Göran Malmberg was born in the Belgian city of Antwerp but grew up in Karlskrona. After receiving both a bachelor’s degree in economics and a bachelor’s degree in nautical science, he spent several years at sea before getting married in 1976. Although he was no longer on a ship, he continued working in the shipping industry, first at Broströmskoncernen in Gothenburg 1977–80 and later as a partner in a family-owned shipping company in Skåne.

– After that, I started working at SJ as head of their ferry division and a few years later as head of all international freight traffic by rail. I was also SJ’s representative in Brussels, Göran explains.

However, lobbying was not something he wanted to do for the rest of his life and fearless as he is. After five years in Brussels (1992–1997), he resigned without having any job to fall back on. But soon after, he got the news that G&L Beijer Spedition, a transport company, was out for sale. Around the same time, he also was asked to work as a consultant for improvement in Zambia Railways.

– They both sounded like exciting opportunities. After some discussions, my wife Ingrid and I decided to buy G&L Beijer Spedition whilst working for Zambia Railways, says Göran, who commuted between Sweden and Zambia until 2004.

Göran and Ingrid renamed G&L Beijer Spedition to Begoma Spedition. Since its start in 1998, the company has grown from 11 to over 30 employees and increased sales from 30 to approximately 300 million SEK. Besides expanding the company with new customers, business and acquisitions, the key behind the success was staff development and streamlining internal routines, Göran explains. He describes his current role as ”an interested observer”.

– Today, Begoma is run by my three sons. They call me now and then to ask about different things, but I don’t have any set guidelines, and they have my full support when it comes to decision-making. In 1992, Ingrid and I also started buying rental properties and at most, we had about 110 apartments, for which Ingrid had the main responsibility. Last year, however, we sold our last rental property, and the family is now concentrating on the development of Begoma.

Göran lives in Malmö but spends a lot of time taking care of the family farm situated on Kullahalvön.

– I like keeping myself busy and enjoy things like carpentry. But I also like history, culture and travelling. And I’m still very interested in transport – it plays quite a significant role in society, after all.