enabled Ravalomanana to sell his products at a lower cost than other small dairy producers, which gradually put his most significant competitors out of business.

Broffman later left his post at the World Bank to become a principal investor in the company, joined by private investors from South Africa, Germany and the United States.

As Tiko continued to grow, the entrepreneur began incorporating imported ingredients such as powdered milk from South Africa (constituting 80 per cent of the composition of Tiko dairy products) and surplus butter from Europe, further improving the profitability of his business and enabling additional diversification.

Tiko Group first concentrated exclusively on the production of dairy products before expanding into fruit juices, ice cream, cooking oil and carbonated beverages.

The Tiko slogan printed on many of the group's products, Vita Malagasy ("Made in Madagascar").

Ravalomanana cultivated political relationships to facilitate the continued growth of Tiko in spite of an economic climate non-conducive to free enterprise under the Socialist administration of Ratsiraka.

He entered politics upon founding the Tiako Iarivo political party in 1999 and successfully ran for the position of mayor of Antananarivo, holding the position from 1999 to 2001.

As mayor he improved sanitary and security conditions in the city.

In August 2001 he announced his candidacy as an independent candidate in the December 2001 presidential election.

He then took office as president in 2002 amidst a dispute over election results in which he successfully pressed his claim to have won a majority in the first round.

Under the leadership of Jacques Sylla, Ravalomanana's Prime Minister from 2002 to 2007, the political party Tiako I Madagasikara (TIM) was founded in 2002 to support Ravalomanana's presidency and came to dominate legislative and local elections.

He was re-elected in December 2006, again with a majority in the first round.

During Ravalomanana's presidency, Madagascar made significant advances toward development targets and experienced an average of seven per cent growth per year.

His administration oversaw the construction of thousands of new schools and health clinics.

Road rehabilitation aided in improving rural farmers' access to markets.

The establishment of the independent anti-corruption agency BIANCO, and the adoption of diverse supporting policies resulted in a decline in governmental corruption.

Opposition members criticized Ravalomanana in the later period of his presidency, accusing him of increasing authoritarianism and the mixing of public and private interests.

In addition, the benefits of the country's growth were not evenly spread, leading to increased wealth inequality, inflation and a decline in purchasing power for the lower and middle classes.

In 2008 a controversial land lease agreement with Korean agricultural firm Daewoo, the purchase of a costly presidential jet and the closure of media channels owned by opposition leader and mayor of Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina, strengthened popular disapproval of his policies.

Rajoelina rallied popular support for the opposition, leading to a popular uprising that began in January 2009 and ended two months later with Ravalomanana's resignation under pressure and Rajoelina taking control with military support in a power transfer viewed by the international community as a coup d'état.

From 2009 to 2012 Ravalomanana lived in exile in South Africa, where he was engaged in active negotiations with Rajoelina and former heads of state Albert Zafy and Didier Ratsiraka to organize national elections.

In December 2012 he declared he would not present himself as a candidate, then a precondition to the elections being viewed as legitimate by the international community.

TGV candidate Hery Rajaonarimampianina was elected president in January 2014, defeating Jean-Louis Robinson, the candidate of Marc Ravalomanana's camp.

Upon attempting to return to Madagascar in October 2014 he was arrested, having been sentenced in absentia to lifelong hard labour for abuses of power by the Rajoelina administration.

After his sentence was lifted and he was freed from house arrest in May 2015, Ravalomanana announced the re-opening of the Tiko business group and was re-elected the president of TIM.