(abstract from the book "The Greek community in Mozambique")
Μichael
Perantonakis, usually known as Cretikos because of his origin from the island
of Crete, immigrated to Mozambique in the late 19th century. Although he
intended to work in the mines of South Africa, he settled in Lourenço Marques
where he started to sell bananas. Then he started a grocery store, and at the
end of the first decade of the 20th century, he began to sell drinking water in
the neighbourhoods of Lourenço Marques. During this period, the Greek merchant
noticed the lack of ice, which was necessary to preserve the fish and decided
to get involved in the production field.
In 1915, he
founded the company ‘Vitória’ and in 1916, he erected an ice factory with
the name ‘Vitória
Cold Storage and Ice Factory, Ltd’. It was located on the west side of the
city, in the Praia do Polana, in front of the Avenue of the Republic and
opposite the ‘Olympia’ café and fish market. In the following
years, Perantonakis expanded his business in the bottling of mineral water and
the production of soft drinks. Since he decided to enter also into the brewery
field, he travelled to Germany to consult experts on the production method. In
1932, Perantonakis used a European recipe and having followed high standards at
all the stages of the production, he produced a beer under the trade name ‘Laurentina’.
In 1935, ‘Laurentina’
acquired 50% of the domestic market. During the 1950s and the 1960s, the
brewery of Perantonakis implemented strategic alliances and a series of
investments in the production sector. In 1959, two new units were erected beside
the original plant. The cost of this investment exceeded $200 million.
The quality
of ‘Laurentina was improved and for that reason it won six gold medals in the
world beer competition held in Brussels. By the independence of Mozambique in
1975 and the economy policy followed, the brewery were nationalised under the
body of ‘SOGERE’
(Sociedad General de Cervejas e Refrigerantes de Mocambique SARL). In 1997 the
company was acquired by the French BGI-Castel and the Irish Guinness,
and in 2001 it was sold to the SABMiller.
