More than 200 businessmen and professionals from the productive fabric of Castilla-La Mancha have gathered in a new edition of the Export Your Value Forum. A space for exchanging experiences around internationalization, organized by Globalcaja and La Tribuna, whose protagonist was Juan Manuel González Serna, founder of the Siro Group and president of the González Serna Urbán Foundation. Attendees have also had the opportunity to learn first-hand about the success stories of companies such as RES, Sáez Ortega and Pinturas Adoral. The general director of Globalcaja, Pedro Palacios, has been in charge of opening this forum. He did so, thanking the speakers on behalf of the entity's president, Mariano León, and on his own behalf, for their generosity in sharing their business experiences and focusing on the need for transformation. Palacios explained that in times of uncertainty like the ones we are experiencing, all businessmen have the same concerns. “We are experiencing one of the great revolutions of humanity, the revolution of knowledge; Collective intelligence is emerging and technology allows us that sharing that makes us move forward,” reflected Pedro Palacios, for whom it is essential to face this time of change, through transformation. “The transformation is not voluntary, it is necessary,” said the general director of Globalcaja, who insisted that this transformation “has to be done by people and it is better that we all do it together, a process in which you will always be close to us. to Globalcaja”, he stressed. Aware that transformation requires strategic planning, Pedro Palacios encouraged everyone present “to write the roadmap, to define the next steps that will take us to place our company where we want.” At this point, the general director of Globalcaja has pointed out that if he has learned anything from the 30 speakers who have attended this Export Your Value Forum so far, it is that “they have all combined low beams and high beams, that is, they have managed the day to day and, at the same time, they have been able to visualize the future of their company, define their strategic plan and be able to internationalize and look outward to know what was happening in the market.” In this sense, Pedro Palacios has invited those present to maintain “active listening”, because “many times the solution can be closer than it seems, being close to our clients and listening to their needs, on many occasions, can help us lead to the solution.”
Honesty, commitment and effort
After the welcome from the general director of Globalcaja, Juan Manuel González Serna explained to the audience his business career and some of the many lessons learned, since in 1991 he acquired a company that had debts, until transforming it into the Siro Group, going from 85 to 5,000 workers, and with industrial presence in Spain, Portugal, Mexico, England and the United States. The founder of the Siro Group, today Cerealto, with roots in La Mancha, reflected through his personal experiences on the complexity of successfully completing the generational change in family businesses; also the importance of learning from failure and relying on financial entities “that trust the word, that understand honesty, values, effort.” González Serna insisted that in the business world “the important thing is people, you have to hire people for talent and fire them for disposition,” he said, alluding to the complexity of building a company culture, above all, in large companies with headquarters in different countries. “During these 30 years, we have acquired businesses from family and multinational companies on 11 occasions and the greatest difficulty has always been creating a common culture,” he stressed. González Serna did not want to ignore the opportunity to make a plea about the labor inclusion of people with different abilities, since as he has emphasized, 8% of the working-age population has some disability. “It should be a challenge that we all take on, especially those businessmen who have values; But I insist, I am not talking about charity, but about a profitable social commitment, because if it is not profitable, it is not sustainable,” the businessman insisted, which he came to define as “the largest and best of the projects I have carried out in my life.” ” the creation of an adapted factory where 90% of the staff were people with disabilities. Already removed from the daily management of the Siro Group, of which he remains a 25% co-owner, González Serna, together with his wife Lucía Urbán, manage the González Serna Urbán Foundation from which they address different lines of action, from excellence training , including the social integration of people at risk of exclusion or the recovery of assets. In addition, supporting new entrepreneurs with good ideas, such as a company that has developed a computer application that facilitates the administration of communities of owners or another dedicated to the marketing of truffles. “The ability of entrepreneurs does not end with retirement, if we have talent, we must use it,” he concluded.
The value of the family business
After the presentation by Juan Manuel González Serna, a round table took place, moderated by Francisco Javier Martínez, director of La Tribuna de Albacete, which was joined by Adriano García Piquero, Managing Director of RES Services; María José Sáez Ortega, manager of the Sáez Ortega Group; and Ladislao Castillo Tébar, general director of Pinturas Adoral. The representatives of these last two companies have agreed to point out the value of the family business and the path taken to become a leading company in their respective sectors and the importance of having a common culture, based on values and based on training to advance. in specialization. In this sense, Adriano García Piquero has also referred to how a family business like RES becomes a leading multinational in the energy sector. The celebration of this new edition of the Exporta Tu Valor Forum reflects the entity's commitment to generating value for entrepreneurs, with the aim of contributing to the social and economic development of our territory.
The VIII Export Your Value Forum brings together more than 200 companies to learn about business success stories that focus on the value of transformation
