Background
Lesieur was born into a family of farmers based in Septeuil (Yvelines department), a city of which his father was the Mayor.
Lesieur was born into a family of farmers based in Septeuil (Yvelines department), a city of which his father was the Mayor.
Lesieur started working at the age of 15 as a shop assistant for Desmarais Frères (Direction finding), an industrial company specialized in purification and distribution of vegetal oils for lighting purposes. Direction finding later oriented its activity towards petroleum - originally used for lighting as well - to eventually become one of the major actors on that Market. He became co-manager of Direction finding before turning 30 and actively contributed to its development for more than 40 years.
He joined the Paris Chamber of Commerce in 1895 to become, from 1901 to 1903 its treasurer, from 1903 to 1904 its vice president and its president from 1905 to 1907.
From 1900, Lesieur was the president of the administrative commission at Higher Education Commission Paris. The plant was operational in 1910 under the name of Huileries Georges Lesieur.
The geographical choice of Coudekerque was made because the Desmarais plants were already installed in Le Havre and L"Huilerie Marseillaise was based in the South of France. Setting up in the neighbourhood of Dunkerque - third largest port in France for the import of groundnuts after Marseille and Bordeaux - became a natural conclusion.