Charles's Story by Lucas LETELLIER

Charles Martoïa, born in 1939 from a French mother and an Italian father.

ME: Can you tell me an important period of your life that made you the way you are today?

CHARLES: So I need to go back a little far away, I’m a child from the Second World War and especially the “post-war”. I started working at 13 and as farm boy in the Alps. And after that, at the age of 16, I was hosted by an aunt because my dad died when I was 3 and my mum couldn’t take care of me. During that time, I did different little jobs until I found a proper one in a building company. When the war in Algeria started, I had the chance to have a friend working in the Italian vice-embassy in Grenoble who told me that a law could prevent me from doing this war, as I had the double citizenship French-Italian, I just had to my military service in Italy. As I already considered the war as a colonial war, I didn’t want to fight for the colons. Therefore I decided to do my military service in Italy for a year. When I got back from Italy, I had no money in my pocket and because my aunt was not really well-of, she could only offer me a place to stay and some meals. Without any money, I had to go back to my old job at the building company and I stayed during 3 years in this company called “Rampon”. After these 3 years, I went and see my boss, and I told him I wanted to start my own business. He was a good guy and told me that I was brave and that he was going to help me so he subcontracted me some of his work to help me to launch my new business. A short time later, a guy called “Delporte” joined me in the business and we created what was called “Martoïa-Delporte Company”. At the start we were 2, then 3, 4, 5. The business was developing really well and we have been up to 30 people in the business.

ME: When did you create your own business again?

CHARLES: I started my own business in 1963. The building sector was booming as we were not too far from the end of WWII and the necessity of building houses, buildings, and factories was great. I started as an artisan, then “Martoïa-Delporte Company” became a real business that had its name in the Grenoble market.

ME: And that was a turning period of your life? It really changed your routine and the way you were?

CHARLES: Yes, because I couldn’t stay in the situation I was in after I came back from Italy. I didn’t want to stay a little builder for the rest of my life although builders weren’t badly paid compared to what they are now. But well, I really wanted to do something with my life. And the building sector was familiar to me as I came from the agricultural one. Without talking about the money I was making, the building sector was a really human sector. Where human relationships are good and where the boss isn’t in bad relationship with his employees.

ME: Thank you very much for your testimony.

CHARLES: Oh and I wanted to add that in 1964 I had the chance to marry an educated woman who helped a lot with the company’s development because she was in charge of all the paperwork, the accounting, the recruitments. Her participation in the business was really important as I stopped school when I was 12 and I couldn’t be in charge of all what she did.