Gaston Gradis was a French businessman and explorer. He came from a wealthy family of Bordeaux shipowners. After serving as an artillery captain in World War I, he became the head of various transport and trading businesses. He is known for having undertaken the first crossing of the Sahara by automobile in 1924.

The Compagnie générale transsaharienne (CGT) was a French company founded in 1923 that provided road and air transport in the French colonial territories that covered most of the Sahara. It was acquired by a rival in June 1950.