The Bata Company established a sister company in 1931. After several years, a retail network and a shoe factory were added; established in 1940. In the post-war era, the business continued to develop.
- In 1930, the export of Bata´s shoes from Zlín to the then Belgian Congo rapidly rose from – 200 pairs (1930) to 8,000 pairs (1933), 51,000 pairs (1934), 158,000 pairs (1936) 371,000 pairs (1937)
- In 1931 the sister company Chaussures Bata du Congo Belge S.A., Léopoldville was founded.
- In 1936 the first report that Bata is operating a store in the country appeared.
- In 1938, Bata expanded its retail network to Madati, Léopoldville (now Kinshasa), Stanleyville (Kisnagani), Elisabethville (Lubumbashi), Jadotville (Likasi), Usumbura (in Burundi); A year later, 10 stores were already in the Bata sales network
- In 1940, a shoe factory in Léopoldville (60 workers) was established including a tannery.
- Bata´s business in the country grew even in the post-war decades.
- 1962 – Bata Société Congolaise, S.C.A.R.L., is present on the list of historically existing Bata companies for the Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo Republic, Leopoldville)
- In 1966 Bata´s organization operated 32 outlets in the country
- In 1975, the company property in the country was nationalized, but in 1976 is was returned to Bata organization
- In 1978, a sister company Société Bata Zairoise S.A.R.L.operated in the country
- In 1992 Bata´s organization ran a sister company in DRC (then Zaire), Bata Zaïrois, Kinshasa
Sources:
- Moravský zemský archiv v Brně – Státní okresní archiv Zlín, Česko
- Bohumil Lehár, Dějiny Baťova koncernu, Praha 1960
- Alain Gatti, Chausser les hommes qui vont pieds nus, Metz 2004, ISBN 2-87692-619-9
- Srdcem baťovec, Zlín 2016, ISBN 978-80-906540-0-6
- Jaroslav Pospíšil – Hana Pospíšilová, Rub a líc baťovských sporů, Zlín 2012, ISBN 978-80-7473-037-5
- Bata, The Bata Shoe Organisation, 1978
- Thomas J. Bata, Remmembered, Zlín 2016, ISBN 978-80-7473-398-7
