Ugo Katz and son Reynald Henry Katz speak of the life they shared in France. Photo by Seeta T. Shaw Roath

During the 1990s, Katz was the senior advisor to the Chinese Ministry of Internal Trade. In Beijing, China, he established “high-end sourcing and retailing operations in 14 of the largest cities and 128 department stores employing over 240,000 persons and occupying 1 million square feet,” said Katz.

Katz has successfully managed and operated several businesses over the years. From jewelry to liquor – Katz has seized business opportunities in several countries such as France, England, United States, Suriname, Curacao and Columbia, to mention a few. He came to Panama in 2001.

In Panama, Katz established and runs several successful businesses even as he pursues the establishment of PIMM as well as elsewhere in the world. In the Colon Free Zone, he owns liquor bottling plant, distribution center and showroom, a transshipment center and a shipping company in Panama. “I make budget priced-whisky – several brands of its unique Panamanian whisky; I have a transshipment packing business in the Colon Free Zone; and a successful shipping business here in Panama.”

Reynald Henry Katz's home in avignon, France. Photo by Seeta T. Shaw Roath

What boyhood experiences prepared Katz for a world of commerce?
Reynald Henry Katz was an energetic schoolboy. “As a boy growing up in France, I was always curious to know more and asked questions all the time. I made my teachers very busy, but they were good to me. I had good teachers. I learned mathematics my own way, I had my own style that worked for me, I became very good at numbers.” Katz has been calculating the returns on investment ever since.

As a 15-year-old teenager Katz sold his own handmade jewelry making over $30, 000 a year. By the age of 18, he had made over $100, 000. This he invested at the age of 19, in a cosmetics company based in England, selling it four years later for $8 million. By 21, Reynald Henry Katz was manufacturing 12 brands of lipsticks in Italy.

At 24, Katz was the head cosmetic buyer for a Middle Eastern country and moved to Miami when he was 30 and opened a budget price perfume company. This he successfully sold in 1996.

Now Katz is manufacturing his own brands of whisky made in Panama – John Bow, Magic, Sir Edwin’s, Golden Dollar, and Black King – exporting to Colombia and controlling 16 percent of that liquor market.

The high rises in Panama City are indicative of Panama's economic growth in the construction and real estate sectors, the banking sector, and the maritime logistics sector. Photo by Seeta T. Shaw Roath

Katz was born in 1955 in Avignon, France. He holds dual citizenship in both France and the United States. He completed high school and post-secondary education in Montpellier, France. He recalls significant influences on his business skills: “I spent my young adult years in France and spent every summer at summer camp in California. The major influence on my career was my father working constantly to distribute his own brand of shampoos.”

His best friend’s father ran an insurance company in San Francisco and young Katz was tremendously impressed by the many businesses that had to be insured. Cargo insurance was particularly enlightening. “I studied everything I could and followed the big companies’ trading policies and practices. Soon I started in the trading business myself,” said Katz.

Reynald Katz’s father, Italian-born Ugo Katz, expressed his pleasure in the achievement of his son over the years and especially in this new endeavor. The senior Katz says that the success of his son was due to the personality traits he possessed even as a child.

City where Reynald Henry Katz was born and spent his early days, Avignon, France. Photo by Seeta T. Shaw Roath

“His perseverance and vision have guided him to acquire whatever he sets his mind to do. He has always been creative. As a child he made a cable car to travel to the top of the cliff close to our home. My son is a hard worker, he never stops, he continues until he succeeds in whatever he sets out to do, just the way he had envisaged,” said Ugo Katz.

Ugo Katz describes his son’s childhood: “As a child in France, Reynald was always playing among the shepherds in the valley near our home, sharing his sandwiches with the shepherds and bringing them water. He even learned their unique language they called Provencal.”

The senior Katz is proud of the help his son will be giving to Panamanians.

“My son, Reynald Henry Katz, will create 31, 000 jobs, contributing over $441 million to the economy of Panama, making so many Panamanians families happy and prosperous that he will become a legend in Panama. His main focus is always getting every job done just right. It was never about money. He never though about how much money will be made. Doing the job right is the important thing!” The senior Katz added that this quality trait in his son is what brings him success, “He is always working to make things happen just the way he wants them to happen.”